Middle-earth Journeys
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door…You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.
© Rabbit Ridge Art™
Tolkien in the News
The Dutch translation of The Lord of the Rings is called 'In de Ban van de Ring'. Back in 1956 it was the very first translation of the book, and it was also the first work of Tolkien translated into Dutch. In 1960 a translation of The Hobbit, called 'De Hobbit', was published as a small paperback, in order to help to sell the stocks of The Lord of the Rings. Other Tolkien books weren't translated till the seventies. They include translations of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Bilbo's Last Song, etc.
From July:
Fifty years after the publication of Lord of the Rings, an exhibition celebrating JRR Tolkien's Birmingham childhood opens in Birmingham today.
Helen Gabriel looks at how much we know about his life in the Midlands...
For 18 months I have been living almost directly opposite the former residence of one of my heroes - but I had no idea until I visited the Tolkien's Boyhood in Birmingham exhibition at the city's Central Library.
Whether it's because Tolkien is still viewed by some as the territory of pipe-smoking hippies with feet furry enough to make any hobbit proud, or because people would rather associate his fantasy fiction with the snow-capped mountains and rolling hills of New Zealand where the Hollywood version of Lord of the Rings was filmed, it's still a littleknown fact outside the city that Tolkien thought of himself as a true Brummie.
The city has been openly criticised for not shouting loudly enough about its influence on one of its most famous sons, not least by a BBC Inside Out programme which is due to be aired in September.
But on August 9,700 of Tolkien's biggest fans will descend on the city to attend a week-long seminar of the International Tolkien Society at Aston University, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Lord of the Rings.
The Tolkien's Boyhood in Birmingham exhibition has been put on to coincide with the seminar, and offers an insight into the day-to-day life of young John Ronald Reuel.
Maggie Burns, who painstakingly researched and coordinated the exhibition, said: "There is just so much here that people don't realise is here. I think it's partly because of the way Tolkien is regarded because it's fantasy and was written in the 1970s."
Prior to Tolkien's birth, his parents moved to South Africa because his father was offered the chance of promotion at the bank where he worked. His mother, Mabel, joined him and the couple had two sons John and Hilary.
In 1885, when Tolkien was five she brought him and his brother to Birmingham to visit family.
His mother's family, the Suffields, had moved to the city in the early 19th century and had a lace shop in the centre of town.
While Mabel and her sons were in England Tolkien's father developed rheumatic fever. They received a telegram to say he was ill, and then another which said he was dead, so they never returned to South Africa.
At first the family stayed with relatives in Kings Heath before moving to Sarehole Mill, perhaps Birmingham's best known and most celebrated link with Tolkien.
The two millers, George Andrew senior and junior, are referred to in the foreword of Lord of The Rings.
Ms Burns said: "Someone who is still at the mill knew the younger miller and said he used to complain about people picnicking on their land, near all the machinery. He said the Tolkiens were some of the worst."
The family moved to Moseley and Tolkien was a pupil at King Edward's School, then based in New Street on the site where King Edward's House now stands, from 1900 to 1902.
He then attended St Philip's, attached to the Oratory in Edgbaston, after his mother converted to Catholicism. He returned to King Edward's, aged ten, with a foundation scholarship in 1903 and studied there until
1911.
The exhibition plots his journey home from school in old photographs. Also displayed are some of Tolkien's humorous writings from the school magazine, of which he was editor, and reports from the debating society, of which he was a member, including one from 1911 where he is critical of Shakespeare.
Ms Burns said: "It has often been written that he didn't like Shakespeare, but it doesn't actually mean he didn't like Shakespeare - he was just taking part in a debate."
Class lists show he was usually top of the class, and he was also president of the football club.
Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904, aged 34, and Father Francis Morgan at the Oratory became his guardian.
In 1911 Tolkien gained a scholarship to read classics at Exeter College in Oxford.
Tolkien never returned to Birmingham permanently but he visited often and described it as his home town. n The exhibition - Tolkien's Boyhood in Birmingham - opens today in the Local History Department on floor six of the Birmingham Central Library.
Scotland on SundayFrom Scotland on Sunday
MIKE MERRITT AND JEREMY WATSON
FROM the cloistered world of Oxford they created two of the best-loved fantasy realms in English literature which themselves inspired blockbuster movies.
CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were the closest of friends, one struggling to make his fantasy world of Middle Earth a literary reality, the other trying to convince friends his first book about Narnia deserved to be published.
But new research has revealed that their friendship was riven by the most bitter and personal of rows on everything from literature to religion and even their choice of spouse.
The fascinating revelations about their real relationship have been made by film-maker Norman Stone while researching a new drama-documentary on the life of Lewis. Stone, who made the award-winning movie about Lewis, Shadowlands, talked to mutual friends of the literary pair as well as examining documents in minute detail.
His portrayal of their frequent and occasionally destructive bickering comes on the eve of one of the most eagerly-awaited movies of the year, the £129m The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and follows the astounding critical and commercial success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But Stone's drama-documentary, to be broadcast in December this year, lays bare the sometimes unbearable tension between the two writers whose work would inspire Hollywood.
In CS Lewis, Beyond Narnia, Lewis and Tolkien are shown having a violent argument about The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Lewis wrote afterwards: "No harm in him, only needs a smack or so."
Tolkien disliked the first Narnia book, published in 1950, telling the author it had too many clashing elements and was pushing the Christianity "message" too far. He also apparently "hated" Lewis's allegorical fight between good and evil, with Jesus represented by Aslan the Lion.
"Some people may see it as trading insults," said Stone. "Initially, when Lewis turned to writing children's books, his publisher and other friends tried to dissuade him. They thought it would hurt his reputation as a writer of serious works on literature and ethics.
"Tolkien thought there were too many elements that clashed: a Father Christmas and an evil witch, talking animals and children. He did not like allegory and thought Lewis's book was too pushy in a Christian sense."
Tolkien helped change Lewis from an atheist to a Christian, but, according to the film, then became concerned about his embrace of Protestantism and evolving anti-Catholic stance.
And when Lewis met and married Joy Gresham, an American widow, this - says Stone - was yet another source of trouble. Gresham needed to go through a civil wedding to allow her to stay in the UK, and Tolkien felt she was taking Lewis away from his closest circle of friends.
A friend of both writers, Brian Sibley, confirmed to Stone their strained relationship. "They took no prisoners when it came to arguing about their work," he said.
When Lewis published his academic magnum opus, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century in 1954, Tolkien was irritated by Lewis calling Catholics "papists" and that he openly praised the 16th-century Presbyterian preacher John Calvin as "dazzling". Tolkien despaired that his friend would "become again a Northern Ireland Protestant".
Stone, who is married to TV presenter Sally Magnusson, is a successful director who won a Bafta and Emmy for Shadowlands, which examined the relationship between Lewis and his wife. The Glasgow-based film-maker has returned to the subject to examine other aspects of Lewis's life, in particular his relationship with Tolkien.
After serving in the trenches in the First World War, Lewis took a First in Greek and Latin Literature before accepting a senior post teaching English at Magdalene College, Oxford.
There he met Tolkien, the professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature at Exeter College. They realised they were "kindred spirits" and Tolkien read his early Middle Earth stories - a precursor to the Lord of the Rings series - to his new friend. In return, Tolkien persuaded Lewis, then in his early 30s, to adopt Christianity and he became a prolific author of academic and religious works before writing children's literature.
Gresham was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1956 - the year Lewis completed his seventh Narnia book - and died four years later, aged just 45. Her husband followed her in 1963 just short of his 65th birthday.
The Narnia Chronicles have sold more than 100m copies. The Lord of the Rings series, first published in 1954, have sold more than 150m copies.
Stone said it was "fair to say that Tolkien and Lewis influenced each other as writers. I have made this new film because I wanted to tell the whole story of Lewis's life and I feel Lord of the Rings has created a new audience which will appreciate Lewis's work too."
The film is to be shown on the Hallmark cable TV channel although the BBC is negotiating to show it at the same time. It stars Midsomer Murders actor Anton Rogers as Lewis and Diane Venora, of Clint Eastwood's Bird, as Gresham.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, premieres at London's Royal Albert Hall in December. The cast includes Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson, James McAvoy, Rupert Everett, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone and Dawn French.
I've never read CS Lewis but knew he was a good friend of Tolkien's. This story reveals a side of Tolkien I've never heard about. The remark that CS Lewis was "pushing the Christianity message" too far is odd, considering Tolkien had converted to Catholicism.
, and I've lent out my Carpenter biography, so I can't check for sure, but I think that Tolkien was baptized a Catholic when he was a very young child and never really knew anything else. He was deeply religious, so I don't think it was the religious themes in Narnia that he objected to, but rather how superficial the themes were. I have to say I agree!
CNW GroupTORONTO, Sept. 26 /CNW/ - Indigo Books & Music Inc. asked and Canadians have spoken! In a recent on-line poll of members of Indigo's loyalty program, iREWARDS, respondents were asked to identify their favourite books of all time. Results were staggering! 7,000 of Canada's biggest booklovers nominated their top picks from classic novels, tasty cookbooks, self-help handbooks and coffee table cruisers! The votes were cast and counted and Indigo Books & Music Inc. is pleased to announce the Canadian Readers' Choice Picks for the top 100 best books of all time. The full list is available in the Readers' Choice brochure available at all Indigo and Chapters stores across the
country.
Listed below are the Readers' Choice Awards for the top 40 books, which
can also be viewed at http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/readerschoice.
Readers' Choice Awards Top 40
-----------------------------
1 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
2 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
3 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
4 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
5 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien
6 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien
8 Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery
9 Outlander Diana Gabaldon
10 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
11 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling
12 Angels and Demons Dan Brown
13 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling
14 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
15 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
16 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J.K. Rowling
17 Fall on Your Knees Ann-Marie Macdonald
18 The Stand Stephen King
19 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
20 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
21 The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
22 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
23 Little Women Louisa May Alcott
24 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
25 Life of Pi Yann Martel
26 The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
27 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
28 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis
29 East of Eden John Steinbeck
30 Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
31 Dune Frank Herbert
32 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
33 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
34 1984 George Orwell
35 The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley
36 The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett
37 The Power of One Bryce Courtenay
38 I Know This Much Is True Wally Lamb
39 The Red Tent Anita Diamant
40 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
(guess we can all agree with that)!
The Tolkien SocietyWith expert guide Bob Blackham
Sunday 30th October 2005 11.30am-4pm
Trail starts and finishes at Sarehole Mill
Lunch stop at the Covered Wagon pub in Moseley
The bus will stop at:
*Sarehole Mill
*Kings Heath
*Moseley Bog
*Trittiford
*Moseley
*The Lickeys
*Edgbaston (this stop will include the 'Two Towers' of Perrott's Folly and the Edgbaston Waterworks Tower)
The bus tour is free - please phone 0121 464 0402 to book a place on the bus.
Availability will be on a first come first served basis.
Beautifully done Riv.