FINALLY!!! - Page 2

Sminty_Smeagol · 08-26-2002, 04:12 PM

am i right in saying that tolkien didn't really necessarily want other people to read about ME? if my understanding is correct, he didnt think anyone would want to. He was just kind of inventing another world, right? So it's no ordinary book that takes place in some invented world. it is another world... an alternative universe...

Gildor · 08-26-2002, 05:30 PM

Tolkien said in his letters that he was not creating another world. He was writing about our earth in another time. The Shire was roughly in the vicinity of England. Numenor corresponds to our legends of Atlantis.

Also, he may have wondered whether anyone would be interested in his creation, but he did appreciate it when someone encouraged him by saying how much they enjoyed his works, and he wanted to publish Silmarillion long before he did. (The publishers thought there would not be a market for it.) Tolkien felt he had been directed to tell this story, that the story was already there, and he was discovering it as a sculptor discovers an image in granite and brings it into being. It's an interesting form of inspiration. I think that partially explains why he was so insistent that details be correct.

markedel · 08-26-2002, 10:12 PM

And the fragments we get are pretty good.

RosieCotton · 08-27-2002, 11:12 AM

I, at first, didn't even read the appendices. I thought they looked boring. But after I did read them, I'm glad I did. Also, after reading the Silmarillian, you really get a different perspective when you read Lord of the Rings again. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. I also heard that Tolkien thought that no one would care about the history of M.E. Yet there will always be people like us.

BeardofPants · 08-27-2002, 05:49 PM

Yeah, there's nothing like re-reading LOTR after reading UT, Letters, and the Sil.

And what made it really, really, special this time around, is that I actually enjoyed reading all the poems and songs, because I knew the background behind them... Plus I finally read the appendices. Now, I'm re-reading Harry Potter, and eagerly (and impatiently) awaiting my orders of Lost Tales Vols I & II that I ordered off amazon...

RosieCotton · 08-28-2002, 09:42 AM

I'm planning on reading Lost Tales 1 & 2 as well...I saw them at the library once, but I didn't have my card with me. Next time I went, someone had taken them out.

galadriel · 09-01-2002, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RosieCotton
Also, after reading the Silmarillion, you really get a different perspective when you read Lord of the Rings again. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet.

I agree; for me, rereading LOTR after reading the Silmarillion was almost like reading an entirely new book. So many obscure references suddenly become crystal clear. Definitely a worthwhile experience.

08-26-2002, 05:30 PM	#22
Gildor Hobbit Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: rural America Posts: 37	Middle Earth Tolkien said in his letters that he was not creating another world. He was writing about our earth in another time. The Shire was roughly in the vicinity of England. Numenor corresponds to our legends of Atlantis. Also, he may have wondered whether anyone would be interested in his creation, but he did appreciate it when someone encouraged him by saying how much they enjoyed his works, and he wanted to publish Silmarillion long before he did. (The publishers thought there would not be a market for it.) Tolkien felt he had been directed to tell this story, that the story was already there, and he was discovering it as a sculptor discovers an image in granite and brings it into being. It's an interesting form of inspiration. I think that partially explains why he was so insistent that details be correct. __________________ Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

08-26-2002, 10:12 PM	#23
markedel 'Sober' Mullet Frosh Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Queen's Posts: 1,245	And the fragments we get are pretty good. __________________ "Earnur was a man like his father in valour, but not in wisdom"

08-27-2002, 11:12 AM	#24
RosieCotton Elven Warrior Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Hobbiton...no wait.... Posts: 263	I, at first, didn't even read the appendices. I thought they looked boring. But after I did read them, I'm glad I did. Also, after reading the Silmarillian, you really get a different perspective when you read Lord of the Rings again. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. I also heard that Tolkien thought that no one would care about the history of M.E. Yet there will always be people like us. __________________ Fortune rides like the Sun on high With the fox that makes the ravens fly Luck his sould, the lightning his eye He snatches the moons from out of the sky.

08-27-2002, 05:49 PM	#25
BeardofPants the Shrike Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA <3 Posts: 10,647	Yeah, there's nothing like re-reading LOTR after reading UT, Letters, and the Sil. And what made it really, really, special this time around, is that I actually enjoyed reading all the poems and songs, because I knew the background behind them... Plus I finally read the appendices. Now, I'm re-reading Harry Potter, and eagerly (and impatiently) awaiting my orders of Lost Tales Vols I & II that I ordered off amazon... __________________ "Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords

08-28-2002, 09:42 AM	#26
RosieCotton Elven Warrior Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Hobbiton...no wait.... Posts: 263	I'm planning on reading Lost Tales 1 & 2 as well...I saw them at the library once, but I didn't have my card with me. Next time I went, someone had taken them out. __________________ Fortune rides like the Sun on high With the fox that makes the ravens fly Luck his sould, the lightning his eye He snatches the moons from out of the sky.

08-26-2002, 04:12 PM	#21
Sminty_Smeagol Manic Cardboard-Box Dweller Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In a house Posts: 1,071	am i right in saying that tolkien didn't really necessarily want other people to read about ME? if my understanding is correct, he didnt think anyone would want to. He was just kind of inventing another world, right? So it's no ordinary book that takes place in some invented world. it is another world... an alternative universe...

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