John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 15

Washington Post review of my book

So, today I'm chuffed up by the news that Michael Dirda, book reviewer for the Washington Post, has just published a brief review of THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT. Here's his succinct review of an expansive book:

Just reissued in one huge volume, John D. Rateliff’s “The History of the Hobbit” (Houghton Mifflin) is one of the foundational works of Tolkien scholarship. Here, in 938 pages, you’ll find the original draft version of “The Hobbit” as well as Rateliff’s voluminous notes, which are scholarly, meticulous and, above all, fascinating to anyone who wants to know more than just an inkling about this great children’s classic.

Obviously I cdn't be more pleased. More to come.

--John R. 

Doing a Double Take

So, of the three universities I attended during my long pursuit of my Ph.D (1977-1990), one has lost track of me, or so I conclude from the fact that their alumni folks never contact me. For which I'm grateful.

The other two send me their alumni journals. These I confess I skim rather than read. I'm occasionally rewarded by some news of interest. The latest examples of which are various pieces from Marquette about the recent Tolkien exhibit, which I enjoyed v. much, and a reference to the establishment of a Marine Biology Program at S.A.U. (Southern Arkansas University). This latter surprised me, because the campus is in Magnolia, Arkansas. And while I don't expect the average reader of this blog to know the whereabouts of Arkansas's county seats, suffice it to say that Magnolia is in the south-west corner of the state (the ArkLaTex). A long way away from the sea.

In fact, so far away that the closest ocean to my home town is distant in time rather than space. This land was once all underwater as part of the Western Interior Seaway --which is the locally excavated fossil proudly on display on the SAU campus is an ichthyosaur ('Elmer').

This new program turns out to be piggy-backed on an established program run by the University of Southern Mississippi. That all makes a lot more sense.

So now SAU students can join forces with the Mississippians, on projects such as  monitoring baby sharks and baby rays.

--John R.

--current reading: catching up on Internet deprivation from the roughly twenty-four hours our internet was out yesterday/today.   

otherwise, betwixt and between

The Return of Cat Report

Asher-in-the-Bag

Just as last week, five cats, and the same five cats at that.

Since it sounds from the reports that VERA and esp WILLOW rarely come out, we made sure we focused on her first. I made Willow come down, then Janice made a cat burrito out of her. She was trembling at first but soon stopped. When released from the wrapping she stayed in the outer room on her own. She certainly loves height, whether atop the cat-stand or on a high shelf in her cage.  So, small steps in hopes in time she’ll let us actually walk her.
Her partner Vera (the more torbie of the two, her sister being more pastel) came out promptly on her own. She enjoyed games, the cat-tree, and being petted. No walk, but not shy about asking for attention. 
Myka was next, having been patient when Vera came and hissed at her through the bars.  She got the first walk. Janice got the harness on, then I carried her  in a loop all the way around the store, twice. If past cats are anything to go by, this may open her up to the possibility of a walk on her own little cat feet next week.
Mabel got the second walk. Again Janice put the harness on her and I carried little cat Mabel all around. She has a distinct pattern of leash-walking. I pick her up, carry her to a safe spot, then put her down. She at once makes a bee-line back to the cat-room. I carry her off to a different spot, she walks straight back to the room. Over and over. At least this got her out and about more than last week, when she made a cave out of the bottom area of the cat-tree and made her whatever’s the opposite of ‘king of the mountain’.
Finally Asher had no walk (too squirmy for the leash) but ruled the room. He and his mom are back on good terms again; had just spent too much time together I suspect.
Cat Toys: Thinking it wd do them good to have a few new toys to play, I brought in a paper bag, whichshe loved (even better with a catnip sachet dropped into it), a peacock feather, and string. She eyed a spider but it never came far enough down for her to pounce, so it lived to sneak away another day.
Health Issues:  Asher had a cough twice —not a sneezy cough nor a hairball cough but a croupy cough. Seemed okay otherwise, but we shd continue to keep an eye on her.
—John R.

 

How Much of Gygax is Gygax

 So, alongside a box of Mayfair ROLE-AIDS and another of old JUDGES GUILD modules, I recently came across a boxful of non-TSR D&D generics. 

It's been interesting sorting through these old adventures, some of which I've had for years without reading or playing. Occasionally they raise questions that are a little hard to answer so long after the fact.

One example is of interest because it involves some of the final products to go out with Gygax's name on them. I'm thinking here of A CHALLENGE OF ARM'S [sic] and THE RITUAL OF THE GOLDEN EYES, the first two adventures in the projected five-module 'WOLFMOON ADVENTURE series'. These were published by Inner City Games Designs (dated 1998 and 1999, respectively). More importantly, both have on the cover the statement "Developed with the assistance of Gary Gygax!"

The inside credits expand upon this slightly, reading first "Author  Christopher Clark" (the owner/operator of Inner City Games) and then below this "Creative Consultant & Design Editor   Gary Gygax".*

The problem is that consultant covers a lot of territory, and Gygax had a habit of overcrediting works he contributed to.**  So my question is this: how much of these books did EGG write?

My guess is, very little if any. But I'd like to be proven wrong.

--John R.

*the second module, on its title page, has the following tribute to Gygax:

"This book is dedicated to Gary Gygax, the man who started it all. Thanks for ALL the good times, the memories, and the hobby that just never quits. Vive role-playing!"

**Especially in his latter days, when his name on a product was its chief selling point.

A Pratchett Play

So, today we didn't go to a play. But we probably wd have, given more advanced warning. We only learned that MONSTROUS REGIMENT, based on Terry Pratchett's book of the same name, was playing at the Taproot through seeing a brief ad for it in the Program Book for JEEVES TAKES A BOW on June 3rd. Unfortunately its last day was Sunday June 4th.

Even though we didn't make it to this one, I take it as a good sign that Pratchett's work remains popular several years after his death. I've seen the half-dozen or so film adaptations (some live action, some animated) released so far. I must say that out of the forty-some books Pratchett wrote, most of them as part of his Discworld series, MONSTROUS REGIMENT --the tale of women disguising themselves as men in order to join the army -- strikes me as a somewhat odd choice. I've read almost all of Pratchett, and this belongs to the category of  what I'd consider minor Pratchett: those books I read once when they first came out but never re-read.

Still, minor Pratchett is better than a good many others' best, so I'll keep my eye out for another chance.

--John R.

--currrent reading: YELLOWFACE by Kuang

Wooster

So, today Janice and I went with friends Jeff and Kate to see JEEVES TAKES A BOW at the Taproot theatre. I'm a big admirer of P. G. Wodehouse and have read all his Bertie and Jeeves novels, as well as all the short story collections (written over a sixty-year period --something of a record for the same author with the same pair of characters). I've even read the one book that features Jeeves  without Bertie; there's a book with Bertie without Jeeves but I've never been able to find that one.

This play did not adapt any of the Wodehouse books but spun up its own story out of Wodehousian characters and motifs. These bits and pieces make good use of the era's Art Deco setting to form a screwball comedy. I'd prefer to see one of P.G.W.'s masterpieces adapted, but if you like this kind of thing --and I confess I do -- then it's well worth seeing.  

Certainly it captures the spirit of Wodehouse better than does the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which gets the main character wrong (Webber portrays Bertie as surly when he shd be at most a bit querulous --and under considerable provocation, I might add). They did get the other main character, Jeeves, right.

So, while I enjoyed seeing it live, the best performance of the stories I've seen are the Hugh Laurie / Stephen Frye adaptations from the early nineties. 

Or, better yet, I cd re-read the books.

--John R.

--current reading: MONSTER (just finished), YELLOWFACE (just started)

UKL: The Ursula K. Le Guin Journal

 So, now that I'm wrapping up and filing away odds and ends from Kalamazoo, I didn't want to miss sharing the news (new to me, anyway) announcing a new journal devoted to Ursula K. Le Guin. It's called UKL. A call for papers has also gone out for a planned volume of essays devoted to Le Guin's work, but I have less information on that project. Here's some pertinent excerpts taken from their website describing the journal's "Aims & Scope":

We argue that as a major figure in modern literature, an academic journal dedicated to discussing Le Guin’s work is long overdue, and this journal fills that scholarly vacuumThe mission of UKL: The Journal of Ursula K. Le Guin Studies is to create a scholarly forum for exploring various facets of Le Guin’s writing, including her fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays, and blog posts . . . 

[UKL will be] a professional, peer-reviewed, annual publication . . . Individuals without previous publishing experience are especially invited to submit. For questions and inquiries about UKL: The Journal of Ursula K. Le Guin Studies, contact the current journal editors at robert.steed@hawkeyecollege.edu or aaron.narigon@hawkeyecollege.edu .

For those who might be interested, either as a reader or potential contributor, here's the link.

https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ukl/

--John R.

current reading: MONSTER: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer (weighty questions, lightweight answers).

Kalamazoo diversity

 

So, I���ve now had a chance to listen to the recording of the racism roundtable, and been able to confirm some of my in-person (virtual person, that is) impressions.
The first and foremost flaw, from my point of view, is DiNardo���s assertion (in the discussion following the papers) that, given the current crisis, Tolkien scholars needed to put aside biographical studies and exploration of Tolkien���s thought and instead focus their attention on Tolkien and racism and related issues. 
Tolkien���s invented languages were not mentioned but I can���t see how they���re not part of those marked for marginalization. Instead, she said, we need more RINGS OF POWER and especially MtG: Middle-earth. I concluded that she���s not really interested in LORD OF THE RINGS or THE SILMARILLION, et al, in themselves, as works of art, as in what can be done with them ���i.e. as tools to fight racism.
My own belief is that as Tolkien scholars we���re all in this together. I don���t agree with the idea that Tolkien scholarship is a zero-sum game.
���John R.

More on Kalamazoo diversity panel

So, unless I'm missing something (a very real possibility),  it looks as if the recorded sessions from this year's Medieval Congress are only available to those who registered for the conference. I didn't take any notes from the presentations for this roundtable but will try to listen to it over the next few days, schedule permiting. lf successful I'll post any resultant notes.

In the meantime, here's the list of presenters:

Kristine Swank (presider), Mercury Natis, Robin Reid, Luke Shelton, Toni DiNardo, Lars Johnson, and Mariana Rios Maldonado (respondent).

--JDR

At Kalamazoo

 So,  Kalamazoo was an odd mix this year: a shrunken dealer's room (perhaps a third to half it's size in previous years) and far fewer people about (I heard estimates that this year's attendance was about two-thirds that in recent years). Yet in the meeting rooms there seemed to be a good crowd and no falling off in the quality of the papers and panels.

The first session, which I missed, was devoted to the Rings of Power series.

 That afternoon I attend the CSL session, which wrestled with Lewis's claim that there had never been a Renaissance in England, because the English hadn't needed one, never having had a 'Middle Ages'. The panelists were well-informed and mounted a well-spoken defense of what I suspect was more a case of Lewis being a gadfly than anything else.

Next up, the first Tolkien event I attended was devoted to controversy such as Tolkien and racism, gender issues,  colonialism, and the disturbing enthusiasm of white supremacists for his work. At least three of the speakers called for putting aside other forms of Tolkien scholarship, such as biographical studies, so we cd devote all our energy into meeting this the challenge. I was impressed, but part company when they put a 'MUST' into their thesis. 

Another session dealt with which major saints in the Church most influenced Tolkien, with Aquinas

and the Tomists winning out over Augustus; Bonaventure and Boethius came in for some mention but not, to my surprise, Francis.

I was struck by how far this session was from the Tolkien in Crisis session; it was as if the two groups came from different worlds.

Different again was a misc. panel that examined Tolkien as a translator, Tolkien and PEARL, et al. unfortunately the person who was to deliver the Numenor piece cdn't make it.

Last of all were the two back to back sessions devoted to Christopher Tolkien focusing on CT as a 

an editor of the legendarium. I think these together were my favorites of the whole conference.

There was much more, but this shd give an idea of what the revived Medievalist Congress was like. 

--John R

-- THE BATTLE OF MALDON (current reading: Tolkien's translation).