John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 41

Andy Serkis's LotR audiobook

So, I was pleased to hear that Andy Serkis, Smeagol extraordinaire, has recorded an unabridged audiobook of THE LORD OF THE RINGS in three parts (FR, TT, RK), due out September 16th. This is welcome news in that the old Rob Inglis recordings have been long overdue for replacement and also that I expect Serkis to do a bang-up job of it. Here's a sample Smeagol vs. Gollum track:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sez-k...

I hadn't realized until checking some links in connection with this story that Serkis has already released a complete recording of THE HOBBIT almost a year ago. Clearly it's time to update my JRRT audiobooks, my current holdings being a melange of cassettes, cds, audiofiles, and records. I also see there's now an audiobook of UNFINISHED TALES which I hadn't known about. So there's some new to discover and much older material to renew my acquaintance with. More later.

--John R.

--current reading: THE THIRD INKLING (up to 1936, when Williams and Lewis made contact)

A Tolkienian Petition

 So, thanks to JC for the link to news about a petition asking Amazon Studios not to give their forthcoming Tolkien series the Game of Thrones treatment, with intimacy counselors and the like. 

https://wng.org/roundups/fans-beg-amazon-to-keep-middle-earth-clean-1625606930

Given that this pits 50,000 fans against $250,000,000 dollars, I'd call that Quixotic.

 What's more interesting is that the journalist who wrote this piece, Collin Garbaring, clearly put some time in, down to researching the correct titles of papers from the recent Tolkien Society's seminar, and even seems to have watched some of the audience chat and Q&A from that event. He knows who Shippey is, and his significance, and located a credible Inklings scholar (Louis Markos) for a relevant quote. 

For the curious, here's what seems to be the original petition, or two versions thereof, or perhaps two similar petitions, with widely divergent numbers given for sign-ees:

https://www.change.org/p/amazon-prime-keep-nudity-out-of-amazons-lotr-series

https://www.change.org/p/j-r-r-tolkien-estate-amazon-s-middle-earth-is-not-tolkien-s-middle-earth?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=ff04e750-13d6-11e7-95e6-51e1faa18770

--John R.

--current reading: Lindop's THE THIRD INKLING

--current viewing: THE ROOK 

The Cat Report (Fr. July 9th 2021)

 

So, all four cats who were in the cat-room (Sophia, Sunshine, Tiffany, and Marley) got adopted, switching out our yellow cats and torbie/calicos with black and grey: tuxedo cat TEE, black cat bonded pair TABITHA and TOMMY, and grey cat pair JEREMIAH BULFROG* and JESSE.

TEE is an amazingly friendly and sociable cat. Within five minutes of my meeting her for the first time she was outside on the leash taking a walk. She did well, too, exploring the side of the store centered on the cat room without trying to make any sudden breaks. She liked climbing up on my shoulders, so that sometimes it looked like she was the one walking me. Without wanting strangers to pet her she nonetheless attracted a lot of attention while getting a chance to get out of the cat room for a while. Back in the room she wanted more attention and petting and games (the feather duster was a particular favorite) and went back in her cage reluctantly. 

It was TABITHA and TOMMY’s turn next. He elected to stay in the big cage but came up to the front and welcomed being petted so long as he didn’t have to leave his safe space. He basically cuddled in the cage. His sister Tabitha (the fluffy one) by contrast came out gladly and stayed out. She loved games, esp the string game, but loved being petted even more. She too was displeased to have to go back in her cage, and several times made it clear she’d like to come back out for another round.

This week’s shy cats award goes to JEREMIAH BULFROG and JESSE, neither of whom wd come out, though they purred when petted in their cage. They’re truly bonded: with four cage-sections  (the whole bottom row)  to choose from they slept cuddled together in the same section. I cdn’t tell them apart but they know their names and each will respond to being called by his or her name.

I think as the new cats get used to the cat room they’ll be out and exploring more, at first cautiously and then with more confidence. Don’t think it’ll take too long either.
No health issues that I noted.
One person who admired Tee’s walking said he’d adopted a cat from this cat-room once, named Nikky (just guessing at the spelling). I gathered Nikky is no longer among us but got distracted by the cat-walking and didn’t get any more information.
—John R.


*somebody out there besides me remembers Three Dog Night

Bernard Acworth

So, here's a comment that shd have gotten posted long ago: my apologies to Larry Gilman for the delay.

Since it has been so long, I include here a link back to the original piece on which it was commenting:

https://theotherjournal.com/2013/03/03/the-shift-that-wasnt/

And for the record, I think Gilman's piece is an excellent treatment of the subject.

--John R.

 

Sayers on Tolkien (elliptically)

 So, thanks to David B. for pointing out to me that the full letter I quoted from in my post on Dalfonzo's book DOROTHY AND JACK can be found in Lewis's COLLECTED LETTERS (Vol III p. 689-690). The letter was written on 22/12/55 (that is, December 12th 1955). The bulk of the letter contrasts 'clerks' (who I take him to mean the literati, self-appointed judges) with those who create popular art; he much prefers the latter.

The line that interests me comes in the paragraph that reads in full:

"I hadn't really thought about it before, but of course Tolkien's females are as you describe them. And one couldn't, from internal evidence, diagnose the cause, because so many causes are equally possible."

Hooper's note reads simply "It is not known how Savers described them."

So that adds to the context without, unfortunately, providing the information we most wanted.

The one takeaway for me is that from this we definitely know that D.L.S. read Tolkien -- which might have been well known to Sayers scholars but was news to me, and welcome news at that.

--John R.

--current reading; another volume of the same light novel, more on Lindop's Wms*

*C.W. has just met the love of his life. His wife doesn't know about her yet.

"Tolkien's females are as you describe them"

So, I found out about a book on C. S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers last year and got a copy to send my friend Richard West, a great fan of both Sayers and Lewis, thinking it might make good hospital reading for him while he was struggling with kidney failure. In the end Richard caught the Covid virus and passed away. I never did get the chance to ask if he ever read this book or enjoyed it, but he was very much on my mind as I was reading it. 

DOROTHY AND JACK: THE TRANSFORMING FRIENDSHIP OF DOROTHY L. SAYERS AND C. S. LEWIS by Gina Dalfonzo is a fairly quick read and relatively light in tone (e.g., a two hundred page book like this wd usually have an index). Here are a few of its more striking points.

First is a long quote in which Sayers states that she felt an affinity with Dante because they shared the same faith, whereas this was not true of herself and Milton (p.41). That struck me as bizarre.

Second, Dalfonzo is willing to consider that CSL had sex with Janie Moore (p.56) but asserts -- on the basis of no evidence at all that I can see -- that CSL cut off all carnal relations at the time of his conversion and henceforth was strictly celibate, from that time till his marriage with Joy Davidman (p.57). She repeats the claim ("a clean break") on p.111, again without citing any evidence.

At one point Dalfonzo has a discussion about Lewis and Sayer's disagreement about CSL taking on the role of 'Everyman's Theologian': "She felt that Jack . . . was a little too prone to step outside his area of expertise" (p.73). Since this was one of the key objections Tolkien had to Lewis's apologetics, it's interesting to see that Lewis himself had struggled with the issue, and at a much earlier date.

Dalfonzo's discussion of Charles Williams (p.109-115) makes it clear she considers him a predator, and it's hard not to agree. I was surprised to be reminded of how short a time Sayers knew Wms (just three years). I'll have to get a look at the appropriate volume of her Collected Letters sometime to read through their correspondence.

Here's a quote I wish we had more context for: 

"I hadn't really thought about it before, 

but of course Tolkien's females

are as you describe them" 

—(p.118; emphasis mine)

This comes from CSL's reply in a 1955 letter to Sayer, but since Sayer's letter does not survive we have no way of knowing what was her critique, just that Lewis agreed. 

Finally, it's interesting to note that while Sayers and Lewis corresponded for about fifteen years, they only met four times that we're sure of (there may be a few more unrecorded visits). By the end of that time they had grown close enough to confide in each other about the alcoholism of CSL's brother and of Sayers' husband.

--John R.

--current reading: a light novel (=Japanese young adult fiction), and THE THIRD INKLING

Reading Lindop

 So, I've now made some progress on Grevel Lindop's biography of Charles Williams, and the first thing I've noticed is that Lindop makes him sound much more normal, less of an oddball, than previous accounts. He's so far not made much progress on his stated goal of establishing Williams as a major poet, but it's early days yet.

A minor point: I was rather surprised by his descriptions of Wms as 'tall' (twice) and 'lanky'; for some reason I'd had the impression C.W. was slight in build and underaverage in height.

The most interesting content is his suggestion that Wms was not only in Waite's offshoot of the Golden Dawn (the Independent and Rectified Rite*), which focused on Xian mysticism --this has been well  established for a long time-- but probably also belonged to the surviving branch of the core Golden Dawn (Stella Matutina) that continued the original group's interest in ceremonial magic as well (p.66).

Even his Acknowledgments contain bits of interest, such as showing that he drew upon interviews with many people who knew Wms. And then there's his thanks to 'the owners of Charles Williams' tarot cards . . . [who] wish to remain anonymous' (page x). It wd be interesting to see these --I assume these must have been a set of Waite's devising (the so-called Rider Waite Tarot). 

More later, once I've made my way through another good chunk.

--John R.

*later (1915) succeeded by The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross  

A Card Carrying Member

 So, yesterday my new card from the Tolkien Society arrived (thanks, Jessica), showing that my membership has been renewed for another year. This membership includes a subscription to the journal MALLORN as well as the newsletter AMON HEN, as well as advance notice of events (online and the old fashioned way, in-person). Such as the diversity in Tolkien seminar scheduled for the 4th of July weekend.*

At this point it's looking like I may be able to drop in at some sessions but not the whole event -- though I'll be looking forward to hearing how it goes.

---John R.

--current reading: THE LATE SCHOLAR by Paton Walsh & Savers (re-read) and THE THIRD INKLING by Lindop (which I'm finally getting to, seven years or so since I put it on the shelf)

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2021/06/seminar-speakers-announced-tolkien-and-diversity/

War of the Rohirrim

So, it looks like the forthcoming SECOND AGE Tolkien project that's been in the works at Amazon for a while now may not be the next film based on Tolkien's works to see light of day. Yesterday I learned (thanks D) about an anime version of the Helm Hammerhand story that's in the works.

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2021/0...

That seems an odd choice, with all of Middle-earth to choose from. And if they were going to do a Rohirrim story why not go for the big epic, the story of Eorl? Perhaps Helm's reign was the most Games-of-Thronish reasonably self-contained part of the Eorlings legend/history. In any case, without investing too much in this I'll still be interested in seeing how it comes out. And I'm curious what other sidelines they might explore aside from the big story: NUMENOR.

--John R.

Diversity and Counter-Diversity in Tolkien Scholarship

So, I'd been going back and forth over whether to attend this year's Tolkien Seminar hosted by the Tolkien Society. It's a time intensive event, as I found out when I tried to attend the full array of presentations last year (who knew sitting and watching a screen cd be so tiring as the hours drag on?). Plus, the focus of this year's event is outside the range of my work on Tolkien. 

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2021/06/seminar-speakers-announced-tolkien-and-diversity/

But on the theory that it's good to get out of yr comfort zone once in a while, I finally went ahead and signed up this morning.

 Which turned out to be good timing, because this afternoon a friend (hi J.) sent me a link about people who are staging, or trying to stage, a counter-conference, to be held (virtually) concurrently with the long-planned Tolkien Society event. Some information (not much) can be found on the insurgent group's website: 

https://societyoftolkien.org/

Much more, including discussion, appears on Mike Glyer's site, FILE 770, including that the group organizing the counter-event that has only been in existence for about a week,* making it sound more like a flash mob than a conference:

http://file770.com/purported-event-will-counter-program-the-seminar-on-diversity-in-tolkien/

--John R.

*just to clarify: The Tolkien Society has been around since 1969 or so, and is a registered charity in the U.K. 'Society of Tolkien' is a new group who have formed specifically to protest the Tolkien Society's seminar.