John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 17

DUNSANY'S DICTATOR (1934)

So, as part of my re-acquainting myself with Dunsany, I've been re-reading some of his more obscure works. While I made a good-faith effort between 1987 and 1990 to read everything Ld D wrote, there were some things that I only read once and others not published until after I'd finished the dissertation and moved on to other projects.

 

One such obscure item is IF I WERE DICTATOR, a small (107 page) booklet from 1934 that was part of a series of at least eight authors. It's not a serious treatise but more a listing of pet peeves and what he'd do about them if he were put in charge. Writing very much tongue in cheek (he names his dictator The Grand Macaroni and his minions the 'gold shirts'), he restrains himself for the most part.

 

There's not much here that's memorable, but he does let himself go when he devotes a brief section to the issue of why people not overtly evil nevertheless do evil in the world —for example, food adulteration*—but the words cd just as easily apply to environmental degradation:

 

p.11: 

The men who do these things are not the public's enemies because they hate their kind, but because of the limitation of their vision. They cannot see farther than the means that make them and their families rich; they cannot see the harm that they are to the community, and to their own families which are part of the community. 

 

p. 57: 

On a completely different topic, another passage states in passing that

The last war was won with a fortnight or so to spare, the people of the now Disunited Kingdom having been as close as that to starvation.  

 

I don't know if this is or was a widely held opinion,** but it's interesting, esp. when we remember that Dunsany served in that war, writing official wartime propaganda.

 

--John R.

current reading: Dunsany (misc)

 

*a topic he addressed several times in his works, perhaps most directly in the play CHEESO. For Dunsany at his most unabashed on this topic, see my next post, featuring his short piece 'The Reward', from Fifty-one Tales.

**My thinking being more along the lines of Mosier's MYTHS OF THE GREAT WAY.

The D&D Movie (Honor Among Thieves)

 So, I've now seen the new D&D movie (Honor Among Thieves) and have to say that while not great I enjoyed it. 

The best thing, I thought, was how it hit the right balance between making an adaptation recognizably true-to-its-original on the one hand, and providing newcomers with what they need to know on the other. A good example wd be naming and identifying creatures (owl bear, displacer beast, gelatinous cube). 

Certainly it's far better than the three previous films to bear that name (gone and well forgotten). And Hugh Grant fared better than the hapless Jeremy Irons: here the villain does not so much chew scenery as glory in the Harry Mudd-ness of it all.

While it deserves praise for capturing the flavor of D&D, the best thing about this film is the cast. Surprisingly, it's the women who fare best: the tiefling druid delivered the best performance, closely followed by the barbarian and paladin, with the sorcerer and bard (the star of our show) lagging a bit behind. 

So, on the whole, a success. Personally I'd cut the opening twenty minutes or so, which cuts back and forth between past events and the present right when our story shd focus on getting going. But maybe that's just me.

I'm surprised the credits don't include a line acknowledging Gygax and Arneson (or Arneson and Gygax, depending on yr preference). The only person credited here known for his work on the game is the late Kim Mohan, here labelled 'Loremaster'. By this I assume he must have played some role as a resource for the film folks, to answer any questions about how something they wanted to do in the movie wd work in terms of the game.  There were also two WotC folks, unknown to me, who I assume worked as liason between WotC and the filmmakers.

Finally, it came as quite a surprise to me that the august New York Times wd feature a fairly straightforward review of the film. We've come a long way since fantasy in general and D&D in particular only got written about when it cd be cast as a wink-wink these silly people sort of thing. Now it's so mainstream that it appears on things like those Valpak coupon things that come in the mail (see below). 

Thanks to friend Matt F. for the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/movies/dungeons-and-dragons-movie-guide.html?unlocked_article_code=XtwCiReUXMHfMcl7IV5_uVDJFbMOJytgA2Xq_M8XpHR9KFQ28nynyMuKbwK-KjTv-kfJn5_vee2_0axS_oBgNSKvm9uFvav-v6OI_yfT8Fqfq3Od-qBg5SPQgEReqQnCbFAbAH8LmW_2M_NP89M2V0N1xagb-848VLBoKFpGCyn_AHeQyn6n7ilWMCAZMEmrjiDDW7oxfEWX2mqp5RO_DdgrLbL3ZQuoesYi4mSVoa3-eA239lQKaOcbwGVHGZ410n1kdDvMu-ber80E8FZl5GWW4esA1ofrymcqXH5b1ymoFILUcQgqACwXb6QaTY4b8WbHnTzSY1cP7l_RAGdE2Be_USOkV1K8Kw&smid=url-share

--John R.

--current reading: THE LAST BOOK OF JORKENS

Quote of the Day

"it is not possible to eat an onion

and to be eloquent

at the same time"

--KHALED, by F. Marion Crawford (1891)

--AFS #39  (December 1971 

Esteemed Company

 So, today I went in and looked up who else had won the Outstanding Contributions award and found I'm in v. good company. Here's the year-by-year list, extracted from the Tolkien Gateway website:*

2014   Christopher Tolkien

2015   Tom Shippey

2016   Verlyn Flieger

2017   John Garth

2018   Priscilla Tolkien

2019   Catherine McIlwaine

2020   Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull

2021   Dimitra Fimi

2020   Brian Sibley 

--I call rhat good company indeed.

--John R.

--just finished: ALWAYS COMING HOME (even the accompanying cassette)**

--in the early stages: KHALED by F. Marion Crawford

* https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Tolkien_Society_Awards

**Yes, we still own, and play, cassette players --in the plural.

I Am Honoured

So, last night I started receiving congratulations from some of my Tolkien friends--but for what, it wasn't clear. 

Today brought clarity. It turns out that that I've just been given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tolkien Society -- a group I joined more than forty years ago, back in the days (circa 1981) when the people in the Society I had the most contact with were Jessica Yates, Charles Noad, Lester Simons, Brin Dunsire, and Susan Rule.  I've have been a member of the T.S. on and off (mostly on) ever since. 

This took me totally by surprise --I hadn't even known I was up for such an award--but it's an entirely welcome one. Outstanding Contribution Award -- what cd be sweeter than the praise of one's peers?

Here's the official announcement: both up on the Tolkien Society website 

(click on the following link and scroll down to the bottom of the left-hand column)

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2023/04/winners-of-the-tolkien-society-awards-2023-announced/

And File 770, which is as official as they come when it comes to sf/fantasy news (from Smof Mike Glyer) 

https://file770.com/tolkien-society-awards-2023/

 And now back to another celebratory cup of tea (Yunnan).

--John R.

The Cat Report (Fri.3/31-23)

TOPAZBlack TIGER

LUNA

LILY
CALLYMARLY
CINNABON

The seven cats were in a lazy mood when we arrived but did not stay that way. 
The first to go out were the lively pair of yearlings TOPAZ (orange stripped) and Black TIGER (black patterned stripes). After they’d played a bit on went the leashes and we ventured out into the main room of the store. I walked the one while Janice walked the other. Topaz started out skittish but warmed up to walking as he got further afield. He particularly loved getting attention from folks.  His favorite bit turned out to be a little office opposite the drinking fountains; he went right in and wanted to get up on the chair at the desk. Good memories of a previous owner’s work room, perhaps?   While I was walking Topaz, Janice walked Tiger, who seemed to attract an even larger crowd and to be our current champion walker.
Next up were our resident guests LUNA and LILY, who were happy to come out into the room with the bench but made clear their distress at the idea of putting on the leash and going out. So both got petting, and play, and some holding, but not a walk.
The two kittens, CALLY (the yellow and white kitten) and MARLEY (the pastel kitten and dominant of the pair) were too squirmy for the leash*  but made up for it by playing pretty much every game we had for the to play.   
Last out was our senior-ish cat CINNABON, who seemed to enjoy having the place all to themselves. I was unable to make her into a cat burrito or enchillada: my efforts turned out more along the line of a cat taco. She stayed with me holding her surprisingly long (see photo) but did not altogether forgive me till I let her play with a catnip sachet, which she seemed to think the Best Thing Ever. 
I have to ask: What’s up with the crowd? About the time Tiger came in we had a dozen or more people gather outside the glass. They seemed to be a tour group, since they all left together, but I didn’t find out who they were or why they were here.
—John & Janice
*to wear it, that is. He thought it made a great chew-toy.

 

Then to Little Rock

To make a long story short, as my uncle wd say:

After east Texas it was up to the western edge of Little Rock for a gathering that brought together the Smiths, Philpots, and Rateliffs (me). I think I was the youngest person in the room, my ninety year old Smith uncle the most senior.

The next day we went up in Sherwood, on the north side of the River, to visit my Rateliff aunt, my father's sister-in-law, whom I'd not seen in a good many years; good to catch up on the doings of cousins.

The next few days involved getting ready for the trip back, which was thankfully uneventful. It was a good trip, and served as 'proof of concept' that I shd be able to make trips in the future so long as I don't overdo it. Kalamazoo 2023 here we come.

--John R

--current reading : Le Guin ALWAYS COMING HOME, which I'm finally within reach of the end of (have now read 84% of the expanded edition).  It'll be a good day to re-shelve this ponderous work.

UPDATE. 

The news today out of Little Rock --six hundred people hurt by a huge tornado-- thankfully did not include any of the family I'd just been to see. Thankful for that.

And off to Longfield

 After an unsatisfactory night in Shreveport (waterleaking from the ceiling was only one of that hotel room's failings), we went back over to Waskom for more visiting. 

We had to cancel the trip to Magnolia to visit the graves, since heading that direction at that time wd have brought us into the storm front: thunderstorms and a tornado. 

Instead me went by Jonesville,  a small town near Waskom that reminded me of Washington, Arkansas, which we got to visit some years back. Its main feature is the T. C. Lindsey & Co. General Store, which has been in business continually since 1847 (a record in the state, they tell me, and only a few years after statehood). The original building burned down in 1922, so the current structure is only one hundred and one years old.

Inside is half museum and half store, with current for-sale items at eye level or below and antiques in glass cases further up. Among my favorite items was the Remington typewriter (I asked if they'd sell me a ribbon spool for my Remington Oldstyle Portable, but they declined). A bale of cotton (marked as the last one ginned and baled in the area.  An array of craft rootbeers. And much, much more. My brother-in-law, who was with us, remembered when the store was still someplace you'd go to do practical shopping (such as the time his older brother brought him there to buy shoes). Well worth the visit.

Today it was over to Longview for an enjoyable family gathering. Tonight we're back in Shreveport, in a new room in a different hotel. Tomorrow it's up to Little Rock for a visit with the Smiths.

--John R. 

. . . And in Shreveport

So, the family visit is off to a good start, with a good long visit with my sister yesterday. We even got to see Kashmir the cat, who was deposed to be accommodating. The only sour note was the restaurant. I'd picked, the Shreveport Cracker Barrel, my favorite restaurant in these part, only to find it's not what it was. Service was bad (for example the food came but the knife fork spoon didn't follow till ten minutes later). The soup wasn't hot but instead slightly under room temperature. A pity; it's been a fun stop when passing through the area for years, but I doubt we'll stop there again.

Still, we got more family visit time in, and I bought a Chunky, one of my favorite candy bars in my youth. And the shortcomings of the restaurant turned out to be middling compared to the hotel room, which (to make a long story short) culminated in our currently waiting to be switched to a new room. On without a leaking roof. 

After which our plan is to drive to Magnolia. If the tornado they're predicting for today manifests we'll need to make some adjustments.

--John R.

--current reading: ALWAYS COMING HOME. Easier to read, it turns out, on the Kindle --easier to hold and 

I'm in Dallas

So, you know you're not looking your best nearing the end of a long day of travel when fellow travellers offer to help you with your luggage. Or insist you take their seat on the shuttle. Or hold the door open for you -- this last from a woman with a walker. Never let it be said that Parkinson's isn't a disease with a sense of humor.

A good night's sleep here in Dallas and we shd be in good shape to start the family visits tomorrow.

--John R.

--current reading: the Dunsany/Clarke letter (finished, as book #II.363)

--resumed Le Guin's ALWAYS COMING HOME, reading almost 10% of it on the flight.