Posted on 07/29/2014 3:38:10 AM PDT by Perdogg
ping
It is unfortunate FR hosts such garbage as this.
Happy Birthday indeed.
Agreed. Leave any time you like.
This author makes some excellent points about the appeal of Tolkien’s oeuvre, but he should have mentioned the glorious compound-complex sentences.
In before the Orcs... Oops. I guess not.
Actually, the remarkable thing that separates Tolkien from the great majority of science fiction and fantasy literature is that “Tolkien did write it.”
Most fantasy books and movies simply toss in throwaway lines like “Ah, that is no ordinary sword, that is the great Sword of Polywoggle!” when it becomes a convenient plot device for the hero to find a powerful sword.
Tolkien did not put anything into LOTR that he did not think through and write out for himself the private backstory. He carefully constructed thousands of years of history for the characters and their ancestors, of which often only a few brief lines make it into the text. He constructed the grammar and vocabulary for entire languages (language was his profession and a lifelong love of his), and characters speak different dialects of those languages.
The reason that his literary world seems to have remarkable depth is that the depth really existed, even if the reader did not see it all. Thus, we can be moved to tears by Elrond’s separation from his daughter Arwen through her marriage to the hero Aragorn, even though we know only a little bit of his tragic family history. Or the temptation of the wise Galadriel to seize Ring for her own, and the rejection of that temptation seems real, even though we have only the smallest glimpse of her as a fiery leader of the Elven exiles in her youth.
Much of the backstory was only published after Tolkien’s death, through the efforts of his son Christopher to organize and publish his father’s writings. In his letters, Tolkien made clear that he considered it cheating to refer to events or character’s when he didn’t have a clear idea of their story. In one letter to a reader he admits with regret that the one time he had cheated like this was in a reference to ‘Queen Berthea’s cats’, but then he goes on to provide that story.
Tolkien was a conservative politically and a devout Catholic. His writings are remarkably relevant today, because even when the forces of darkness seem overwhelming, and our leaders seem to betray us (Saruman), to be mired in dispair (Denethor), to be taken away to soon (Gandalf), or to be ignored (Aragorn), Tolkien holds out the hope that inner strength can be revived and tapped (Theoden), and that the ultimate hope for our world lies not in our leaders but in the quiet courageous actions of simple folk.
I've read these books >15 times
The threads of Wonder, Kindness, Honor, Bravery
also Hatred, Fear, Pride, Covetousness
Woven into an alternate Universe that is deeply conceived
and Powerfully Wrought
Teaches lessons about the Human Condition
not easily expressed in Classic Fiction
One of the greatest “True Myth” writers of all time. We love and miss you J.R.R.
Wow I never knew he spent so much time creating back stories for his characters.
I’m sorry it’s not clear to me from what you posted here: are these back stories published?
LOTR seems like Ancient Literature, as it has the cadence and aura of time -honored myth and legend.
And yet, it is two years YOUNGER than me!
That makes me feel OLD! LOL!
If you want the “backstory” to all of Tolkien’s legendarium, read the Silmarillion. It is tedious beyond belief but it catalogs all the threads, tales, relationships, and legacies from the Trilogy, along with dozens you’ve never heard of.
And when you’re done with that, read all of the stuff that Christopher Tolkien has compiled that shows the earlier drafts and see how the concept of the world and the history evolved over about 50 years of his father’s writing.
all good points and reasons I love Tolkien’s work so much.
Oh, not that bad. Some parts are as dull as the slow sections of the Old Testament, but even in those passages, there will be a well-turned phrase or a sharp bit of irony to keep you going until the fighting starts again.
The language is intentionally grandiose and mythic, but you get used to it, just as you get used to Dumas or Tolstoy after a hundred pages or so.
lol
I have to admit, Tolkien has spoiled me when it comes to good literature and especially fantasy. Nothing else really compares.
Gene Wolfe wrote an awesome Tolkien essay a while ago. I guess he wrote Tolkien in the mid 60s and Tolkien wrote back, pretty cool stuff.
http://www.thenightland.co.uk/MYWEB/wolfemountains.html
Freegards
Or Stephen king.
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