tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post7051906362191135143..comments2024-03-29T05:41:35.119-07:00Comments on Graphic Firing Table: A'maelamin*, get me rewrite!FDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-86347783792649536792014-02-19T11:05:24.748-07:002014-02-19T11:05:24.748-07:00I do love The Silmarrillion the best, I admit. It...I do love The Silmarrillion the best, I admit. It is the most obvious paeon of praise for the Finnish epic "the Kalevala" which inspired a lot of Tolkien's creation. And yes, I do think his Catholic view influenced his writing as well ---though, frankly, his was a much more tolerant and thoughtful Catholicism than we've seen in most of the last 20 years.<br /><br />Generally, I don't always get a case of the ass at films diverging from books (I preferred Daniel Day-Lewis film of "Last of the Mohicans" for all the wrong reasons, lol!) But I simply didn't like the Hobbit much -- it WAS a kid's book and the hoopla around it irritated me. I feel the same way about people finding the secret of life in freaking "Peter Pan"!Syrbal/Labryshttp://www.herlanderwalking.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-81018143724436610092014-02-19T01:36:55.388-07:002014-02-19T01:36:55.388-07:00Oh good, I'm glad Anonymous pointed you to Ols...Oh good, I'm glad Anonymous pointed you to Olsen's website. Also glad you're going to be reading the book. I think you'll enjoy it.<br /><br />Thanks for linking to my post. Lance Mannionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08063296489181466628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-72733322933588001032014-02-18T17:54:31.098-07:002014-02-18T17:54:31.098-07:00Anon: Thanks for the link! I already scored the b...Anon: Thanks for the link! I already scored the book through my terrific Multnomah County Library, too, so I'll be diggin' into some JRR like an Iron Hills miner looking for a big <i>mithril</i> vein...FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-4640832285434894882014-02-18T09:07:11.595-07:002014-02-18T09:07:11.595-07:00If you're interested, Chief, Corey Olsen has p...If you're interested, Chief, Corey Olsen has published several audio lectures on the Hobbit here (http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/lectures/the-hobbit/), which I believe goes over some of the same material as the book you mentioned.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-76591406168728938912014-02-17T14:08:27.328-07:002014-02-17T14:08:27.328-07:00As I said in the earlier posts on the whole questi...As I said in the earlier posts on the whole question of the book vs. the film issue - I'm not wedded enough to either one to get really pissed off one way or the other.<br /><br />I enjoyed the story for what it was; a middle-aged mid-century Englishman's kids story. I enjoyed the film for what it was; a late-20th-Century New Zealander's adventure flick. <br /><br />The latter has some connection with the former but if you're going to get irked ticking off where it diverges from the text you'll end up very irked indeed.<br /><br />And I think what's key to looking at these stories as literature is to remember that Professor Tolkien was primarily a medievalist and a linguist. These stories exploded from his a) remembrance/meditation on the rural England he'd loved as a kid, and b) as an expansion of his studies of everything from Norse and Old English mythology to his own Catholicism, and c) a little of everything else. The guy was very much almost a cartoon of the Oxford don; curious about everything and everyone around him as well as the past and the future.<br /><br />His first workings along those lines WERE a sort of trilogy - the five parts of what laver became the <i>Silmarillion</i>. <i>The Hobbit</i> was almost an after thought lotted down in the Thirties. I'll bet if he'd have known how popular it was, or if he'd had any notion of the story that would eventually become the <i>LotR</i> he might have made it into two or more volumes...<br /><br />Anyway; long-winded way of saying that I have enjoyed both the old professor's works AND the films made from them...but as I said in the post, the last flick seemed to contain a bunch of choices that I see as poorly thought-out. I'm curious to see what Jackson does with the final third of the story but less than I was before I saw his latest outing...FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-18976990650629841072014-02-17T12:53:14.972-07:002014-02-17T12:53:14.972-07:00I actually disliked "The Hobbit" as a bo...I actually disliked "The Hobbit" as a book. (Perhaps because I also dislike riddling games -- perhaps I am stupid!) But I went to see the first Hobbit film, not realizing how MANY he was breaking one book into…and then I was enraged.<br /><br />I somewhat doubt I will see the rest unless it is a VERY bored insomniac night on Netflix in the distant future.<br /><br />As for Tolkien's thought process…he certainly couldn't have made much of a trilogy out of a party-trick Crackerjack toy right, could he?<br /><br />Syrbal/Labryshttp://www.herlanderwalking.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com