Articles Young and Old

[Merry]

Thanks for this, Philipa. Father Schall is a philosopher I've read in other contexts. It's an interesting question, isn't it? I'm glad he didn't write the new story, too. I think it has something to do with the eucatastrophe. Now that we've read Tuor (and I've been reading The Sil again), I'm seeing in a better way how everything leads up to the destruction of the Ring, the Fading of the Elves and the Return of the King. I guess there can be minor catastrophes and eucatastrophes after that, but they would be minor.

A friend of mine, an English prof and also a Jesuit, told me once he didn't like Tolkien because Tolkien didn't like Men. I thought that was a bit unfair. What do you think?

[Iolanthe]

Very unfair! Just because Tolkien liked elvish myths and stories doesn't mean he didn't like men. And although Tolkien has plenty of weak men in his books he has plenty of strong faithful ones too - and the same goes for the elves! I'd say your friend didn't get into Tolkien enough to get the balance .

[Lúthien]

an interview to the Tolkien scholar Tayshaun Greensleeve.
Interview with Tolkien scholar Tayshaun Greensleeve

Did you watch this video? I'm asking because it's a spoof (though the suggestions at the right are the real thing).
In that video, this "scholar" Tayshaun Greensleeve tells about his project to translate all Tolkien's works into Ebonics which is quite a funny thing to consider (at least I find it hilarious).
I've considered, when I was talking with a friend about this 1000 word version of the Silmarillion - that it'd be really funny to create an ebonics version of that, so who knows

[Merry]

Thanks for the links, Luthien--academics are just too easy to make fun of!

[Iolanthe]

I just LOVE the 1,000 word Sil . Boop bop-a-doo-bop!

[Merry]

One of my students in grad school at Texas sent me this link today:

http://www.ua.txstate.edu/ua-connection ... Lewis.html

I'm looking forward to reading more about this!

On a secondary note, Iolanthe and I heard Walter Hooper speak at Oxford years ago--a charming man and a great storyteller!

[Philipa]

Great article Merry. I never even thought that would be something found so late. I wonder how many people get great ideas in laundromats.

[Philipa]

Not an article, but I had no place to put this very cleverly done video I found on uTube.

It's called Lord of the Rings in 99 Seconds.

[Merry]

I totally enjoyed that! So creative . . .

[Philipa]

It's my week to stumble on these things I guess. Here is an amazing performance by four high school orchestras performing Howard Shore's LotR Overture. It's very impressive.

HERE

[MICHKA]

une video très charmante et une page interressante de 'Youtube' sur les différentes productions de musique de films avec extraits supers!!merci

[Philipa]

Your welcome Michka. The students in that video were 14 to 18 year olds. I was impressed with their ability to play such a beautiful, hard piece of music.

[Merry]

Here's an article they've linked to at TOR.n:

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/108 ... lation.php

It seems that JRRT's version of the Arthurian legends will be published soon! This is a long article about what we might expect from it. (It's going to snow here tomorrow, and this seems like good snow day reading!)

[MICHKA]

eh,bien, j'espère que nous aurons la joie de lire cela prochainement, je suis curieuse de voir l'interprétation de cette légende par Tolkien, qui ,si mes souvenirs sont bons, n'aimait pas l'histoire de son Angleterre à l'époque de l'invasion française, normande, et l'influence des histoires bretonnes . N'est-ce pas pour çà qu'il a recherché plus loin une mythologie de sa terre en se renseignant sur les récits scandinaves?

[Merry]

Your memory does serve you well, Michka. Tolkien did not think that the Arthurian legends were authentic representations of English myth. So I suppose we will see them cast in a bit of a negative light. That will be interesting!