Showing posts with label hobbit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hobbit. Show all posts

The History of the Hobbit, Part 1: Mr. Baggins Review

The History of the Hobbit, Part 1: Mr. Baggins
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The History of the Hobbit, Part 1: Mr. Baggins ReviewReturn to Bag End is the second part of John D. Rateliff's History of the Hobbit. It begins with page 469 and contains the Index for both volumes, so its important to start with Volume I, Mr. Baggins.
Return to Bag End begins with the thirteen dwarves and their hobbit companion's arrival at The Lonely Mountain. Rateliff has identified five phases in the writing of The Hobbit, and this volume begins towards the end of the second phase. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit in fits and spurts over a period of several years, and finally finished it in its first published form by the end of the third phase. Rateliff's fourth phase took place in the late 1940s, when Tolkien had nearly finished The Lord of the Rings and needed to rewrite part of The Hobbit to eliminate some inconsistencies. The most important of these inconsistencies dealt with the matter of how Bilbo came to possess the Ring. In the first published version Gollum gave Bilbo the Ring as a gift. Now Tolkien, to make the Ring darker and more ominous, had Bilbo purloin it from Gollum. Then in 1960 came the fifth phase, when Tolkien attempted to make The Hobbit even closer in tone and spirit to The Lord of the Rings by essentially rewriting it. He wisely abandoned this attempt after a few chapters when a friend advised that while it was brilliant, it wasn't The Hobbit.
As in the first volume, Return to Bag End abounds with fascinating textual notes and short essays interpolated with Tolkien's own words. These include some intriguing speculations, including one on whether the Arkenstone was a Silmaril and another on the ultimate fate of dwarves after their deaths. There are also several Appendices, one on the Denham Tracts, a nineteenth century list of imaginary beings which mentioned "hobbit" several years before Tolkien was even born; another on Tolkien's own speculations on the origin of the word hobbit which includes one of my own favorite childhood stories: "The Hobyahs;" and others dealing with the origins of dwarf names and with Tolkien's correspondence with Arthur Ransome.
Both volumes of The History of the Hobbit are essential additions to Tolkien scholarship. They will provide much fascinating reading and speculation for many years to come for all lovers of Middle-earth.The History of the Hobbit, Part 1: Mr. Baggins OverviewFirst published in 1938, The Hobbit is a story that "grew in the telling," and many characters and events in the published book are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads." For the first time, The History of the Hobbit reproduces the original version of one of literature's most famous stories, and includes many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit created by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how he came to revise the book in the years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings.

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The Dawnstone Tale: Translations From Jorthus Review

The Dawnstone Tale: Translations From Jorthus
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The Dawnstone Tale: Translations From Jorthus ReviewThis was an amazing journey and I cannot wait for it to continue. The characters are fun and three-dimensional (it's so easy to make characters static and lifeless, but the author doesn't fall into that trap). The tale is engrossing and keeps you guessing at the motivations of the main characters. I'm now reading the sequel to The Dawnstone Tale, and I cannot wait to see where Ruth Davis Hays will take us next.
Compelling and fun ...and a great escape for the reader.
The Dawnstone Tale: Translations From Jorthus OverviewWhat happens when an out-of-luck thief, an innocent spell caster, and a charming stranger all go after the same treasure? Well, naturally they join forces; but if they happen to win their prize and evade their enemies--how will they escape each other?Join the adventures from Jorthus!NEWLY REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Illustrations by Khanada Taylor.THE TRANSLATIONS FROM JORTHUS: BOOK ONE The Dawnstone Tale is an introduction to the world of Jorthus, where a magda named Lylith must step outside the solitary comfort of her tower home and follow a destiny calling to her from the living rock of the planet's spirit.Along her adventure, she is joined by elves, thieves, and admirers:who come to either help her or hinder her (she isn't sure which!)But, through it all, she discovers more about her world than she had bargained for-- and more about herself as well.

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Mirkwood: A Novel About JRR Tolkien, Heroines, and Exodus From Middle Earth Or Pardon Me, Did You Just Come Through That Portal? Review

Mirkwood: A Novel About JRR Tolkien, Heroines, and Exodus From Middle Earth Or Pardon Me, Did You Just Come Through That Portal
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Mirkwood: A Novel About JRR Tolkien, Heroines, and Exodus From Middle Earth Or Pardon Me, Did You Just Come Through That Portal Review*
This book misrepresents itself in both title and contents. For one thing, it is demonstrably not "a novel about JRR Tolkien". While there is a (comparatively minor) character with that name, this character thinks, speaks and acts so unlike Tolkien that Hillard should have given him an entirely different name. But doing so would ruin his project, which is to propose a revisionist plot for The Lord of the Rings, whereby a previously unknown hobbitess (with the unlikely and thoroughly unlikeable name of Aragranessa) was in fact the true hero of the story all along, edited out by misogynistic chroniclers. Not only is she Frodo's otherwise unknown lover, but she also discovers the long-lost Entwives and it's *she* who really defeats Sauron. Honestly, the actual subtitle of this book should have been "The Adventures of Mary Sue in Middle-earth".
So, in addition to presenting a "Tolkien" who is nothing at all like the real JRR Tolkien, we have a wholesale rewriting of Tolkien's epic, complete with (clumsy new additions aside) substantially the same characters, setting and plot. It shouldn't therefore require too much empathy to understand the Tolkien Estate's objections to this book. Readers with some respect for the literary legacy of a cherished author will give "Mirkwood" a miss for these reasons alone.
For those curious to read more, please see also the following very critical review of "Mirkwood" by Tolkien expert John Rateliff (author of The History of The Hobbit):
[...]Mirkwood: A Novel About JRR Tolkien, Heroines, and Exodus From Middle Earth Or Pardon Me, Did You Just Come Through That Portal OverviewBold new author Steve Hillard's wildly original debut, Mirkwood, re-invents J.R.R. Tolkien as a man haunted by the very myths he rewove into his famous works. As much literacy criticism as boisterous epic, this episodically-driven plot explores the blurred borderlands where ancient tales, lost heroines, and epic journeys are stalked by dim monsters that will not be still. In 1970, Professor Tolkien makes a little-known visit to America-and sets in motion the stirring of dark and ancient powers embodied in a cache of ancient documents. Destinies are altered, legends become real, and two heroines must race for their lives in vastly different worlds.

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