While reading The Shack (I am only in Chapter 5), I came across something that made me wonder. On Page 75 Mack says, "I've always sort of pictured him as a really big grandpa with a long white flowing beard, sort of like Gandalf in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings." Here's the wonder part: would the average person have included the author's name in that sentence? Who has not heard of Gandalf or Lord of the Rings to where someone would need to insert the author?! Especially since, in this case, Mack was talking to a close friend of his.
So I guess the real question is, do authors have a code of conduct in which they give each other "shout outs" if specific work is mentioned in their books?
Yes, I believe that they do. Maybe he was told from Tolkien's agent that he had to use the name also, not just the name of the book.
ReplyDeleteJust another thought, while using an MLA format, maybe he had to use the name in order to avoid plagiarism.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this may have occurred before the Lord of the Ring films were made. Honestly, the movies made the books more mainstream.
ReplyDeleteGood points!
ReplyDelete