The Lord of the Rings discussion project

[azalea]

Inspired by the Silmarillion discussion project, I’ve decided to do something similar here for The Lord of the Rings. This will be a segment-by-segment analysis of the book, with introductions by different members. Some lengthy chapters are stand alone, but most are two chapters together. There will be a new segment every two weeks. If things slow down in the discussion, I might see if the next person can post their intro early to keep things moving. My vision was that we’d all read the book at the same time together, like we were trying to do in the book club forum, but since we’ll be taking about 84 weeks for the discussion, I know at least I won’t be able to wait that long to finish it again! I’m going to try, but it’s hard to keep momentum going when you’ve got to wait to get to the next part, esp at the suspenseful parts.

A few guidelines to get us started: First of all, I feel it necessary to remind everyone that this is the BOOK forum, and that aside from the stray comment here and there about how the movies showed a scene or character, we ask that you PLEASE refrain from mentioning the movies HERE, but feel free to go to that forum to discuss them.

Secondly, I wanted to give a format for the intros. Each segment may be longer than the Silmarillion chapters were, but remember that LotR is less dense in terms of content. For instance, in the space it takes to describe one battle in LotR, The Silmarillion describes an entire “mini-tale.” That’s why I made it so that we’ll usually be doing two at once, it also being in the interest of keeping the momentum going. So don’t be frightened of the amount of material you have to introduce.
I feel that summation of the chapter is unnecessary for the above reason. Don’t bother describing everything that happens in the chapter, as most of us practically know it by heart. Rather, include the following four points:
1.Tell what is/ are the important main events of the chapter(s), what characters are introduced and what are the major plot points.
2.Tell what you liked about this/ these chapter(s) – favorite part, scenes that were particularly funny, scary, descriptive, what stands out to you in the chapter.
3.Tell what, if anything, you disliked or think could have been different, criticisms of Tolkien’s writing, as well as what might have gone differently in the story (there are always some good “what ifs” to spark discussion).
4.Finally, list some questions or comments for discussion, content-based or otherwise.
I think this can be done in one or two posts. I don’t want us to focus our energy too much on writing the intros, but instead make the focus the chapter(s) and our discourse about it, hopefully having all just read it.

Finally, I’d like to say a word about “canon,” for the purposes of our discussion. This may be controversial, but I think it is in the best interest of the project to establish this guideline. Certainly you may mention ties to the Silmarillion in discussing the chapters. Also, interesting factoids about the life of Tolkien are welcome (pertinent quotes from Letters, etc.), to add to the discussion of this or that part or aspect of the story. But I’d like to make this a discussion of The Lord of the Rings as a discreet, stand-alone work (although it arguably is not), as if we are reading it when it first came out. I think pulling in info from the greater mythology FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS PROJECT will muddy the waters too much (obviously I’m not talking about any other threads in this forum). Let’s try just for these threads to say that the material contained in the text is canonical, whether or not HoME or other texts published later appear to refute it. I think this will serve to do a few things: it will “level the playing field” (not everyone has read the HoME, and some haven’t even read The Silm), it will allow for wider participation for that reason, and part of the goal of this project is to revitalize this forum and to draw in new people, or people who heretofore have been shy about participating in the discussions. Let’s let everyone feel confident about sharing their views, Tolkien “scholar” and first time reader alike, without feeling like they’re going to be corrected for a “wrong” statement. Of course, feel free to argue and bicker about stuff like we always do (J), but don’t make it an argument based on ME info that can’t be gotten from the LotR text itself. I hope this decision doesn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for participating in the project, but please know that I’m doing this so that as many people as possible will be able to fully be a part of this, and feel confident in doing so. Plus, I want this to be more a discussion of the work itself, and not of the mythology. Sometimes bringing to much extraneous stuff in detracts from the story.

This should be a lot of fun if the Silmarillion project is any indicator, and I hope a lot of you will sign up for chapters, and that everyone else will come and participate in the discussions – this is the excuse you’ve been waiting for to read it again, this time along with your fellow mooters! J

The next post will be the list of chapters. I divided them up so that as many as possible could be in pairs, but the long ones will stand alone. I’ve only put a due date on the first one, because I’d like to see when we can get the first one posted (I’ll take it if no one else wants it, but I’ve already picked my two – see below). After that gets posted, I’ll add due dates for the next ones, but just know that if you have the next one, it’s due two weeks after the one before it was posted. I’ve included the Foreword and Prologue, as well as the Appendices (except for the Family Trees), as I feel they have much material for discussion, and I know we all include them when we read it anyway. Please don’t post here until I’ve gotten that second post up, so these can be together. You can go ahead and request what chapters you want to intro once I’ve posted it, but let’s stick to two per person right now, to give everyone a chance to sign up for one that wants to. It will be first ask, first pick. IMPORTANT: If you know in advance that you will be unable to do your chapters, PLEASE post that here or PM me, so that we can reassign it. If you decide to leave/ take a break from Entmoot, please do the courtesy of letting us know you won’t be here to put up your chapter. That has been the only problem encountered in the Silmarillion project – people not showing up on their due date.
Another note: Obviously a lot of what we discuss will have been discussed in other threads. That's okay. This is a separate project, and the other threads are for going into greater depth for a particular aspect of the books. Repitition is okay here.

And now, without further ado…