Tolkien survey

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

And yes, who IS this mystery quiz type person and what does S/HE think?

Well, kids, what do you want to know? You want I should answer my own survey? Yikes. I'll answer some of it, as I'd ramble on ad nauseam with the "Why do you like this book or that movie and what does Tolkien mean to you" questions.

1) Male
2) USA
3) English

4) Books: HOB, LOTR, SIL, UT, TOM, RG, MR, WJ, PME, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Leaf by Niggle, The Letters of JRR Tolkien (what--you haven't read ALL of his books?)

5) Movies: HOBA, LTRA, FRM, TTM, RTKM

6) No recordings

7) I saw the animated Hobbit when I was 14. Then I read HOB and LOTR after that. I wish I hadn't seen the film because until I saw PJ's films I imagined hobbits as fat little curly-headed goofballs--kind of like the "It's Pat" character on Saturday Night Live. And orcs were all fat bipedal pigs with horns.

8) Everything in English

9) I like the books the most. PJ's films annoyed me more than they enthralled me. So it goes.

I'm going to hold off on why I like the books, Tolkien, etc. I'm still working that out. I know, I know--the surveyor won't/can't fully answer his own survey.

[Surveyor]

By the way, I keep revising the survey as I get more responses. I'm making it easier for people to read and to answer and trying to get them to answer certain questions more fully.

So I want to post a new version. Is that cool with everyone, or should I just stick with the old survey?

[durinsbane2244]

i think you should do whatever you think would be best, mate. you know better than us...

[GreyMouser]

Hmmm, should I wait for the new one?

No, got time (typhoon day)

1) M

2) Taiwan

3) English, Chinese (Mandarin ), Amis (Taiwan Aboriginal language)

4) HOB
LOTR
SIL
TOM
RG

5)LTRA
FRM
TTM
RTKM

6) None

7) HOB (age 12)

8)English

9)Books

10)Like- HOB- charming children's tale, with enough hints of deeper things to keep it interesting.
LOTR- The story; the world- great adventure, plus the background is
so well developed you can feel the reality of a different world.

Dislike-RG- Tolkien is an atrociously bad poet.

11)FRM- closest to the book
TTM- furthest from the book

12) NA

13) In both HOB and LOTR I like the plots- wonderfully told stories- and the background . One of the reasons I'm not fond of the SIL is that for me it reveals too much- I like the idea of the "hidden city of Gondolin" more than I liked having its history revealed.

Some of the descriptive passages are very good- the Withywindle, Bree, Edoras, Mordor in Frodo and Sam's journey- a lot, not so good.

14) I first read them in early adolesence, and that's the age I would recommend for anyone else - of course, better late than never. They present a vision of courage, honour, and sacrifice that should be inspirational, while-very importantly- stressing plain decency and restraint that is often missing in other books that appeal to that age group.

Dislike? too conservative for my tastes- I'm not fond of bloodlines or deference- but will accept it in its place in Middle-Earth.

To be fair, I can see why many people dislike the books, especially given the hoopla- "Author of the Century" is absurd. The writing is often banal, the poetry is bad, the characters cliched, and it is definitely not an adult book.

It is a boys/girls book; the best one ever written, probably, and I love it dearly- I've lost track of how many times I've read it over the last forty years; I keep it handy on a shelf and often pick it up and start reading at random- but the critcs have a point- to a point.

[Surveyor]

By the way, thanks GreyMouser for the answers.

All right--here is what I hope will be my final version of this survey. I moved some questions around. I added more books to the list. I also listed as many of the audiobooks as I could find. God, I'm exhausted.

If anyone who's already taken the survey wants to add anything to their answers, go ahead and post it and I'll copy it into your previous response.

I think the last question needs a little work. Feel free to comment. Thanks.

INSTRUCTIONS

Either type your answers after the questions, or type the number of the question and your answers after it.

QUESTIONS

1) What is your gender?

2) What country do you live in?

3) What languages do you speak or are able to read?

4) Which of the following books have you read? What languages were they in? Please use the abbreviations.

HOB -- (The Hobbit)
LOTR -- (The Lord of the Rings: FR, TT, RTK)
SIL -- (The Silmarillion)
UT -- (Unfinished Tales)
TOM -- (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil)
BIL -- (Bilbo's Last Song)
BLT1 -- (The Book of Lost Tales I, The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 1)
BLT2 -- (The Book of Lost Tales II, HOME, Vol. 2)
LB -- (The Lays of Beleriand, HOME, Vol. 3)
SME -- (The Shaping of Middle-earth, HOME, Vol. 4)
LR -- (The Lost Road, HOME, Vol. 5)
RS -- (The Return of the Shadow, HOME, Vol. 6)
TI -- (The Treason of Isengard, HOME, Vol. 7)
WR -- (The War of the Ring, HOME, Vol. 8)
SD/ETA -- (Sauron Defeated or The End of the Third Age, short version), HOME, vol. 9)
MR -- (Morgoth's Ring, HOME, Vol. 10)
WJ -- (The War of the Jewels, HOME, Vol. 11)
PME -- (The Peoples of Middle-earth, HOME, Vol. 12)
GILES -- (Farmer Giles of Ham)
SMITH -- (Smith of Wootton Major)
LEAF -- (Leaf by Niggle)
ROVER -- (Roverandom)
FTH -- (Letters from Father Christmas)
GAW -- (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translation)
PRL -- (Pearl, translation)
ORF -- (Sir Orfeo, translation)
ART -- (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator)
LTRS -- (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien)
BMC -- (Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays)
OTHER -- (If you've read any others, go ahead and list them)

5) Which books do you like the most and which the least? Why? Do you dislike any? Why?

6) Which of the following films have you seen? What languages were they in? Please use the abbreviations.

HOBA -- (The Hobbit, animated TV film, dir. by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., 1978)
LTRA -- (The Lord of the Rings, animated theatrical film, dir. by Ralph Bakshi, 1979)
RTKA -- (The Return of the King, animated TV film, dir. by Bass and Rankin, Jr., 1980)
FRM -- (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, dir. by Peter Jackson, 2001)
TTM -- (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, dir. by Peter Jackson, 2002)
RTKM -- (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, dir. by Peter Jackson, 2003)

7) Which films do you like the most and which the least? Why? Do you dislike any? Why?

8) Which of the following audio works have you listened to? What languages were they in? Please use the abbreviations

ROAD -- (The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, words by JRRT, music by Donald Swann; HarperCollins)
TAC1 -- (The J.R.R. Tolkien Audio Collection; book excerpts read by JRRT and Christopher Tolkien; Caedmon)
TAC2 -- (Same as the Caedmon edition, but issued by HarperCollins)
MEL -- (LOTR, 1979 abridged radio dramatization by Mind’s Eye; HighBridge Audio)
BBCL -- (LOTR, 1981 abridged radio dramatization by BBC; Random House)
INGL -- (LOTR, unabridged, read by Rob Inglis; HarperCollins)
BBCH -- (HOB, 1968 abridged BBC radio dramatization; Random House)
MEH -- (HOB, 1979 abridged radio dramatization by Mind’s Eye; HighBridge Audio)
INGH -- (HOB, unabridged, read by Rob Inglis; HarperCollins)
SILA -- (SIL, unabridged, read by Martin Shaw; Random House)
GILA -- (GILES, SMITH, LEAF, unabridged, read by Derek Jacobi; HarperCollins)
TTA -- (The Tolkien Treasury Boxed Set; same as GILA, but includes ROVER and FATH; HarperCollins, 2005)
TPR -- (Tales from the Perilous Realm, BBC radio dramatizations of GILES, SMITH, LEAF, ROVER; BBC Audiobooks, 2002)
GAWA -- (GAW, PRL, ORF, unabridged, read by Terry Jones, HarperCollins, 2006)
PORT -- (J.R.R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait, BBC AudioBooks, 2001)

9) Which audio works do you like the most and which the least? Why? Do you dislike any? Why?

10) Which books, films, or audio recordings did you first read, watch, or listen to?

11) Do you prefer certain media (books, films, and audio recordings) over others? Why?

12) What aspects of Tolkien’s works mean the most to you?

[durinsbane2244]

soooo...should i take this one now?

[Butterbeer]

dunno ..but unless your name is gaffer don't expect a reply from the mystery man ...

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

dunno ..but unless your name is gaffer don't expect a reply from the mystery man ...

Hey man, didn't I answer the general question, "Who is this guy?" Or are you joking?

[Butterbeer]

nope.

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by durinsbane2244

soooo...should i take this one now?

You can take this survey again, if you want to. There are more books listed and I've added a list of audio recordings. The rest of it is pretty much the same. I'm happy to get more answers from you, or you can even expand on what you've already written. I'll just add them into what I already have from you. Is that cool?

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

nope.

Nope? Nope to which question?

[Butterbeer]

the joking bit.

in terms of feedback, the current question format rather bunches what you appear to be aiming for in terms of likes /dislikes and whys from Toliken into overly complex yes/no short answers... now that is fine if that is what you are after ??

why not just have mooters say what they have read/seen etc and then go to the main questions ... as seperate distinct and clear questions?

all this LOTREETRDW£X or whatever stuff is just confusing and too much like eh what??? to my mind.

what is is you are after, articulate response or a bunch of unimformative letters in the shape of wierd acronyms?

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

the joking bit.

in terms of feedback, the current question format rather bunches what you appear to be aiming for in terms of likes /dislikes and whys from Toliken into overly complex yes/no short answers... now that is fine iof that is what you are after ??

why not just have mooters say what they have read/seen etc and then go to the main questions as seperate questions?

all this LOTREETRDW£X or wahetever stuff is just confusing and too much like eh what??? to my mind.

what is is you are after, articulate response or a bunch of unimformative letters in the shape of wierd acronyms?

1) Regarding the book, movie, and CD lists and the acronyms, I have the abbreviations in case people don't want to type out each title. I think you're right about it being kind of confusing. I should tell them they can either type out the title or just use the abbreviations. I can change. But I list all of the books and movies because it's helped some folks on my blog and elsewhere recall what they've read or seen.

2) After I ask somebody which books and movies they like and dislike, I also ask "why?" That invites them to expand upon their answers, which many people have done. Answers can be as long or as short as people want. If somebody wants to post additional answers, they're free to do so. I'll add them to their other answers.

3) I don't get the part about "having people tell me what they've read and seen and then going to the main questions as separate questions." I think that's the way the survey is set up. You list the books, movies, and recordings, then you write about why you like or dislike them.

And if someone doesn't want to answer a question, they can skip it. No one has to complete the entire thing. People can do what they want.

Thanks for the comments.

[durinsbane2244]

Originally Posted by Surveyor

You can take this survey again, if you want to. There are more books listed and I've added a list of audio recordings. The rest of it is pretty much the same. I'm happy to get more answers from you, or you can even expand on what you've already written. I'll just add them into what I already have from you. Is that cool?

sure thing mate.

[Butterbeer]

Originally Posted by Surveyor

1) Regarding the book, movie, and CD lists and the acronyms, I have the abbreviations in case people don't want to type out each title. I think you're right about it being kind of confusing. I should tell them they can either type out the title or just use the abbreviations. I can change. But I list all of the books and movies because it's helped some folks on my blog and elsewhere recall what they've read or seen.

2) After I ask somebody which books and movies they like and dislike, I also ask "why?" That invites them to expand upon their answers, which many people have done. Answers can be as long or as short as people want. If somebody wants to post additional answers, they're free to do so. I'll add them to their other answers.

3) I don't get the part about "having people tell me what they've read and seen and then going to the main questions as separate questions." I think that's the way the survey is set up. You list the books, movies, and recordings, then you write about why you like or dislike them.

And if someone doesn't want to answer a question, they can skip it. No one has to complete the entire thing. People can do what they want.

Thanks for the comments.

no problem.

er... with some skill in this area, i just thought it may be better laid out for this here forum to get the better resonse, is all.

But as i am not entirely sure what is important to you and your survey even now and what isn't i am hardly placed to say ...

but that very fact suggests to me it may be an idea to to format it in a slightly clearer and friendlier way ....


(plus we get the chance to make the balrog take it a THIRD TIME! )

Best, BB

[Butterbeer]

'ere' DB ... you ain't posted your second lucky dip yet!!!

best, BB

[durinsbane2244]

i'm going to soon...tad busy...might do the blog again.

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

no problem.

er... with some skill in this area, i just thought it may be better laid out for this here forum to get the better resonse, is all.

But as i am not entirely sure what is important to you and your survey even now and what isn't i am hardly placed to say ...

but that very fact suggests to me it may be an idea to to format it in a slightly clearer and friendlier way ....

BB,

I'm open to suggestions about re-formatting. Whatever makes it easier to read. I'm learning as I go along. (Can you tell? ) And you said that you have some experience in this area?

Question 12 is the most important because it asks people to share whatever profound influence Tolkien has had in their lives. Maybe his books aren't that important to them. Maybe they're just fun to read. But if the books do mean more than that to them, I want to know. Something along those lines.

Questions 5, 7, and 9 are next in importance because they ask for insights into the books, movies, and CDs. I want people to tell me why they like a certain book or character, for example. What parts did they like the most? Insights into plots, themes, the different races, the myths, and so forth.

Does any of that help? Maybe I should put all of this before the questions themselves.

Thanks!

[Earniel]

Surveyor, I noticed you pay some attention to languages in which people read/hear Tolkien's work in your survey. Just as a suggestion, perhaps it might be interesting to expand a little more into that?

In a way Tolkien treated LoTR as a translation of his own from the Red Book. It might be interesting to see how people perceived the translation of Tolkien's books into other languages? I'm thinking particularly of the names of characters and places, as I recall we had one or two threads on that in the past and there was a significant number of languages mentioned.

Of course, this would be somewhat more difficult to survey, because the number of people having read Tolkien in more language than one would no doubt be a much smaller part. But I think it may be an angle which is little discussed in previous Tolkien surveys and may yield some unexpected results.

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Surveyor, I noticed you pay some attention to languages in which people read/hear Tolkien's work in your survey. Just as a suggestion, perhaps it might be interesting to expand a little more into that?

In a way Tolkien treated LoTR as a translation of his own from the Red Book. It might be interesting to see how people perceived the translation of Tolkien's books into other languages? I'm thinking particularly of the names of characters and places, as I recall we had one or two threads on that in the past and there was a significant number of languages mentioned.

Of course, this would be somewhat more difficult to survey, because the number of people having read Tolkien in more language than one would no doubt be a much smaller part. But I think it may be an angle which is little discussed in previous Tolkien surveys and may yield some unexpected results.

Earniel,

Thank you for the interesting post. I agree that this is something worth pursuing. There have been several respondents who've read Tolkien in languages other than English. If they have, they've also read the same books in English.

I think that what I can do is contact those people (if they left a way to do so) and ask them to elaborate, if they can.

Very interesting. Thanks again.

(By the way, have you taken the survey? The blog link is Surveying Middle-earth)