What J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit still has to offer, 80 years after its publi

[Peter1469]

What J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit still has to offer, 80 years after its publication (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/the-hobbit-80-years-later/540684/)

"There and back again" is Frodo's rendition of the story. J.R.R. Tolkien's tail was a highly Christianized version of the eternal battle between good and evil born from his WWI combat experiences. It, and his other works remain the most important in fantasy literature.


“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” So began the legendarium that dominated a genre, changed Western literature and the field of linguistics, created a tapestry of characters and mythology that endured four generations, built an anti-war ethos that endured a World War and a Cold War, and spawned a multibillion-dollar media franchise. J.R.R. Tolkien’s work is probably best remembered today by the sword-and-sandal epic scale of The Lord of The Rings films, but it started in the quiet, fictionalized English countryside of the Shire. It started, 80 years ago in a hobbit-hole, with Bilbo Baggins.


Although Tolkien created the complicated cosmological sprawl of The Silmarillion and stories like the incestuous saga of Túrin Turambar told in The Children of Húrin, Middle-earth itself is mostly remembered today as something akin to little Bilbo in his Hobbit-hole: quaint, virtuous, and tidy. Nowadays, George R.R. Martin’s got the market cornered on heavily initialed fantasy writers, and his hand guides the field. High and epic fantasy are often expected to dip heavily into the medieval muck of realism, to contain heavy doses of sex and curses, gore and grime, sickness and believable motives and set pieces. Characters like Martin’s mercenary Bronn of the Blackwater are expected to say “fuck.” Modern stories, even when set in lands like A Song of Ice and Fire’s Essos that are filled with competing faiths, tend toward the nihilist, and mostly atheist. Heavenly beings are denuded of potency and purity; while the gods may not be dead, divinity certainly is.


Read the rest at the link.

[stjames1_53]

What J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit still has to offer, 80 years after its publication (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/the-hobbit-80-years-later/540684/)

"There and back again" is Frodo's rendition of the story. J.R.R. Tolkien's tail was a highly Christianized version of the eternal battle between good and evil born from his WWI combat experiences. It, and his other works remain the most important in fantasy literature.




Read the rest at the link.

I believe that I heard once that it was written as a tale for children, suitable for children over the age of 10. I'd have to go through some stuff to find it.

[Crepitus]

What J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit still has to offer, 80 years after its publication (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/the-hobbit-80-years-later/540684/)

"There and back again" is Frodo's rendition of the story. J.R.R. Tolkien's tail was a highly Christianized version of the eternal battle between good and evil born from his WWI combat experiences. It, and his other works remain the most important in fantasy literature.




Read the rest at the link.

Bilbo, not Frodo. I haven't read that in years, I think I will download it.

[Peter1469]

Bilbo, not Frodo. I haven't read that in years, I think I will download it.
Frodo finished the book. He wrote the title.

[Crepitus]

Frodo finished the book. He wrote the title.

Ok, my memories of the stories may not be as clear as I thought. Definitely gonna download and read Hobbit and Lord of the rings.

[Common]

I feel so fortunate and thankful that when I was in elementary school my teachers made me learn to read. I didnt learn much else by the time I left school at the end of the 7th grade.
Its so fricken pathetic that we have high school kids getting diplomas that cant read at a 7th grade level.

Reading was my escape as a young kid. I read all the classics, sometimes two 3 4 times till I understood them.

Tom Sawyer, huck finn, even read the hardy boys and lots of cowboy books and the Hobbit

[Peter1469]

I read a lot from an early age. The Hobbit and LOTRs were part of that.

[MisterVeritis]

I feel so fortunate and thankful that when I was in elementary school my teachers made me learn to read. I didnt learn much else by the time I left school at the end of the 7th grade.
Its so fricken pathetic that we have high school kids getting diplomas that cant read at a 7th grade level.

Reading was my escape as a young kid. I read all the classics, sometimes two 3 4 times till I understood them.

Tom Sawyer, huck finn, even read the hardy boys and lots of cowboy books and the Hobbit
I had two older sisters, so add Nancy Drew. Once I got my library card new worlds were available. Somewhere along the way, we got a set of encyclopedias. I looked at every page. I read many pages.

[Captain Obvious]

I pretty much read everything JRRT published.

The Middle Earth books were clearly the ones I was interested in but I've read his short stories and his Middle Earth ancillary books. The Silmarillion was... very dry.

[Peter1469]

I pretty much read everything JRRT published.

The Middle Earth books were clearly the ones I was interested in but I've read his short stories and his Middle Earth ancillary books. The Silmarillion was... very dry.

lol, it was. I think it was just background work for the Hobbit and LOTR.

[Common]

I had two older sisters, so add Nancy Drew. Once I got my library card new worlds were available. Somewhere along the way, we got a set of encyclopedias. I looked at every page. I read many pages.
I used to use the library religiously

[silvereyes]

I feel so fortunate and thankful that when I was in elementary school my teachers made me learn to read. I didnt learn much else by the time I left school at the end of the 7th grade.
Its so fricken pathetic that we have high school kids getting diplomas that cant read at a 7th grade level.

Reading was my escape as a young kid. I read all the classics, sometimes two 3 4 times till I understood them.

Tom Sawyer, huck finn, even read the hardy boys and lots of cowboy books and the Hobbit

I love to read. I go to the library at least once a week.

[Peter1469]

I love to read. I go to the library at least once a week.I haven't been to a library, other than to vote, since law school. I use the Internet for research and reading material. It is sort of a shame, we have to very nice libraries around here.

[silvereyes]

I haven't been to a library, other than to vote, since law school. I use the Internet for research and reading material. It is sort of a shame, we have to very nice libraries around here.

I know every nook and cranny of my library. I love it. I love books. I proudly say I've never read a digital book. I love to hold the book, turn the pages, smell the book, etc....
I love books.

[Peter1469]

I know every nook and cranny of my library. I love it. I love books. I proudly say I've never read a digital book. I love to hold the book, turn the pages, smell the book, etc....
I love books.
Most books have too small text for my eyes. But when I travel, my kindle carries enough reading material for me at minimal space and weight.

[Mini Me]

I have always been a bookworm!

I was aghast when I visited the GW Bush library. All the shelves were empty! And I smelled smoke, went out back and they were burning books!:laugh:

Dwarves are cool!Especialy heavily armed dwarves; they have a real tough outlaw Biker gang!

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbMcPTByxB26Jm4pF6YzZtpAgubvILv kM57NTDrXnXWPng2FR1

[MisterVeritis]

I feel the need to read. I bought a history of the crusades. It runs around 800 or so pages. In the first ten pages, I have already disagreed with the author's perspective.

[Mister D]

I feel the need to read. I bought a history of the crusades. It runs around 800 or so pages. In the first ten pages, I have already disagreed with the author's perspective.
The works of Steve Runciman and Jonathan Riley-Smith are classic. Regine Pernoud also wrote an interesting book about the Crusades. Pernoud's isn't a narrative but a study of who went on crusade and why.

[MisterVeritis]

The works of Steve Runciman and Jonathan Riley-Smith are classic. Regine Pernoud also wrote an interesting book about the Crusades. Pernoud's isn't a narrative but a study of who went on crusade and why.
Runciman is too pricey for me.

[Mister D]

Runciman is too pricey for me.

You don't have to get his series on the Crusades. Check out his The First Crusade. I read this in my late teens. Early to mid 90s, I guess. Great history and great adventure.
https://www.amazon.com/First-Crusade-Steven-Runciman/dp/0521611482

[MisterVeritis]

You don't have to get his series on the Crusades. Check out his The First Crusade. I read this in my late teens. Early to mid 90s, I guess. Great history and great adventure.
https://www.amazon.com/First-Crusade-Steven-Runciman/dp/0521611482
LOL. I am spoiled. I have nearly 5000 books. Most were free or about a buck. The 800 pager was three bucks.

So this goes on the list. Once I have read everything else on the Crusades I have, I will spend nearly 13 bucks. :grin:

[Mister D]

What's interesting to me is about theLord of the Rings is that, while it inspired so much of the fantasy genre that evangelicals like my mom despised, it's a Christian and specifically Roman Catholic allegory. Weird.

I never actually read the trilogy but I did read The Hobbit.

[Peter1469]

What's interesting to me is about theLord of the Rings is that, while it inspired so much of the fantasy genre that evangelicals like my mom despised, it's a Christian and specifically Roman Catholic allegory. Weird.

I never actually read the trilogy but I did read The Hobbit.

You should read it.