John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 174
October 12, 2012
My Cat Fix While I Was Away
So, I've often noticed when with my father-in-law that he's developed baby radar: he loves spending time with his great-grandchildren so much that he immediately notices any baby or toddler in any restaurant or public place he enters. I even got to see him do a I've-got-more-great-grandchildren-than-you contest with another senior citizen he ran into (he won, ten to seven -- but only by including his youngest son's son's soon-to-be-born little girl)
With me, it's cats. I love petting and playing with other people's cats when I visit their home, like to notice cats watching out windows taking in the world when I'm on a walk, and volunteer once a week at an adoption room for a no-kill shelter (Purrfect Pals, centered up in Arlington) -- letting the cats out of their cages to wander freely in a glass-walled room while I clean up their dirt boxes, give them fresh food and water, and "socialize' them (pet them, play with them, sometimes walk them on a leash). With the result that I find myself on the look-out for cats when I'm away from home.
During our two weeks in England in September, I saw four cats:
--one self-satisified sitting in the garden behind our hotel (Celtic House, not far from Russell Sq). Only saw this one when I was looking down from a third story window (second floor they wd call it), but clearly at ease in its own surroundings.
--one friendly but self-possessed little striped brown stripling at Lacock, a Cotswold village that looks exactly as it looked several centuries ago. This one we came across just outside the churchyard; it let me pet it, then let me know when it'd had enough.
--one yellow cat, lean and furtive, that slipped by us, pressing itself against the buildings on a street in a bad neighborhood we were walking through when we got off-track on our way to a tube station. Clearly trying to avoid being noticed, and aside from myself, successfully. Someone opened the door to an apartment building on her way out, and it dashed inside. Looked like this one has a hard life but knows how best to cope; hope it has somewhere it can get enough to eat and a safe place to sleep.
--finally, a neighborhood cat (longhair, grey and fluffy I think) we saw making its rounds the last night we were in Bath, walking some unfamiliar streets on the west edge of town looking for a laundromat (with the help of some friendly local folks, we did, but it had already closed. Que sera.
And during our week in Milwaukee (The Ambassador), Delavan (Lake Lawn Lodge), and Harvard (Ravenstone Castle), I saw two:
--Sir Peter, a large brown striped cat who reigns at Ravenstone Castle, the B&B we stayed in on the outskirts of Harvard (he was shy about approaching us but friendly when petted, and appreciated the catnip teabag I'd brought along as an offering to him.
--an orange and white cat, prowling the neighborhood in Harvard nr my father-in-law's apt: didn't want to be approached by strangers (e.g., me) but didn't flee panic-strickened; just removed itself when I moved towards it and went back to what it'd been doing (looking for mice in the tall grass, I think) as soon as I withdrew.
And then back home again to our own three: Rigby and Hastur and Feanor, who are emphatic that we're not to go away and leave them again for a while.
--John R.
With me, it's cats. I love petting and playing with other people's cats when I visit their home, like to notice cats watching out windows taking in the world when I'm on a walk, and volunteer once a week at an adoption room for a no-kill shelter (Purrfect Pals, centered up in Arlington) -- letting the cats out of their cages to wander freely in a glass-walled room while I clean up their dirt boxes, give them fresh food and water, and "socialize' them (pet them, play with them, sometimes walk them on a leash). With the result that I find myself on the look-out for cats when I'm away from home.
During our two weeks in England in September, I saw four cats:
--one self-satisified sitting in the garden behind our hotel (Celtic House, not far from Russell Sq). Only saw this one when I was looking down from a third story window (second floor they wd call it), but clearly at ease in its own surroundings.
--one friendly but self-possessed little striped brown stripling at Lacock, a Cotswold village that looks exactly as it looked several centuries ago. This one we came across just outside the churchyard; it let me pet it, then let me know when it'd had enough.
--one yellow cat, lean and furtive, that slipped by us, pressing itself against the buildings on a street in a bad neighborhood we were walking through when we got off-track on our way to a tube station. Clearly trying to avoid being noticed, and aside from myself, successfully. Someone opened the door to an apartment building on her way out, and it dashed inside. Looked like this one has a hard life but knows how best to cope; hope it has somewhere it can get enough to eat and a safe place to sleep.
--finally, a neighborhood cat (longhair, grey and fluffy I think) we saw making its rounds the last night we were in Bath, walking some unfamiliar streets on the west edge of town looking for a laundromat (with the help of some friendly local folks, we did, but it had already closed. Que sera.
And during our week in Milwaukee (The Ambassador), Delavan (Lake Lawn Lodge), and Harvard (Ravenstone Castle), I saw two:
--Sir Peter, a large brown striped cat who reigns at Ravenstone Castle, the B&B we stayed in on the outskirts of Harvard (he was shy about approaching us but friendly when petted, and appreciated the catnip teabag I'd brought along as an offering to him.
--an orange and white cat, prowling the neighborhood in Harvard nr my father-in-law's apt: didn't want to be approached by strangers (e.g., me) but didn't flee panic-strickened; just removed itself when I moved towards it and went back to what it'd been doing (looking for mice in the tall grass, I think) as soon as I withdrew.
And then back home again to our own three: Rigby and Hastur and Feanor, who are emphatic that we're not to go away and leave them again for a while.
--John R.
My Cat Weighs (Less Than) Twenty Pounds
Good news on the cat front: I took all three cats in to the vets (McMonigle's on the East Valley Hwy; highly recommended) over Wednesda-Thursday,* where they got their boosters, got weighed, and got a plan for the latest intervention over Hastur's issues.
Rigby now weighs 8 & 3/4 pounds. This is great news, since her last two check-ups she'd been down at scven-something pounds, which was too low. Now she's back to a nice healthy weight for her size.
Hastur is still overweigh at 15 3/4 pounds. So the portion control for her nom will continue. The fur loss is much improved -- she's in the paradoxical position of being unable to reach and clean some areas because of her tubbiness, so she overgrooms spots she can reach, licking all the fur off. Now the bare spots are growing back, stubbily, but I had to resort to bathing her in the tub to help keep her clean. Which she didn't like at all, poor cat.
Feanor also had really good news: he's now below twenty pounds for the first time in several years, at 19 1/2. He's always beeen a solid black cat; now the fur inside his ears is turning white -- the male-cat equivalent of that grey streak at a middle-aged man's temples, perhaps? He's also just developed a few scattered white hairs on his tail. Equivalent of old-man eyebrows, perhaps?
So, the good news is that all the cats are well, and two out of three have their weight either in or moving in the right way. More games and play with Hastur to boost her activity a little, making sure she keeps clean, and continuing to restrict her access to the others' food shd pay off over time for the third cat as well.
--John R.
*in addition to taking care of the ten cats in the Purrfect Pals adoption room in the PetsMart nr Southcenter for four hours Wednesday morning -- these have been two days largely devoted to cats.
Rigby now weighs 8 & 3/4 pounds. This is great news, since her last two check-ups she'd been down at scven-something pounds, which was too low. Now she's back to a nice healthy weight for her size.
Hastur is still overweigh at 15 3/4 pounds. So the portion control for her nom will continue. The fur loss is much improved -- she's in the paradoxical position of being unable to reach and clean some areas because of her tubbiness, so she overgrooms spots she can reach, licking all the fur off. Now the bare spots are growing back, stubbily, but I had to resort to bathing her in the tub to help keep her clean. Which she didn't like at all, poor cat.
Feanor also had really good news: he's now below twenty pounds for the first time in several years, at 19 1/2. He's always beeen a solid black cat; now the fur inside his ears is turning white -- the male-cat equivalent of that grey streak at a middle-aged man's temples, perhaps? He's also just developed a few scattered white hairs on his tail. Equivalent of old-man eyebrows, perhaps?
So, the good news is that all the cats are well, and two out of three have their weight either in or moving in the right way. More games and play with Hastur to boost her activity a little, making sure she keeps clean, and continuing to restrict her access to the others' food shd pay off over time for the third cat as well.
--John R.
*in addition to taking care of the ten cats in the Purrfect Pals adoption room in the PetsMart nr Southcenter for four hours Wednesday morning -- these have been two days largely devoted to cats.
October 11, 2012
Tolkien's Webley
So, while I was drafting the preceding article about THE FALL OF ARTHUR, I followed a link at the very bottom of the GUARDIAN piece and discovered that by so doing you can see a photo of Tolkien WW I service pistol (a Webley Mark VI revolver).
Here's the link to the article from six years ago*
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/may/21/booksnews.firstworldwar?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
and here's the online entry for the item itself (in the 'Personal Stories' section):
http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.2211
Given that I imagine the Imperial War Museum has any number of Great War officer's revolvers, I assume Lt. Tolkien's is included because he's now so popular that it's a good draw for the exhibit as a whole (it's possible, of course, that they just like to make extra links like this to bring the war home to modern museum-goers).
In any case, it shows that, like many veterans before him (most famously, Dr. James H. Watson), Tolkien kept his officer's sidearm after the war was over, since the article notes the gun was acquired by the museum from the Tolkien family two years earlier (e.g., 2004, perhaps not incidently the year after Jn Garth's excellent book had made Tolkien's wartime duty more widely known than it had been hithertofore).
At any rate, wanted to share.
--John R.
*and here's the article from which that link came: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/09/jrr-tolkien-new-poem-king-arthur?fb=optOut
October 10, 2012
THE FALL OF ARTHUR
Arthur eastward in arms purposed
his war to wage on the wild marches,
over seas sailing to Saxon lands,
from the Roman realm ruin defending.
Thus the tides of time to turn backward
and the heathen to humble, his hope urged him,
that with harrying ships they should hunt no more
on the shining shores and shallow waters
of South Britain, booty seeking
--JRRT, THE FALL OF ARTHUR, lines 1-9
So, the big news Sunday night was the announcement, forwarded to the MythSoc list by Douglas Kane (thanks, Doug!), that the most eagerly awaited of all unpublished works by JRRT has been scheduled or a May release. Here's the official release at the publisher's website:
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/79908/the-fall-of-arthur-j-r-r-tolkien-9780007489947
And here, also courtesy D.K., is what someone thinks the cover will look like:
http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/fall-of-arthur.jpg
--its provenance is a little uncertain, but it does bear a strong 'family resemblence' to the cover for SIGURD & GUDRUN, which leads some credence to its authenticity.
I don't know why Australians get a break and apparently will be able to buy it three weeks sooner than the rest of us -- because it takes so long for the books to reach them, perhaps? I've put in a pre-order at amazon, myself.
The HarperCollins announcement includes the news that this volume will include three essays by Christopher Tolkien, which is good news indeed -- I thought his contribution to SIGURD & GUDRUN as good as the poem itself. And more can be learned about the forthcoming book via the following piece in THE GUARDIAN (thanks to Janice for the link):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/09/jrr-tolkien-new-poem-king-arthur?fb=optOut
Here we learn that the book is 200 pages plus (relatively brief, closer to FINN & HENGEST than SIGURD & GUDRUN): remember that the poem is just under a thousand lines long. Better yet, the opening lines are printed her in this piece for the first time ever (see them quoted above).
For those who don't have it handy, here are the only other previously published lines, from Humphrey Carpenter's TOLKIEN: A BIOGRAPHY (1977), p. 168:
(of Mordred's lust for Guinever):
His bed was barren; there black phantomsof desire unsated and savage furyin his brain had brooded till bleak morning.
(of Guinever herself):
. . . lady ruthless,fair as fay-woman and fell-minded,in the world walking for the woe of men.
Of those last two and a half lines, I'd say much what Beren says of Luthien: just that fragment is so good that it justifies the existence of the whole. Here's hoping there are more lines that good, and that the fragment is large enough to get a good sense of the whole that Tolkien had planned.
For my part, I'm going to be re-reading Tolkien's obvious sources for his tale: THE ALLITERATIVE MORTE ARTHURE and THE STANZAIC MORTE ARTHUR.
Given that I first heard of this book as forthcoming back in 1985, I think it was, from Rayner Unwin, I really can't convey how pleased I am that another seven or eight months will see it in print.
And there was great rejoicing, and is great rejoicing, and will be great rejoicing in the land.
--John R.
October 9, 2012
The New Arrivals
. . . are ourselves, back at last from our travels. Two weeks in England, one very busy week back, then a week in the Midwest that included two talks and an interview for me and visits to my father-in-law and all four of Janice's siblings. The cats are inclined to forgive us for being away so much, but sternly inform us that we're NOT to do that to them again anytime soon.*
Oh, and there was a Tolkien book waiting for me when we returned home, as often seems to be the case these days. This time it was THE UNOFFICIAL HOBBIT HANDBOOK, subtitled EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM TOLKIEN by "The Shire Collective", one of whose three authors turns out to be Peter Archer, a friend from Wizards of the Coast days (he was head of the WotC book department). All I've read so far is the interview with Smaug and the advice on how to tell a Good Wizard from a Bad Wizard. Lighthearted, but having just read David Brin's vicious little tare I was in the mood for something more good-humored, and this came at just the right time to fit the bill.
And of course I've also put in a pre-order for the forthcoming new Tolkien book, due out in May. More on this later.
--John R.
just finished:
(1) MASTER OF THE WORLD by Verne (v. bad)
(2) MORSE'S GREATEST MYSTERY & other stories by Colin Dexter (rather interesting)
*their forgiveness will be tested later this week when I take them all in to Dr. McMonigle's to update their boosters; they won't like that at all.
Oh, and there was a Tolkien book waiting for me when we returned home, as often seems to be the case these days. This time it was THE UNOFFICIAL HOBBIT HANDBOOK, subtitled EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM TOLKIEN by "The Shire Collective", one of whose three authors turns out to be Peter Archer, a friend from Wizards of the Coast days (he was head of the WotC book department). All I've read so far is the interview with Smaug and the advice on how to tell a Good Wizard from a Bad Wizard. Lighthearted, but having just read David Brin's vicious little tare I was in the mood for something more good-humored, and this came at just the right time to fit the bill.
And of course I've also put in a pre-order for the forthcoming new Tolkien book, due out in May. More on this later.
--John R.
just finished:
(1) MASTER OF THE WORLD by Verne (v. bad)
(2) MORSE'S GREATEST MYSTERY & other stories by Colin Dexter (rather interesting)
*their forgiveness will be tested later this week when I take them all in to Dr. McMonigle's to update their boosters; they won't like that at all.
October 3, 2012
I'm On NPR
So, Friday I had a phone interview with NPR -- specifically, with Milwaukee's local NPR station, for their LAKE EFFECT segment. It was broadcast today (Tuesday). Listening to it, I'm pleased that it came out as well as it did. You never quite know how things will go when speaking off the cuff, so it's nice when everything goes well. They told me they have editing software that cleans up hesitations and interruptions, like coughs or saying "um . . . um" a lot; it seems to have done a nice job. Here's the link:
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/lake_effect/lake_effect_segment.php?segmentid=9701
Listening to it this evening, the only slip that caught my attention was my asserting, for some reason, that Wm. Ready was a devout Catholic. I don't actually know this for a fact -- I assume he was Catholic, since his heritage was Irish despite his growing up in Wales (he boasts in his autobiography about his family having brought a priest over from Italy to serve the community), since he worked at Marquette, concentrated on getting collections of Catholic authors for his new archives, and as I understand it went from Marquette to another Catholic university. Luckily, the point's not essential to the argument, just a side-issue. Similarly, I mention Marquette's having bought some seven thousand pages worth of material; checking Wayne & Christina's count in the COMPANION & GUIDE, I see that the final number was closer to eleven thousand pages.
Oh, and the introductory bit on the website gives the opening date of the upcoming HOBBIT movie as November 28th. Would that this were true! As I understand it, it'll be a little further off than that, with the debut date being December 14th (which will make a nice slightly delayed birthday present).
--John R.
P.S.: Have to say, re. the closing music to this segment, I'd never noticed the little tuba solo in THE BALLAD OF BILBO BAGGINS before. Live and learn. --JDR
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/lake_effect/lake_effect_segment.php?segmentid=9701
Listening to it this evening, the only slip that caught my attention was my asserting, for some reason, that Wm. Ready was a devout Catholic. I don't actually know this for a fact -- I assume he was Catholic, since his heritage was Irish despite his growing up in Wales (he boasts in his autobiography about his family having brought a priest over from Italy to serve the community), since he worked at Marquette, concentrated on getting collections of Catholic authors for his new archives, and as I understand it went from Marquette to another Catholic university. Luckily, the point's not essential to the argument, just a side-issue. Similarly, I mention Marquette's having bought some seven thousand pages worth of material; checking Wayne & Christina's count in the COMPANION & GUIDE, I see that the final number was closer to eleven thousand pages.
Oh, and the introductory bit on the website gives the opening date of the upcoming HOBBIT movie as November 28th. Would that this were true! As I understand it, it'll be a little further off than that, with the debut date being December 14th (which will make a nice slightly delayed birthday present).
--John R.
P.S.: Have to say, re. the closing music to this segment, I'd never noticed the little tuba solo in THE BALLAD OF BILBO BAGGINS before. Live and learn. --JDR
October 2, 2012
Thulcandra No More
This might be one of the neatest things I've ever seen (or, more accurately, heard).
Remember the music of the spheres? Well, now you can listen to Earth's part in it.
Follow the link to the audio file, and enjoy.
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/earth-sound.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
--John R.
Remember the music of the spheres? Well, now you can listen to Earth's part in it.
Follow the link to the audio file, and enjoy.
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/earth-sound.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
--John R.
October 1, 2012
A New Arrival and A New Departure
So, another book showed up this week: Louis Markos' ON THE SHOULDERS OF HOBBITS: THE ROAD TO VIRTUE WITH TOLKIEN AND LEWIS, with a Foreword by Peter Kreeft.
And, co-incidentally, the next day the mail brought a catalogue from The Teaching Company that the lecture series Markos gave through their Great Courses, THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF C. S. LEWIS, is on sale for just $9.95, making this a great time to pick that up for those interested in a thoroughly Xian reading of CSL.
I've only had time for a quick look at the new book, but as suggested by the fact that Kreeft provides a Foreword, this is a heavily Xianized reading of Tolkien, focused on LotR but also drawing frequently on the Chronicles of Narnia (ironic, given how much JRRT disliked them). Kreeft asserts that while LotR might be the greatest book of the twentieth century, the Narnia books are "the greatest children's stories ever written". I don't agree with the latter part of this statement, but if you like LotR and Narnia in equal measure, and wd like to see traditional (Xian) values asserted vie the medium of interpreting Tolkien and Lewis, then this is the book for you.
As for me, it's off on another trip tomorrow. Early (far too early) in the morning we head off to the airport for the flight to Milwaukee. I finished drafting my Marquette talk this evening and have it all printed out (and a safety copy too). If you happen to find yourself near Marquette Wednesday afternoon, drop by and join the fun in the new library building on Wisconsin Avenue.
--John R.
And, co-incidentally, the next day the mail brought a catalogue from The Teaching Company that the lecture series Markos gave through their Great Courses, THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF C. S. LEWIS, is on sale for just $9.95, making this a great time to pick that up for those interested in a thoroughly Xian reading of CSL.
I've only had time for a quick look at the new book, but as suggested by the fact that Kreeft provides a Foreword, this is a heavily Xianized reading of Tolkien, focused on LotR but also drawing frequently on the Chronicles of Narnia (ironic, given how much JRRT disliked them). Kreeft asserts that while LotR might be the greatest book of the twentieth century, the Narnia books are "the greatest children's stories ever written". I don't agree with the latter part of this statement, but if you like LotR and Narnia in equal measure, and wd like to see traditional (Xian) values asserted vie the medium of interpreting Tolkien and Lewis, then this is the book for you.
As for me, it's off on another trip tomorrow. Early (far too early) in the morning we head off to the airport for the flight to Milwaukee. I finished drafting my Marquette talk this evening and have it all printed out (and a safety copy too). If you happen to find yourself near Marquette Wednesday afternoon, drop by and join the fun in the new library building on Wisconsin Avenue.
--John R.
September 28, 2012
The New Arrival / I Am Interviewed
So, today I got interviewed by a local (Milwaukee) NPR affiliate for a little piece on THE HOBBIT. It's to be broadcast sometime early next week. Once I've had a chance to hear it, if it went reasonably well, I'll post a link here to it.
Also today had a long phone call about an interesting little project that I certainly hope comes off; more about this as things develop.
And finally today in the mail arrived HOBBITVS ILLE, the new Latin translation of THE HOBBIT by Mark Walker. I'd gotten to see this for the first time when we visited HarperCollins one of our last days in London and got to see Chris Smith (my editor, to whom I'll always be grateful for his patience over MR. BAGGINS) and to meet David Brawn, the grey eminence of Tolkien publishing. We arrived at the HC offices a little early, which meant I had a chance to look at the big display of just-published books, among which were three copies of the Latin HOBBIT -- two of which were marked "not for sale", wh. immediately raised my hopes that I might be able to purchase the third. Alas no, but David Brawn very kindly arranged to have me sent a copy, for which I am grateful.
For those who haven't seen this yet, it's along the lines of WINNIE ILLE PU: a classic of children's literature translated into Latin. I know they've also done this with ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and the back of the book carries an advertisement for URSUS NOMINE PADDINGTON (which I don't think anyone'll need me to translate for them); it wdn't surprise me if WIND IN THE WILLOWS hadn't gotten the Latin treatment at some point. I'm not much of a Latinist, but I know I'll be amusing myself for some time to come seeing how familiar passages in THE HOBBIT came out in Walker's translation. Here, for example, is part of Gollum-talk, from the chapter AEnigmata in Tenebris:
post nonnullum tempus Gollum secum laetus sibilauit:"est bonum, mi pretiossse? est sucosum? est gustandum ad mordendum?" e tenebris Bilbonem aspiciebat.
Even on a first look, have to say I'm impressed to see they've fixed the runes on the title page to correspond to the Latin title, rather than reprinting the English text in runes. They've also done the same with the two runic inscriptions on Thror's Map ("Tabula Geographica Throris"), replacing the originals with Tolkienesque runes which I presume match the new Latin text.
But best of all is its cover, which reproduces Tolkien's wonderful painting "Conversation with Smaug" transformed into a mosaic. A better analogy for what the book itself does, reproducing the familiar in a new fashion that simulates something v. old, wd be hard to find: nicely done.
--John R.
P.S.: Janice says: They should get the artist who did this cover for their next Calendar!
Also today had a long phone call about an interesting little project that I certainly hope comes off; more about this as things develop.
And finally today in the mail arrived HOBBITVS ILLE, the new Latin translation of THE HOBBIT by Mark Walker. I'd gotten to see this for the first time when we visited HarperCollins one of our last days in London and got to see Chris Smith (my editor, to whom I'll always be grateful for his patience over MR. BAGGINS) and to meet David Brawn, the grey eminence of Tolkien publishing. We arrived at the HC offices a little early, which meant I had a chance to look at the big display of just-published books, among which were three copies of the Latin HOBBIT -- two of which were marked "not for sale", wh. immediately raised my hopes that I might be able to purchase the third. Alas no, but David Brawn very kindly arranged to have me sent a copy, for which I am grateful.
For those who haven't seen this yet, it's along the lines of WINNIE ILLE PU: a classic of children's literature translated into Latin. I know they've also done this with ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and the back of the book carries an advertisement for URSUS NOMINE PADDINGTON (which I don't think anyone'll need me to translate for them); it wdn't surprise me if WIND IN THE WILLOWS hadn't gotten the Latin treatment at some point. I'm not much of a Latinist, but I know I'll be amusing myself for some time to come seeing how familiar passages in THE HOBBIT came out in Walker's translation. Here, for example, is part of Gollum-talk, from the chapter AEnigmata in Tenebris:
post nonnullum tempus Gollum secum laetus sibilauit:"est bonum, mi pretiossse? est sucosum? est gustandum ad mordendum?" e tenebris Bilbonem aspiciebat.
Even on a first look, have to say I'm impressed to see they've fixed the runes on the title page to correspond to the Latin title, rather than reprinting the English text in runes. They've also done the same with the two runic inscriptions on Thror's Map ("Tabula Geographica Throris"), replacing the originals with Tolkienesque runes which I presume match the new Latin text.
But best of all is its cover, which reproduces Tolkien's wonderful painting "Conversation with Smaug" transformed into a mosaic. A better analogy for what the book itself does, reproducing the familiar in a new fashion that simulates something v. old, wd be hard to find: nicely done.
--John R.
P.S.: Janice says: They should get the artist who did this cover for their next Calendar!
September 27, 2012
Another Lecture
So, tonight I gave the second of my two lectures at Corey Olsen's TOLKIEN PROFESSOR class, via Skype. As before, on Monday, it was a really good group of students who gave a raft of good questions, not all of which I knew the answers to --the best kind, since they start me thinking. The thing I always liked best about teaching, back in the day, was that inevitably a student wd come up with a question or a perspective or an insight that had never occurred to me.*
This time my topic was the outlines and plot-notes for THE HOBBIT: what do they reveal about Tolkien's compositional method and what glimpses do they offer into remarkably differing paths the narrative for that story might have taken, from Bilbo's solo journey back through Mirkwood (west to east) to seek help freeing the dwarves from forced labor in the elvenking's halls to the absence of any 'Battle of Five Armies', its place in the story being taken by a battle (sans dwarves) between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains that ensnares Bilbo on his journey homeward. And, of course, the odd but vivid account of Bilbo killing Smaug, floating away in a golden cup on the dragon's blood, and later becoming hard and brave from contact with the dragonblood (shades of Sigurd!).
The question I myself came up with from looking again at this material is this: in Plot Notes B, the first to project events all the way to the ending of the story, Bladorthin (= Gandalf) refuses any share of the dwarves' treasure nor later of the troll's treasure. The very last words of these Plot-Notes, on a line all their own, is "The wizard's reward" (H.o.H.366). As a student pointed out, from the 'geo-political' perspective of THE QUEST OF EREBOR it's clear that Gandalf's reward is a dragon-free western Middle-earth, the Kingdom Under the Mountain and Dale re-established, and so forth. But it seems improbable, to say the least, to think this had been in Tolkien's mind that early. Far more likely, if it'd been anything along those lines, it'd simply been the better world resulting from the defeat of the goblins and expulsion of the Necromancer.
Of course, it's quite possible -- even likely -- that Tolkien had something else entirely in mind for "the wizard's reward". Something far less abstract and more concrete. As another student pointed out, this line cd even refer to some reward the wizard gives the hobbit (like the Old Took's magic studs). Or, I might add, vice-versa.
Interesting possibilities, but unresolvable at this distance in time, alas.
Still, glad I had this chance to join in the fun on the Mythgard Institute HOBBIT class.
--John R.
current reading: FILES ON PARADE by Wm Ready.
*my all-time favorite was a Marquette student who asked me why the Wife of Bath was childless.
This time my topic was the outlines and plot-notes for THE HOBBIT: what do they reveal about Tolkien's compositional method and what glimpses do they offer into remarkably differing paths the narrative for that story might have taken, from Bilbo's solo journey back through Mirkwood (west to east) to seek help freeing the dwarves from forced labor in the elvenking's halls to the absence of any 'Battle of Five Armies', its place in the story being taken by a battle (sans dwarves) between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains that ensnares Bilbo on his journey homeward. And, of course, the odd but vivid account of Bilbo killing Smaug, floating away in a golden cup on the dragon's blood, and later becoming hard and brave from contact with the dragonblood (shades of Sigurd!).
The question I myself came up with from looking again at this material is this: in Plot Notes B, the first to project events all the way to the ending of the story, Bladorthin (= Gandalf) refuses any share of the dwarves' treasure nor later of the troll's treasure. The very last words of these Plot-Notes, on a line all their own, is "The wizard's reward" (H.o.H.366). As a student pointed out, from the 'geo-political' perspective of THE QUEST OF EREBOR it's clear that Gandalf's reward is a dragon-free western Middle-earth, the Kingdom Under the Mountain and Dale re-established, and so forth. But it seems improbable, to say the least, to think this had been in Tolkien's mind that early. Far more likely, if it'd been anything along those lines, it'd simply been the better world resulting from the defeat of the goblins and expulsion of the Necromancer.
Of course, it's quite possible -- even likely -- that Tolkien had something else entirely in mind for "the wizard's reward". Something far less abstract and more concrete. As another student pointed out, this line cd even refer to some reward the wizard gives the hobbit (like the Old Took's magic studs). Or, I might add, vice-versa.
Interesting possibilities, but unresolvable at this distance in time, alas.
Still, glad I had this chance to join in the fun on the Mythgard Institute HOBBIT class.
--John R.
current reading: FILES ON PARADE by Wm Ready.
*my all-time favorite was a Marquette student who asked me why the Wife of Bath was childless.
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