John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 77
April 11, 2019
A Bad Day for Whistleblowers
So, Julian Assange was taken from embassy in London today. Plans to extradite him to the U.S. are already in the works.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/wo...
I wondered what wd happen to his pet cat, but he seems to have seen this coming and made arrangements accordingly:
https://www.businessinsider.com/wikil...
--John R.
--current reading: THURBER ON CRIME, ed. Rbt Lopresti
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/wo...
I wondered what wd happen to his pet cat, but he seems to have seen this coming and made arrangements accordingly:
https://www.businessinsider.com/wikil...
--John R.
--current reading: THURBER ON CRIME, ed. Rbt Lopresti
April 6, 2019
Lincoln read Poe
So, I had no sooner posted my piece about Presidents who enjoy reading detective novels than I found a nice piece on the subject much more up-to-date than the one I was citing (coming from last year, rather than 1934).* Better still, it revealed more about the circumstances surrounding FDR's THE PRESIDENT'S MYSTERY STORY.
The piece is called "The Mystery Buffs in the White House" by Craig Fehrman (NYT, May 23rd 2018). Here's the link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/books/review/president-mystery-thriller-detective.html
The most interesting thing about Fehrman's piece is the news, not previously known to me, that Lincoln read, and liked, Poe.
The president-mystery bond began with Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allan Poe, who were born within a month of each other in 1809. Like a lot of 19th-century readers, our 16th president was wary of popular fiction . . . But Lincoln made an exception for Poe, reading his pioneering detective stories soon after their publication; he could quote full passages from classics like “The Gold-Bug.”
. . . Consider how one of Lincoln’s contemporaries described his relationship to Poe: “The absolute and logical method of Poe’s tales” appealed to “the bent of his mind.”
Later on we're told that (Theodore Roosevelt also read Poe)
By contrast,
Calvin Coolidge liked detective stories by S. S. Van Dine.
I'm curious about Fehrman's source for his Lincoln-read-Poe story and may try to track down his book to see what evidence he cites for this.
--John R.
The piece is called "The Mystery Buffs in the White House" by Craig Fehrman (NYT, May 23rd 2018). Here's the link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/books/review/president-mystery-thriller-detective.html
The most interesting thing about Fehrman's piece is the news, not previously known to me, that Lincoln read, and liked, Poe.
The president-mystery bond began with Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allan Poe, who were born within a month of each other in 1809. Like a lot of 19th-century readers, our 16th president was wary of popular fiction . . . But Lincoln made an exception for Poe, reading his pioneering detective stories soon after their publication; he could quote full passages from classics like “The Gold-Bug.”
. . . Consider how one of Lincoln’s contemporaries described his relationship to Poe: “The absolute and logical method of Poe’s tales” appealed to “the bent of his mind.”
Later on we're told that (Theodore Roosevelt also read Poe)
By contrast,
Calvin Coolidge liked detective stories by S. S. Van Dine.
I'm curious about Fehrman's source for his Lincoln-read-Poe story and may try to track down his book to see what evidence he cites for this.
--John R.
Presidential Smoking
So, on second thought, I thought it'd be fun to set down head usher Hoover's observations on the smoking habits of the presidents he knew -- especially given how presidents today have to hide that they smoke at all, ever.
Here's the quote:
SMOKING HABITS Harding was the only President I ever saw who smoked cigarettes. He also smoked pipe and cigars, and chewed tobacco moderately. Cleveland chewed tobacco, but never smoked.* Harrison smoked a little. McKinley had a passion for cigars and was perhaps the most intense smoker of all the Presidents during my time. One never saw him without a cigar in his mouth except at meals or when asleep. Neither Roosevelt** nor Wilson ever smoked or chewed. Taft smoked when he came to the White House, but stopped soon after and never took up the habit again. Coolidge smoked moderately, occasionally a pipe, but more often the best quality of Havana cigars, which were always given to him. He used a one-cent cigar-holder on a fifty-cent or seventy-five-cent cigar. Hoover smoked incessantly. The bigger and the stronger, the better he liked them, but they must always be a good brand. With the burdens of office he increased his smoking.
The only First Lady whom I have known to smoke was Mrs. Coolidge, and she never did so in public.
--Ike Hoover, 42 YEARS, p. 290
Times change: I find it hard to imagine a president today chewing tobacco. Another fact our author mentions in passing that's hard to get my head around is that the first bathtub was installed in the White House during Arthur's administration -- i.e. in the 1880s, before even Ike Hoover's time, though not by much. Before that I guess folks just did without or let a washcloth suffice.
Sometimes change really is progress.
--John R.
*I can't but wonder if this had any cause/effect relation with his cancer in the roof of his mouth, for which he was secretly operated on while in office.
**again, remember that this is TR, not FDR, who was famous for his cigarette holder.
Eowyn's Thee and Thou
So, in my early days of reading, and re-reading, and re-re-reading THE LORD OF THE RINGS over and over again, I used to be puzzled by the scene in which Eowyn begs Aragorn to take her with him when he takes the Paths of the Dead. Not by the content of their exchange but the style. Why, I wondered, did she suddenly switch to formal, archaic English (Bible-speak) at such a time?
wilt thou go?
wilt thou not let me ride . . . ?
I beg thee!
Years later, when I was no longer thirteen and had studied grammar* and gained some fluency in reading archaic speech (like the time in college when I read the entire FAERIE QUEENE between waiting on customers at the local drive in),** I came to realize that there are, or were, two usages of these archaic pronouns in English (thou, thy, thine, thee). The first and by far most dominant is its association with formal, remote speech, like in the King James Bible. The second, forgotten by just about everybody who wasn't a Quaker or historian of the language, was for intimate use: this is how you refer to people you are close to. Thus it was to add an extra layer to Eowyn's laying bare her feelings in this brief exchange.
So there's a disconnect here: Tolkien is trying for one effect and instead achieving another. I suspect this was less of a problem when Tolkien was writing this scene (circa 1946) than it is now because over the course of the last century we've lost 'poetic diction', despite Owen Barfield's best efforts on its behalf. Ezra Pound announced its doom as far back as 1911, but there were many hold-outs among traditionalists for a generation or so.
Tolkien did make judicious use of these archaic pronouns in other contexts, particularly in THE SILMARILLION, as in Cirdan's words to Gandalf in OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE (Silm.304) and in the exchanges between God and the angels (or, if you prefer, Eru and the Valar) in the AINULINDALE (cf. Silm. 15, 17, 19). I strongly suspect that this is what those early reviewers of THE SILMARILLION when it first came out meant when they complained that it 'read like the Bible', and I strongly suspect that this is the only part of THE SILMARILLION read by those critics.
Tolkien also used deliberately archaic language in most of his translations as an essential part of his goal of making medieval works understandable to a reader unversed in the original language (Old English, Middle English, medieval Welsh) without making it sound as if it'd been written by a modern-day author -- but more on this later.
--John R.
--at the end of week three in Milwaukee.
*and picked up smatterings of Spanish, French, and Old English
**alas for The Rocket, Magnolia Arkansas's drive-in theatre, long gone.
wilt thou go?
wilt thou not let me ride . . . ?
I beg thee!
Years later, when I was no longer thirteen and had studied grammar* and gained some fluency in reading archaic speech (like the time in college when I read the entire FAERIE QUEENE between waiting on customers at the local drive in),** I came to realize that there are, or were, two usages of these archaic pronouns in English (thou, thy, thine, thee). The first and by far most dominant is its association with formal, remote speech, like in the King James Bible. The second, forgotten by just about everybody who wasn't a Quaker or historian of the language, was for intimate use: this is how you refer to people you are close to. Thus it was to add an extra layer to Eowyn's laying bare her feelings in this brief exchange.
So there's a disconnect here: Tolkien is trying for one effect and instead achieving another. I suspect this was less of a problem when Tolkien was writing this scene (circa 1946) than it is now because over the course of the last century we've lost 'poetic diction', despite Owen Barfield's best efforts on its behalf. Ezra Pound announced its doom as far back as 1911, but there were many hold-outs among traditionalists for a generation or so.
Tolkien did make judicious use of these archaic pronouns in other contexts, particularly in THE SILMARILLION, as in Cirdan's words to Gandalf in OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD AGE (Silm.304) and in the exchanges between God and the angels (or, if you prefer, Eru and the Valar) in the AINULINDALE (cf. Silm. 15, 17, 19). I strongly suspect that this is what those early reviewers of THE SILMARILLION when it first came out meant when they complained that it 'read like the Bible', and I strongly suspect that this is the only part of THE SILMARILLION read by those critics.
Tolkien also used deliberately archaic language in most of his translations as an essential part of his goal of making medieval works understandable to a reader unversed in the original language (Old English, Middle English, medieval Welsh) without making it sound as if it'd been written by a modern-day author -- but more on this later.
--John R.
--at the end of week three in Milwaukee.
*and picked up smatterings of Spanish, French, and Old English
**alas for The Rocket, Magnolia Arkansas's drive-in theatre, long gone.
April 5, 2019
Presidential Reading
And now, for something completely different.
Came across a short section in the book I'm reading, which is made up of short sections, little anecdotes:* Ike Hoover's 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, a behind-the-scenes look at nine presidents by a member of the White House staff.
This particular passage, just two paragraphs long, goes like this:
TASTES IN READING
Most of the Presidents of my time liked detective stories or at least mystery stories. There were exceptions, of course, like Roosevelt, who with all his reading, and he was perhaps the greatest reader of any President I knew, never read mystery stories. Current literature as published in magazines was his favorite. Wilson read the Christian Science Monitor, which he said was the only paper in America that told the truth. Wilson and Hoover, the former especially, were incessant detective story readers. Coolidge also enjoyed such stories; nevertheless, like Taft, he confined his reading principally to the daily papers. Taft especially seemed to read nothing else and would delve into every page of all the papers he could conveniently get hold of. Harding didn't seem to read much of anything. A game of chance or skill was more to his liking. Men like Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley varied their reading, not confining themselves, so far as I could notice, to any particular line.
All read the yellow journal made up in the office of clippings, news items, editorials, and stock market reports. Coolidge and Harding watched these carefully. Wilson, Taft, McKinley, and Roosevelt never seemed to notice them. Hoover seemed to watch them.
--Ike Hoover, 1934, pages 271-272
By 'Roosevelt' he means TR, not FDR, the latter having been famous for his love of detective stories -- so much so that he came up with the plot for one that was then written in round-robin style by a collection of well-known mystery writers of the time. Or so I'm told, never having seen the book in question, THE PRESIDENT'S MYSTERY STORY.
--John R.
*a similar section (SMOKING HABITS, p. 290-291) tells which presidents smoked, and what. And the one First Lady who smoked (never in public)
Came across a short section in the book I'm reading, which is made up of short sections, little anecdotes:* Ike Hoover's 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, a behind-the-scenes look at nine presidents by a member of the White House staff.
This particular passage, just two paragraphs long, goes like this:
TASTES IN READING
Most of the Presidents of my time liked detective stories or at least mystery stories. There were exceptions, of course, like Roosevelt, who with all his reading, and he was perhaps the greatest reader of any President I knew, never read mystery stories. Current literature as published in magazines was his favorite. Wilson read the Christian Science Monitor, which he said was the only paper in America that told the truth. Wilson and Hoover, the former especially, were incessant detective story readers. Coolidge also enjoyed such stories; nevertheless, like Taft, he confined his reading principally to the daily papers. Taft especially seemed to read nothing else and would delve into every page of all the papers he could conveniently get hold of. Harding didn't seem to read much of anything. A game of chance or skill was more to his liking. Men like Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley varied their reading, not confining themselves, so far as I could notice, to any particular line.
All read the yellow journal made up in the office of clippings, news items, editorials, and stock market reports. Coolidge and Harding watched these carefully. Wilson, Taft, McKinley, and Roosevelt never seemed to notice them. Hoover seemed to watch them.
--Ike Hoover, 1934, pages 271-272
By 'Roosevelt' he means TR, not FDR, the latter having been famous for his love of detective stories -- so much so that he came up with the plot for one that was then written in round-robin style by a collection of well-known mystery writers of the time. Or so I'm told, never having seen the book in question, THE PRESIDENT'S MYSTERY STORY.
--John R.
*a similar section (SMOKING HABITS, p. 290-291) tells which presidents smoked, and what. And the one First Lady who smoked (never in public)
April 4, 2019
Taking Names to Yourself (Turin vs. Gollum)
So, yesterday I came across a passage in "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" that had never struck me as odd before; now it's piqued my curiosity.
In the immediate aftermath of Smeagol's near-repentance scene, Sam spoils Gollum's last chance to turn from evil by accusing him as "sneaking". When Frodo wakes and Gollum calls himself "a sneak", Frodo advises*
Don't take names to yourself, Smeagol, said Frodo. It's unwise, whether they're true or false
This sounds very much like advice that Turin shd have been given. Not that he wd have taken it, being Turin: Always trying to escape who he is and what he's done, taking on names in an attempt (never quite successful) to put the past behind him.
But then what are we to make of many-named characters throughout LotR, such as Gandalf and especially Aragorn? Is Aragorn the ultimate anti-Turin?
--John R.
--currrent reading: 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Ike Hoover (1935)
*this advice is all the more effective, given that Frodo takes pains to address Gollum by his original name, which has had the effect of reinforcing that side of his personality
In the immediate aftermath of Smeagol's near-repentance scene, Sam spoils Gollum's last chance to turn from evil by accusing him as "sneaking". When Frodo wakes and Gollum calls himself "a sneak", Frodo advises*
Don't take names to yourself, Smeagol, said Frodo. It's unwise, whether they're true or false
This sounds very much like advice that Turin shd have been given. Not that he wd have taken it, being Turin: Always trying to escape who he is and what he's done, taking on names in an attempt (never quite successful) to put the past behind him.
But then what are we to make of many-named characters throughout LotR, such as Gandalf and especially Aragorn? Is Aragorn the ultimate anti-Turin?
--John R.
--currrent reading: 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Ike Hoover (1935)
*this advice is all the more effective, given that Frodo takes pains to address Gollum by his original name, which has had the effect of reinforcing that side of his personality
April 3, 2019
Synoptic
So, one of the little puzzles about THE LORD OF THE RINGS I've never seen addressed involves the Synopses that appear at the beginning of the second and third volume (omitted from the one-volume editions, I was surprised to learn).
The relevant passage tells how FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING endswith "the fall of Boromir to the lure of the Ring; with the escape anddisappearance of Frodo and his servant Samwise; and the scatteringof the remainder of the Fellowship by a sudden attack of orc-soldiers,some in the service of the Dark Lord of Mordor, some of the traitorSaruman of Isengard. The Quest of the Ring-bearer seemed already overtaken by disaster" (TT.9-10)
What's remarkable is the passage I've marked for emphasis. Here in the summary of Volume I we are told things the reader could not learn by reading FELLOWSHIP, indeed not until the opening pages of Volume II: that the Fellowship has been attacked by orcs. This information is not within the last chapter of the previous book, which ends with the Fellowship scattering, running off in all directions. And it's later yet, though still in the first chapter of TWO TOWERS, that the survivors figure out the orc-band has divided loyalties between Mordor and Isengard.
I think it's extraordinary that Tolkien wd include in a summary information not contained in the thing being summarized (in this case, Volume I of LotR). Thinking the synopsis might have been put together by someone at Allen & Unwin, years ago I wrote to Rayner Unwin with a query, asking who had written these synopses: someone at A&U or Tolkien himself. Mr Unwin kindly replied, saying that it was of course Tolkien himself.*
So there it is: Tolkien's synopsis contains information not in the thing being synopsized,
Given how carefully Tolkien seeds information within his tale and how carefully he doles it out when the time comes, I have to conclude this is entirely deliberate on his part, I assume to heighten the drama of the second volume's in medias res opening.
I suspect this has gotten such little attention because most of us come to TWO TOWERS fresh from having just finished FELLOWSHIP and plunge right in, having no need for a synopsis of the book we just finished devouring for the dozenth time. In any case, obviously this is a minor point (or otherwise I wd have seen somebody else mention it in all these years). But it remains a bit of a puzzle, to me at least.
--John R.
current reading: Barlow's COLUMBIAD (1807). finished with the poem and on to the (extensive) endnotes; the author's efforts to explain what he's talking about take up about 20% of the whole.
*as confirmation of this, Archivist Bill Fliss points out to me that Marquette holds Tolkien's typescript of both pieces: 3/5/26 (TT) and 3/7/49 (RK).
The relevant passage tells how FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING endswith "the fall of Boromir to the lure of the Ring; with the escape anddisappearance of Frodo and his servant Samwise; and the scatteringof the remainder of the Fellowship by a sudden attack of orc-soldiers,some in the service of the Dark Lord of Mordor, some of the traitorSaruman of Isengard. The Quest of the Ring-bearer seemed already overtaken by disaster" (TT.9-10)
What's remarkable is the passage I've marked for emphasis. Here in the summary of Volume I we are told things the reader could not learn by reading FELLOWSHIP, indeed not until the opening pages of Volume II: that the Fellowship has been attacked by orcs. This information is not within the last chapter of the previous book, which ends with the Fellowship scattering, running off in all directions. And it's later yet, though still in the first chapter of TWO TOWERS, that the survivors figure out the orc-band has divided loyalties between Mordor and Isengard.
I think it's extraordinary that Tolkien wd include in a summary information not contained in the thing being summarized (in this case, Volume I of LotR). Thinking the synopsis might have been put together by someone at Allen & Unwin, years ago I wrote to Rayner Unwin with a query, asking who had written these synopses: someone at A&U or Tolkien himself. Mr Unwin kindly replied, saying that it was of course Tolkien himself.*
So there it is: Tolkien's synopsis contains information not in the thing being synopsized,
Given how carefully Tolkien seeds information within his tale and how carefully he doles it out when the time comes, I have to conclude this is entirely deliberate on his part, I assume to heighten the drama of the second volume's in medias res opening.
I suspect this has gotten such little attention because most of us come to TWO TOWERS fresh from having just finished FELLOWSHIP and plunge right in, having no need for a synopsis of the book we just finished devouring for the dozenth time. In any case, obviously this is a minor point (or otherwise I wd have seen somebody else mention it in all these years). But it remains a bit of a puzzle, to me at least.
--John R.
current reading: Barlow's COLUMBIAD (1807). finished with the poem and on to the (extensive) endnotes; the author's efforts to explain what he's talking about take up about 20% of the whole.
*as confirmation of this, Archivist Bill Fliss points out to me that Marquette holds Tolkien's typescript of both pieces: 3/5/26 (TT) and 3/7/49 (RK).
April 1, 2019
Marquette's Tolkien Fans oral history project
So, I meant to post this a week ago, just after the article concerned was printed, but the car crash I was in last Tuesday threw me off my schedule* before I'd gotten beyond the draft stage.
For those who have access to the JOURNAL/SENTINEL, Milwaukee's hometown newspaper, the Monday March 25th issue contains a nice piece about Marquette, the manuscripts, and a new oral history project launched recently in which Tolkien fans are given three minutes to answer three questions:
When did you first encounter the works of J.R.R. Tolkien?Why are you a Tolkien fan?What has he meant to you?Some of the early contributor's answers have been spliced together into a sampling of voices which I found surprisingly moving to hear. If you don't have access to the physical newspaper, here's the link to the piece online:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2019/03/24/marquette-launches-tolkien-fandom-oral-history-project/3225405002/
The article also has a nice picture of the Archives, for those who have never been there, and of the current archivist of the Tolkien collection, Bill Fliss.
I particularly want to see how this project develops because on the one hand I've long been interested in oral history projects, such as the one Lyle Dorsett set up at the Wade Center back in the early/mid eighties, interviewing people who'd known Lewis (and Tolkien) and getting their memories and recollections down on tape. And on the other hand I've long been struck by the diversity of Tolkien fandom, ever since I found out how people who liked the book liked it for different reasons, or were drawn to different parts of it. The story of how people discovered Tolkien also interests me, and it's notable how many people remember that moment of discovery vividly for years afterwards.
So, if you'd like to take part in this Tolkienian oral history project, here's the link explaining how you can apply to do so, either in-person at Marquette (well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood, or indeed if you're not) are remotely via the magic of the internet.
https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/JRRT/fandomoh.php
--John R.
--still reading Barlow's bad book (two-thirds of the way through now). I just got through the part about Franklin discovering electricity.
*short version: we got hit by a car running a red light. It flipped our car over onto its roof and left us hanging inside upside down from our seat belts (wonderful things, seat belts). The good news: all three of us walked away. The bad news: my friends' car was damaged beyond repair and we're all a bit shaken. Kind of like a Bond martini: shaken but not stirred.
For those who have access to the JOURNAL/SENTINEL, Milwaukee's hometown newspaper, the Monday March 25th issue contains a nice piece about Marquette, the manuscripts, and a new oral history project launched recently in which Tolkien fans are given three minutes to answer three questions:
When did you first encounter the works of J.R.R. Tolkien?Why are you a Tolkien fan?What has he meant to you?Some of the early contributor's answers have been spliced together into a sampling of voices which I found surprisingly moving to hear. If you don't have access to the physical newspaper, here's the link to the piece online:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2019/03/24/marquette-launches-tolkien-fandom-oral-history-project/3225405002/
The article also has a nice picture of the Archives, for those who have never been there, and of the current archivist of the Tolkien collection, Bill Fliss.
I particularly want to see how this project develops because on the one hand I've long been interested in oral history projects, such as the one Lyle Dorsett set up at the Wade Center back in the early/mid eighties, interviewing people who'd known Lewis (and Tolkien) and getting their memories and recollections down on tape. And on the other hand I've long been struck by the diversity of Tolkien fandom, ever since I found out how people who liked the book liked it for different reasons, or were drawn to different parts of it. The story of how people discovered Tolkien also interests me, and it's notable how many people remember that moment of discovery vividly for years afterwards.
So, if you'd like to take part in this Tolkienian oral history project, here's the link explaining how you can apply to do so, either in-person at Marquette (well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood, or indeed if you're not) are remotely via the magic of the internet.
https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/JRRT/fandomoh.php
--John R.
--still reading Barlow's bad book (two-thirds of the way through now). I just got through the part about Franklin discovering electricity.
*short version: we got hit by a car running a red light. It flipped our car over onto its roof and left us hanging inside upside down from our seat belts (wonderful things, seat belts). The good news: all three of us walked away. The bad news: my friends' car was damaged beyond repair and we're all a bit shaken. Kind of like a Bond martini: shaken but not stirred.
Spider Pass (Frodo's Elvish)
So, I was working today trying to correctly sequence all the typescripts of the chapters towards the end of LotR Book IV and was struck by something that I'd never thought about before.
Tolkien goes to great lengths to build suspense for the disaster at Cirith Ungol. Several times in the chapters leading up to it he avoids giving its name or otherwise suggests that its name is of deep significance.
Finally Faramir tells Frodo the name -- and it means nothing to him. Similarly Faramir confesses ignorance of its actual meaning.
But we've long been told that Frodo speaks Elvish. Or were the elves of Woody End and elsewhere simply being polite, hailing Frodo as possessing a fluency he simply didn't command? We know that Bilbo has great skill in Elvish. By contrast, is Frodo's grasp of Elvish limited to one or two polite phrases? Is this one sphere in which Bilbo outshines his nephew?
Certainly there's no suggestion that 'Ungol' (spider) is difficult or obscure.
So, slightly puzzling. Going to have to give this one more thought.
--John R.
current reading: 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Ike Hoover
Tolkien goes to great lengths to build suspense for the disaster at Cirith Ungol. Several times in the chapters leading up to it he avoids giving its name or otherwise suggests that its name is of deep significance.
Finally Faramir tells Frodo the name -- and it means nothing to him. Similarly Faramir confesses ignorance of its actual meaning.
But we've long been told that Frodo speaks Elvish. Or were the elves of Woody End and elsewhere simply being polite, hailing Frodo as possessing a fluency he simply didn't command? We know that Bilbo has great skill in Elvish. By contrast, is Frodo's grasp of Elvish limited to one or two polite phrases? Is this one sphere in which Bilbo outshines his nephew?
Certainly there's no suggestion that 'Ungol' (spider) is difficult or obscure.
So, slightly puzzling. Going to have to give this one more thought.
--John R.
current reading: 42 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by Ike Hoover
March 26, 2019
God Bless Good Samaritans
So, a heartfelt thanks to all the good people out there.
For example, those who help people stuck in an upside-down car.
As in, one that had flipped over after being struck by someone running a red light.
I'm glad to say that everyone's mostly alright, thanks to seat belts doing exactly what they're supposed to do.
So today marks two firsts for me. It's the first time I've been in a car that rolled over on its roof, leaving us suspended by our seat belts. And it's the first time I've ridden in the back of a police car (the officers investigating the crash insisting on driving me to my hotel).
I hope your day was much less eventful than mine.
--John R.
P.S.: Janice is fine, being in Kent, while I'm in the middle of my research trip here in Milwaukee
For example, those who help people stuck in an upside-down car.
As in, one that had flipped over after being struck by someone running a red light.
I'm glad to say that everyone's mostly alright, thanks to seat belts doing exactly what they're supposed to do.
So today marks two firsts for me. It's the first time I've been in a car that rolled over on its roof, leaving us suspended by our seat belts. And it's the first time I've ridden in the back of a police car (the officers investigating the crash insisting on driving me to my hotel).
I hope your day was much less eventful than mine.
--John R.
P.S.: Janice is fine, being in Kent, while I'm in the middle of my research trip here in Milwaukee
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