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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 15:47:48 GMT -5
I'm sure that Tolkien biographies do, and probably this bio-pic will, get into this, but where did Tolkien's visual image of Middle-Earth come from? He was brought up partly in South Africa, wasn't he? Did that have an impact or was it all from his idea of pre-industrial England? It was an amalgam of a number of different places: the Shire was, as you say, inspired by the pre-industrialised landscape of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire; the landscape of Rohan was inspired by, I believe, the New Forest, with its wild horses; and Mordor was inspired by the battlefront of the Somme. Although Tolkien protested that LoTR was not an allegory, it's hard to read Mordor any other way; its blighted moonscape doesn't make sense as a literal homeland to support an industrial, agricultural, or economic base for an orc civilization. I read The Hobbit a few months ago to my 3 and 6 year old sons, and then we watched the Rankin/Bass movie. I made sure to sing the "right" tunes for the songs in the book, knowing the movie was upcoming! Now we are up to Chapter Five ("A Conspiracy Unmasked") in Fellowship, and my 6 year old has all sorts of ideas how Frodo could escape his peril. Both of them are enchanted with the maps, so we got a large wall-size one to consult regularly. The 3 year old, who is a precocious reader, wants to know all about Mount Gundabad. I was struck by a description of the evil goblins in The Hobbit as the makers of weapons of war, including firearms. There's clearly a level of allegory at work there despite Tolkien's comments to the contrary. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2019 1:17:22 GMT -5
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 24, 2019 7:01:00 GMT -5
I visited Oxford with the wife yesterday, and made a point of stopping in at The Eagle & Child pub, where The Inklings -- an informal discussion group of authors and poets, which included J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and Roger Lancelyn Green among others -- used to meet once a week. The Inkling meetings took place in a private room, known as the "Rabbit Room", from the mid-1930s until 1962. The sessions allowed these writers to read from their latest works and receive constructive criticism from their friends and colleagues in the group. As such, the "Rabbit Room" was the first place that the likes of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and parts of The Silmarillion, along with Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and Lancelyn Green's perennial children's favourites King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table and The Adventures of Robin Hood, were presented to anyone outside of the authors' own homes. It really is no exaggeration to say that the discussions and readings that took place in this small room profoundly influenced the course of 20th Century literature. Here's a photo of me sitting in the "Rabbit Room" yesterday...  The fireplace behind me is where each Inkling would stand and read aloud from their latest works. It's crazy to think that sections of LOTRs and The Silmarillion were given their very first public airing right there, where I'm sitting. As you can see, there are pictures and pieces of memorabilia associated with the Inklings on the pub wall. According to Wikipedia, the group moved from The Eagle & Child to The Lamb and Flag pub across the road in 1962. The reason for this was because the Eagle & Child was extended at the rear, causing part of the Rabbit Room to be knocked through. With this, the room essentially ceased to be a private room and became more of a nook, through which patrons wanting to access the rear of the pub would have to walk (which is how it is today). This lack of privacy is what motivated the move to The Lamb and Flag. However, sessions there only lasted a year or so, until C.S. Lewis's death in 1963, which effectively ended the Inklings' meetings. Here are some shots of the outside of the Eagle & Child that I took...   |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 24, 2019 20:13:32 GMT -5
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Post by berkley on Mar 25, 2019 18:32:36 GMT -5
Speaking of the Inklings, I wonder how many Tolkien readers move on to try anything by the other members of that literary club? I mean those readers who get into Tolkien to the degree that they know about the Inklings (I imagine lots of Tolkien fans have also read Lewis's Narnia books, but not because Lewis was a member of the same club as Tolkien).
I have not done so as yet, but the one other Inkling I have become interested in and do plan to read some day is Charles Williams: I'm curious about both his Arthurian poetry and his series of novels starting with War in Heaven (in which, apparently, the Holy Grail re-appears in modern England).
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 25, 2019 18:56:34 GMT -5
Speaking of the Inklings, I wonder how many Tolkien readers move on to try anything by the other members of that literary club? I mean those readers who get into Tolkien to the degree that they know about the Inklings (I imagine lots of Tolkien fans have also read Lewis's Narnia books, but not because Lewis was a member of the same club as Tolkien). I have not done so as yet, but the one other Inkling I have become interested in and do plan to read some day is Charles Williams: I'm curious about both his Arthurian poetry and his series of novels starting with War in Heaven (in which, apparently, the Holy Grail re-appears in modern England). I'm not as well versed in Williams' work as I am in Tolkien's, Lewis' and Green's but I do love his Descent Into Hell and The Figure of Beatrice, but I got into both of those while doing my comparative lit thesis on Hell rather than a desire to read more by the Inklings. |
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Post by berkley on Mar 25, 2019 19:14:18 GMT -5
Speaking of the Inklings, I wonder how many Tolkien readers move on to try anything by the other members of that literary club? I mean those readers who get into Tolkien to the degree that they know about the Inklings (I imagine lots of Tolkien fans have also read Lewis's Narnia books, but not because Lewis was a member of the same club as Tolkien). I have not done so as yet, but the one other Inkling I have become interested in and do plan to read some day is Charles Williams: I'm curious about both his Arthurian poetry and his series of novels starting with War in Heaven (in which, apparently, the Holy Grail re-appears in modern England). I'm not as well versed in Williams' work as I am in Tolkien's, Lewis' and Green's but I do love his Descent Into Hell and The Figure of Beatrice, but I got into both of those while doing my comparative lit thesis on Hell rather than a desire to read more by the Inklings. That's his book about Dante and the Divine Comedy, right? yeah, I might try that one too sometime. To veer off-topic for a second, how do you rate the various English translations of Dante? I read some combination of the Ciardi and the Sayers ones years ago but was thinking of trying something different next time I give it a go.
Getting back to the Inklings, I see that Nevil Goghill - whose modern English version of the Canterbury Tales was the first exposure to Chaucer for many readers around my age or a little older - was also a member. Hadn't know that before. But once again, my reading of Coghill's Chaucer wasn't connected in any way with Coghill's Tolkien connection.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 25, 2019 20:19:50 GMT -5
I've read some C.S. Lewis, back before I got into Tolkien. I've definitely read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Last Battle (possible Prince Caspian too). Another Inkling I'm a big fan of is Roger Lancelyn Green; his The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1956, which is based closely on the old folk ballads and tales, has been my go to version of the legend since I was about 13 years old.  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 20:32:31 GMT -5
I read all of the Narnia Chronicles and part of Lewis' space trilogy. I discovered Narnia after Tolkien (my progression went The Hobbit, Lloyd ALexander's Prydain Chronicles, Lord of the Rings, then Narnia (with discovering Conan in prose around the same time). This spanned the years from 6th grade (the Hobbit & Prydain Chronicles), 7th grade (Lord of the Rings for the 1st time), and 8th grade (Narnia). It had nothing to do with the Inklings though, and everything to do with exploring the fantasy shelf at the libraries of the schools I attended those years, and getting the LOTR trilogy in paperback for Christmas in 7th grade after starting to read Fellowship from the library. I've reread the Tolkien stuff several times and revisit The Prydain Chronicles form time to time, but haven't revisited the Narnia books except for rereading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe again before going to see the film, and have never finished Lewis' space trilogy. I've encountered some of the stuff by other Inklings over the years, but never sought it out because of their association with the Tolkien circle (unlike say the works of people in the Lovecraft circle whose stuff I sought out explicitly because of that connection).
-M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 25, 2019 21:22:22 GMT -5
I'll just point out that the Mythopoeic Awards has an award for best book about Inkling Studies.
And the University of Edinburgh publishes the Journal of Inklings Studies.
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Post by berkley on Mar 25, 2019 23:27:17 GMT -5
I'll just point out that the Mythopoeic Awards has an award for best book about Inkling Studies. And the University of Edinburgh publishes the Journal of Inklings Studies. Yeah, looking at the wiki page, I was surprised to see so many members listed - for some reason I had had the mistaken idea that it was a more intimate group of about 5 or 6 people - Tolkien, Lewis, Williams, and a few others. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 27, 2019 8:08:13 GMT -5
I'm not as well versed in Williams' work as I am in Tolkien's, Lewis' and Green's but I do love his Descent Into Hell and The Figure of Beatrice, but I got into both of those while doing my comparative lit thesis on Hell rather than a desire to read more by the Inklings. That's his book about Dante and the Divine Comedy, right? yeah, I might try that one too sometime. To veer off-topic for a second, how do you rate the various English translations of Dante? I read some combination of the Ciardi and the Sayers ones years ago but was thinking of trying something different next time I give it a go.
Getting back to the Inklings, I see that Nevil Goghill - whose modern English version of the Canterbury Tales was the first exposure to Chaucer for many readers around my age or a little older - was also a member. Hadn't know that before. But once again, my reading of Coghill's Chaucer wasn't connected in any way with Coghill's Tolkien connection.
Doing my capstone on Hell I read more than a few versions of the Divine Comedy, from the version I was first introduced to by Cary to what was then the most modern translation by Hollander and I have to say that I think Ciardi is my favorite as it felt much more poetic than the others though I've heard that there's a version by Clive James that came out a few years ago that is even better in that regard. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 28, 2019 8:11:38 GMT -5
Looking through the upcoming movie listings for the next few months at my local theater and noticed this coming on MAY 10TH: Tolkien starring Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney and Derek Jacobi.
SYNOPSIS: Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the "fellowship" apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.
Not really heard anything about this. Luckily nothing else of any interest premieres that same weekend so will be a nice Saturday morning out with soda and popcorn.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2019 8:31:23 GMT -5
Speaking of Tolkien, Lewis and others, our library just got this documentary in and I picked it up yesterday to check out this weekend...  Not sure how it is going to be, as it certainly has a certain religious bias in its presentation, but I was curious about it, so will give it a watch (or at least try to). -M |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2019 11:10:53 GMT -5
Some details are starting to emerge about the Lord of the Rings tv series from Amazon. Looks like it will be set in Numenor in the Second Age, and the story of the first season will cover Sauron's rise to power. Rumors it would be a series featuring the adventures of a young Aragorn have proven to be false.
-M
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