tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post9030469171259535131..comments2024-03-23T12:05:13.464-07:00Comments on Ideas: An Essay I Had Forgotten WritingDavid Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-54693735709061093302022-04-06T12:17:21.151-07:002022-04-06T12:17:21.151-07:00David: I guess that might be true. I am sure I wou...David: I guess that might be true. I am sure I would not be able to read the non-simiplified version of the Illiad at that age though :-)<br /><br />I did like LOTR when I read it which was when I was about 13, but not quite as much as for example the Sapkowski's Witcher books (at that time it only had a Czech, German and perhaps Russian or French translations, the English one only came after the success of the computer games many years later).<br /><br />Of course Sapkowski would never have written those books without Tolkien writing LOTR first (although Sapkowski also used the Celtic folklore as a direct inspiration, among other things like the Grimm brothers' fairytales and Polish foklore).Tibornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-72503093331106660182022-03-31T14:48:08.009-07:002022-03-31T14:48:08.009-07:00Tibor:
I think my younger son was seven or eight w...Tibor:<br />I think my younger son was seven or eight when he read _Lord of the Rings_ and very much enjoyed it. I would have been nine or ten when I read it — I had to wait for the second volume to be published.<br /><br />If that was what you were reading early you might have developed a different taste in prose style.David Friedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-37172539876156140882022-03-27T08:54:31.423-07:002022-03-27T08:54:31.423-07:00Uh, I should have read the message before posting ...Uh, I should have read the message before posting it. I made some edits which now make part of it kind of nonsensical. In particular the "I definitely saw it as very cruel for" is not supposed to be there.Tibornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-59711896574675993282022-03-27T08:51:55.381-07:002022-03-27T08:51:55.381-07:00David, what a fascinating life you've led - Bo...David, what a fascinating life you've led - BobboAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-79496253156083972092022-03-27T08:49:07.886-07:002022-03-27T08:49:07.886-07:00I was at first confused by the style in which the ...I was at first confused by the style in which the essay was written, it didn't seem like your writing David, more "school-like" or "dry academic" perhaps? Then I went back to see the date when your wrote it. Interesting how someone's style can change over time (I prefer your current style :)). <br /><br />As for the content - I grew up in the 90s and early 20s in a post-communist Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia first, but I don't remember that), one of the most atheist countries in the world. I had basically no introduction to the Bible apart from a few simplified stories like that of Job (which I found horrible as a child). I learned more about the gods of ancient Greeks through Iliad and Odyssey (also a simplified version for kids, it wasn't in verse and was illustrated). Slightly later (in my tweens), I read LOTR (even Silmarillion, mostly because it was the only book I had on me when I was in a hospital for a week) but for me it was the Greek mythology which replaced the spot normally reserved for the Christian mythology in more religious countries (or families) to a point of seeing it as a "moral compass" of sorts (which is a bit weird given how the Greek gods behave but it was a bit simpler in my version for kids and in my interpretation Odysseus was clearly the hero (kind of functioning for me in the "what would Odysseus do?" way). I don't think there were any clear antagonists in my view, so I guess I didn't really need a story of good versus evil (I definitely saw it as very cruel for but somehow I figured that Odysseus was the only sensible person in all of that mess and Athena was the divine representation is that sense (although I know I had problems accepting the fact that she sent snakes to silence Laocoon, also killing his sons for good measure, that just seemed cruel to me).<br /><br />I wonder if Tolkien could have had the same effect on me had i read it first. It could have, but I read (the kids version of) Illiad and Odyssey when I was 8 or 9 and I'd have needed a simplified version of LOTR (with illustrations!) at that age, otherwise I would have likely lost interest in the very descriptive and old fashioned style of writing of Tolkien.tibornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-7995068019658773622022-03-25T12:33:55.813-07:002022-03-25T12:33:55.813-07:00Speaking for myself, I come from a non-religious f...Speaking for myself, I come from a non-religious family, so religion isn't something I miss or hunger for: it's something I grew up quite happily without, and I don't miss it at all. I evaluate <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> simply as a fantasy story among other fantasy stories, and I think it's a pretty good one, although I could criticize some aspects of it. It's naturally rather old-fashioned, being written by a man born in 1892 and in the style of old mythology.<br /><br />I was rather surprised, on seeing Peter Jackson's films, to be frequently irritated by deviations from the original story, where I felt that Tolkien's plot details were generally better chosen than those in the film script. So, funnily enough, the films gave me a better respect for the book.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15661031964537092605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-38511584419158177922022-03-25T07:09:24.944-07:002022-03-25T07:09:24.944-07:00Great review that I missed at the time.
I love th...Great review that I missed at the time.<br /><br />I love this passage:<br />But that answers the wrong question. I do not want to know why I feel that I should do something; I want to know why (and whether) I should do it. David R. Hendersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927325694778972407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-25057174029380208602022-03-24T17:41:18.240-07:002022-03-24T17:41:18.240-07:00I read, years and years ago, Tolkien's story o...I read, years and years ago, Tolkien's story of saying to a friend (whom I believe to have been C.S. Lewis, as Lewis somewhere tells a similar story from the other side), "All right, let's grant that the Gospels are a fairy story. Is there any fairy story that it would give you more joy to discover to be true?" That one seems to have sold Lewis. But if I were asked it, now, I would say, "Yes, Mr. Tolkien, there is: Your own story of Middle-Earth, from the Elder Days to the War of the Ring." Of course that sentiment would probably apall Tolkien . . . <br /><br />On the other hand, I have just reread <i>That Hideous Strength</i> (it's one of this years finalists for the Libertarian Futurist Society's Hall of Fame), and while it's not the equal of Tolkien's work, it does speak to me. I particularly love the passage where the planetary intelligences are descending to inhabit Merlin's body, and when Venus arrives, Lewis tells us that she is Charity, "ready to die, ready to kill." That passage goes through me like an arrow.William H. Stoddardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-5256003278110825832022-03-24T14:50:04.533-07:002022-03-24T14:50:04.533-07:00I think you're mistaking character development...I think you're mistaking character development and a lack of a Calvinist sensibility for a dismissal of "black and white" reasoning.<br /><br />I have other quibbles, but they're just that. Otherwise, interesting take.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-42174255898102528112022-03-24T12:53:48.105-07:002022-03-24T12:53:48.105-07:00Your lack of comprehension is surely due to your l...Your lack of comprehension is surely due to your lack of faith. Tolkien is completely comprehensible to those of faith, even simplistic.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01441272786302192395noreply@blogger.com