Tolkien

stonetoflesh · May 22, 2005

tryniti said:
Ok, I'll clarify what I meant

It's the fact that he was able to do it so naturally, and that so much came from when he was in a rabbit-hole during WWI. I've also been told that he created the fundamentals for a language when he was 12.

Pretty impressive, indeed...!

Paleoconservatarian · May 22, 2005

I've been a Tolkien fan since I first learned to read (The Hobbit was a huge part of my early literary diet). I've read just about every LotR book available, as well as his letters and some biographies. For the Christians out there, I heartily recommend Joseph Pearce's Tolkien: Man and Myth. It's biographical information on Tolkien, largely centered on the Christian mythopoesis of LotR.

spacedout said:
Pretty impressive, indeed...!

If you think that's impressive...

"There was a custom at King Edward's of holding a debate entirely in Latin, but that was almost too easy for Tolkien, and in one debate when taking the role of Greek Ambassador to the Senate he spoke entirely in Greek. On another occasion he astonished his schoolfellows when, in the character of a barbarian envoy, he broke into fluent Gothic; and on a third occasion he spoke in Anglo-Saxon." (quoted from: http://www.credenda.org/issues/14-2poetics.php)

Witness Of His Love · May 25, 2005

I thoroughly enjoyed the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit but the Simarillion was like trying to get through the "begatting" sections of the bible: So-and-so begat him, who begat her, who begat them and so on. Ugh! :o

It seems more like a text/reference book or an index to be used with Tolkien's other stories than any real story being told--just FUI on everything elvish.

I could be accused of being less intelligent therefore not mentally capable of truely understanding Tolkien's "vision" with the Simarillion, (such as what happened when I mentioned on another forum I didn't understand the last Matrix movie----the machines HATED HUMANS and were WINNING so how could Neo make a deal with them when there was no need for the machines to agree to it? okaynevermindthat'sanotherthreadentirely), but I really think Tolkien had the Simarillion on his "To-do" list and just never got around to fully fleshing out the story.

Great authors do not always a great story make.

Paleoconservatarian · May 27, 2005

Witness Of His Love said:
I thoroughly enjoyed the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit but the Simarillion was like trying to get through the "begatting" sections of the bible: So-and-so begat him, who begat her, who begat them and so on. Ugh!

It seems more like a text/reference book or an index to be used with Tolkien's other stories than any real story being told--just FUI on everything elvish.

I could be accused of being less intelligent therefore not mentally capable of truely understanding Tolkien's "vision" with the Simarillion, (such as what happened when I mentioned on another forum I didn't understand the last Matrix movie----the machines HATED HUMANS and were WINNING so how could Neo make a deal with them when there was no need for the machines to agree to it? okaynevermindthat'sanotherthreadentirely), but I really think Tolkien had the Simarillion on his "To-do" list and just never got around to fully fleshing out the story.

Great authors do not always a great story make.

The Silmarillion wasn't meant for mass consumption. It was meant for those truly interested in Tolkien's loves, language and mythology. Furthermore, The Silmarillion was never meant to entertain, at least not as we would think of entertainment. In fact, I don't expect anyone to enjoy it even a little, if they do not understand and enjoy both the elements of mythology and of Christianity, because Silmarillion (and LotR) is a Christian myth. Is it a great story? Absolutely, yes. But you can't read it like you would the fluffy novels you usually find in bookstores these days. You have to read it as Tolkien intended it to be read. It's neither a reference nor an aside, but it is the real story... the one which most clearly points to the most real of stories, the gospel of Christ.

SuperSmart · May 27, 2005

When I was 5 my dad read me the Hobbit. THen when I was in 3rd grade I read it by myself. In 6th grade my dad got me a whole book with all three LoTR books. Since then I have read them combined a total of about 9 times abut have listened to them at least 20 times on c.d.

Ainuhina · May 27, 2005

another Tolkien fan here

(and for everyone interested there is a fan club in the christian clubs forum )

Paleoconservatarian · May 27, 2005

SuperSmart said:
When I was 5 my dad read me the Hobbit. THen when I was in 3rd grade I read it by myself. In 6th grade my dad got me a whole book with all three LoTR books. Since then I have read them combined a total of about 9 times abut have listened to them at least 20 times on c.d.

My story is pretty much the same, except that it was my mother who introduced me to The Hobbit, I began reading LotR a bit earlier than that, and I haven't counted how many times I read it. I haven't heard but bits and pieces, and a couple of chapters, on audio, and they were read by Tolkien himself, who was rather distrustful of tape recorders. The first time he ever used one, he refused to use it until he recited the Lord's prayer into it... in Gothic.

Paleoconservatarian · May 27, 2005

Ainuhina said:
another Tolkien fan here

(and for everyone interested there is a fan club in the christian clubs forum )

Nice nickname... but I can't decide whether you mean Ainu in the Japanese sense or in the Valarin sense. I'm assuming hina in this case is Japanese, since I don't recall the word from any of Tolkien's work.

Witness Of His Love · May 27, 2005

Paleoconservatarian said:
The Silmarillion wasn't meant for mass consumption. It was meant for those truly interested in Tolkien's loves, language and mythology. Furthermore, The Silmarillion was never meant to entertain, at least not as we would think of entertainment. In fact, I don't expect anyone to enjoy it even a little, if they do not understand and enjoy both the elements of mythology and of Christianity, because Silmarillion (and LotR) is a Christian myth. Is it a great story? Absolutely, yes. But you can't read it like you would the fluffy novels you usually find in bookstores these days. You have to read it as Tolkien intended it to be read. It's neither a reference nor an aside, but it is the real story... the one which most clearly points to the most real of stories, the gospel of Christ.

Don't mean to offend ...just literally I'm not able to follow this book. His other books were written intelligently and thoughtfully, least I can gather that much because I understand them.

You seem to know the story. I found an article on Wikipedia that goes into minute detail. It will walk me through the five different parts of The Silmarillion section by section so I'll probably read it to see what I'm missing.

I know there's a bunch of mythological references and have read that Tolkien was also religious and I don't have a problem that he mixes the two together to tell a story but because he DOES mix the two together, I don't feel it really points to the greatest story ever told...that of Christ and salvation. If I want that story I'll just remember the day I got saved.

Peace

Ainuhina · May 28, 2005

Paleoconservatarian said:
Nice nickname... but I can't decide whether you mean Ainu in the Japanese sense or in the Valarin sense. I'm assuming hina in this case is Japanese, since I don't recall the word from any of Tolkien's work.

Well, in fact it's supposed to be Quenya

Ainu meaning God and the suffix hina (a not very common one ) meaning child or daughter

dcrowther3 · Jun 10, 2005

globalmouse said:
Yo! I'm a newbie here, any Tolkien fans out there?

If you likeTolkien, you'll like Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword".

:o

Victory of the Cross · Jun 10, 2005

I love the lord of the rings movies. i am attempting to read the books, i just got them from the library

princess heart · Jun 10, 2005

I wouldn't even know how many times I have read The Hobbit and LOTR... I am on my third set of paperbacks...

As far as his other works go, The Tolkien Reader is very good. I love Leaf by Niggle.

pianogirlk · Jun 10, 2005

I love all of Tolkien's works. I read the LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit about twice a year. Plus, I've also read Unfinished Tales, Lays of Beleriand, Silmarillion, The Shaping of Middle-Earth, The Peoples of Middle-Earth, The Lost Road, The Tolkien Reader, and Roverandom and numerous others of the history of Middle-Earth series. I think that the only book by him that I haven't read is The Father Christmas Letters.

Paleoconservatarian · Jun 10, 2005

Texmex's friend said:
I love the lord of the rings movies. i am attempting to read the books, i just got them from the library

I'm glad to hear that, however I'm afraid you have probably spoiled your experience with the book by watching the movie first. I certainly spoiled my movie experience by reading the book first. (Did anyone else feel like leaping from your seat and demanding Peter Jackson's head on a pike while watching the ending of The Two Towers?).

pianogirlk said:
I think that the only book by him that I haven't read is The Father Christmas Letters.

I want to get my hands on those as well. But I decided that I'd rather have the letters of C.S. Lewis to accompany my copy of Tolkien's letters.

Victory of the Cross · Jun 10, 2005

I like the Two Towers more than the Fellowship of the Rings, My sister is a Hobbit fan she is reading it At the moment

Lycana · Jun 10, 2005

I'm currently reading "Fellowship of the Ring" for the first time in a long while. I've read the series about 2 or three times while in high school but I adored the movies when they came out.

hmingbrd · Jun 11, 2005

I first encountered Tolkien when I was in high school, an I have lost track of how many times I have read the trilogy since then (last count I remember was 21 times). I really enjoyed the Silmarillion, but I think that it helps to really know the trilogy first, because there are so many allusions in the trilogy to the history that you read in Silmarillion.

Initially, I was disappointed in the movies. But, as I thought more about it, and heard Peter Jackson talk about his goals, I realized that he did an awesome job of doing what he does -- make great movies! The movies could never have included all of our favorite parts about the books without being unendurably long and drawn out. I think that, overall, Peter Jackson did a good job of portraying the overall theme and atmosphere of the books. They are both (Tolkien's books, and Jackson's movies), great works in their own right.

hmingbrd · Jun 11, 2005

Ainuhina said:
(and for everyone interested there is a fan club in the christian clubs forum )

I'm still kind of new here......am I really blind, cuz I can't find the christian clubs forum.

Nienor · Jun 11, 2005

hmingbrd said:
I'm still kind of new here......am I really blind, cuz I can't find the christian clubs forum.

ok, go down towards the bottom to the section called ministry. Its the 5th up from the bottom. Clubs are in the top left corner

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