Rereading Tolkien

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

This is about multiple books so I wasn't sure where to post it. Over the past year, I have been doing a massive reread of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. It was prompted by a combination of excitement for the Hobbit movies and the fact that I've been having a rough few years and needed some escapism.

I would have posted this sooner but I didn't have anything specific to say. Just that it's been a really fun experience and the books seemed very different to me all these years later. I noticed details I didn't remember, saw connections to the greater mythology that I had missed, and could visualize everything more easily thanks to the movies and The Lord of the Rings Online. That said, it was good to be reminded of the original stories, rather than the adaptations.

The most surprising was The Silmarillion. The first time I read it, I found it to be a difficult book. I liked the characters but the archaic style was tough to get through. This time around, I expected and was used to that style and knew all the major players -- and I freakin' loved the book! Such an epic and sprawling story. If you're in the right mindset and approach the Sil as a lost Elvish history chronicle or as something that a person in Middle-earth would read, it's very enjoyable.

I have lots of unread books on my shelf but Middle-earth is still calling to me. I think I may move on to Unfinished Tales. And one of these days, I should get the rest of the HOME series.

Has anyone else here attempted a reread of this scale or had similar experiences?

[Stormrider]

Yes, Fredeghar. I re-read The Hobbit and LOTR books about a year or so ago, too. I noticed so many things I had forgotten about the written tale especially after having watched the movies with some of the changes made for them.

Before the movies, I re-read The Hobbit and LOTR many times over the years -- every 5 years or so between readings. They are just something you can't get enough of. But once the movies came out and I found the B&N class and we started up Tolkien's Ring, I have learned so much from all of our members through our discussions. And that last read about a year or so ago was so much better keeping in mind everything we have all discussed and things did stand out and make more of an impression on me.

I had read The Silmarillion when Megn did her Sil study at the old Tolkien's Ring site and I did attempt to read it again, but got distracted with other things in life and will have to start that up again. Like you, it was difficult the first time. The second start up wasn't that bad and I would have finished it again but had other things to do. I will get into it again by hook or by crook!

You will enjoy Unfinished Tales. It is very interesting because there is much more information in it that ties more things together! I want to re-read it again, too.

I've read some of the HOME series, mainly the books containing the writing of LOTR and how it changed and transformed as JRRT wrote and re-wrote it. I posted some threads about that here as I was reading. The other HOME books I've skimmed through looking for information for some of our discussions.

Another book that I would love to just sit down and read from cover to cover is The Letters of JRRT. I've skimmed some of them as reference but never read it in its entirety.

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

Jun 29, 2012 6:03:23 GMT -6 Stormrider said:

You will enjoy Unfinished Tales. It is very interesting because there is much more information in it that ties more things together! I want to re-read it again, too.

I've read Unfinished Tales before and enjoyed it. I'm still itching to spend time in Middle-earth though so I figured that would be my next re-read.

I'm not sure how I would respond to the HOME series. I read The Book of Lost Tales 1 and 2 and found them fascinating. But I don't know if I could make it through ten more volumes of early drafts, abandoned manuscripts, and dry, dull commentary from Christopher Tolkien. I kind of want to check the series out though, if only for the stories that don't appear anywhere else like The Lost Road, The Notion Club Papers, The New Shadow, and Tal-Elmar. I've read about these online and on the board here and they sound intriguing.

[Stormrider]

Jun 29, 2012 13:20:44 GMT -6 Fredeghar Wayfarer said:

I'm not sure how I would respond to the HOME series. I read The Book of Lost Tales 1 and 2 and found them fascinating. But I don't know if I could make it through ten more volumes of early drafts, abandoned manuscripts, and dry, dull commentary from Christopher Tolkien. I kind of want to check the series out though, if only for the stories that don't appear anywhere else like The Lost Road, The Notion Club Papers, The New Shadow, and Tal-Elmar. I've read about these online and on the board here and they sound intriguing.

Right! Christopher Tolkien's commentary in HOME is dry and dull. I like a straight-through read without interruptions and foot notes and second and third versions. But if we are discussing something on the other forums (such as Trotter or Queen what's her name's cat), it can be interesting to bring up something in HOME as a reference. I have not read any of those other stories you mentioned either. Someday. . .

Believe it or not, I am reading The Arabian Nights translated by Sir Richard E. Burton because my soap-making partner gave it to me. We have a soap called Scheherazade (a very exotic fragrance with patchouli and amber notes). She was the princess who told the tales to her husband the King who slew each of his previous wives after they consumated their marriage each night. He had witnessed many times where women were unfaithful to their spouses (including his brother and other kings) and he did not trust women one hoot! This way he was sure he had virgins for wives and they wouldn't stray from his bed! But Scheherazade told fascinating tales after they consumated each night in order to keep him from killing her because he wanted to hear more stories.

But enough of that since this is a Re-reading Tolking thread!

[profgandalf]

I too am re-reading Tolkien--and loving it. Besides the upcoming film, I also was preparing for the eighth Frances White Ewbank Colloquium on CS Lewis and Friends held at Taylor University.

So I re-read The Hobbit and was fascinated by the narrating voice. I ended up writing a paper in which I claimed that Tolkien as father actually protects the young listeners from some of the terrible action of the narrative (making it very different from the movie which by the trailer indicates that Bilbo has come of age and is now able to hear "the whole truth.").

To continue to get a sense of the narrator I then read all of the LOR (with the appendixes). I have poor eyesight and so this time around I got audio reading from the Library for the blind. That meant NO CHEATING on my part, no skipping the poetry, no avoiding the wide selection of the appendix. It is amazing the level of detail. I will turn to the The Silmarillion next.

But before I do I just finished The Children of Huron. I'd love to start a post on this interesting and sad novel. I am not sure if I should call it a novel--it feels like a medieval romance and it has the tragic element of a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. In fact I told a friend of mine that the pleasure in this work is not like one experiences in David Copperfield but like one feels in Hamlet. nzr.mvnu.edu/faculty/trearick/english/rearick/writings/litessay/hobbit_Narrator.html

[profgandalf]

Speaking of The Children of Huron, I'd note that this is in some ways a novel very different that others of the 20th and 21st century. In fact, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am not sure it should be called a novel at all.

Christopher Tolkien brings together a number of manuscripts left by his father on a story which is mentioned both in The Silmarillion, the lays of Beleriand and The Lost Tales. There is as far as I can tell no humor in it, and its subject is the elevated quality of the mythic first age. Thus in some ways the very material makes it inappropriate for a novel which has always been about the common person, emphasizing internal psychological development and social criticism. I suspect that a more accurate identification of the work is to call it a prose epic narrative or medieval romance.

If J.RR. Tolkien had lived on (and on like Bilbo ), he would have presented the narrative in the Old English kind of alliterative poetry that makes up The Lays of Beleriand. Much smaller audience perhaps but more fitting in form.

However, I am still very thankful to Christopher Tolkien to have taken up the attempt to present it in text format. It made the narrative more accessible for me and has now inspire me to read The Lays (which was sitting on my desk already but after checking it out, I had laid it down in intimidation). The Children of Huron is a profoundly worthy and serious work. However, I suspect that they will never make it into a movie, and if they do they will probably alter the ending and ruin it.


By the by the illustration in my text by Alan Lee are also beautiful!

[Stormrider]

Alan Lee is one of the best Tolkien Fan Artists around. I love his watercolors. I tried doing watercolors myself and it is a difficult medium. His technique is so well done.

And there are so many other great Tolkien Fan Artists out there as well. I love seeing all their own impressions of the Tolkien Characters and scenes.

Sorry . . . got off the track of re-reading.