I once heard that Tolkien's middle-earth was perceived as our Earth's distant past by his contemporaries, then gradually, as people's imagination and worldview evolved, as a distant planet ("world") somewhere, then a different universe. Is this claim true?

by keskiviikko466

Also, as somewhat related question, were there anyone with enough imagination to imagine "other universe" or parallel worlds in their mind prior to quantum physics (or MWI)?

And yes, I know Tolkien himself created his world as Earth's past.

Edit: It seems my second question needs some elaboration. My assumption in asking the question was that advancement in physics changes the way we understand our universe, and that change in turn affects how we understand fictional universes.

Example 1: People before the discovery of other solar systems couldn't have imagined "other worlds" in that sense (or so it seems to me). The furthest their imagination could go must have been "far away on (including below and above) this earth" and "far away in time."

Example 2: Multiple world interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics introduced the concept of parallel world (or universe). Prior to this, could readers of Tolkien imagine his world as anything other than something in this universe?

chrisps989

I'm sorry, could you elaborate a bit more on the part about quantum physics? What does that have to do with imagination?

Also, you might also want to ask your question in /r/tolkienfans, who are experts on anything Tolkien.