Jack Law's Lord of the Rings Thread.

[craner]

Keith Thomas is a genius. Man and the Natural World is brilliant

Keith Thomas is a Vale of Glamorgan man, he went to Barry Grammar School.

 

[sus]

Is that where you went? I can't believe you live somewhere with names like Vale of Glamorgan.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Is that where you went? I can't believe you live somewhere with names like Vale of Glamorgan.

The UK is full of places that sound like a location from Lord Of The Rings but when you look them up turn out to be notorious for atmospheric lead pollution or knife crime among under-14s.

 

[luka]

"Did you know, for example, that in the Bodleian Library there are pages of Tolkien's scribblings on the Wake? That he wrote out Anna Livia Plurabelle in Elvish? Another unexploded bomb."
znore

 

[luka]

He had a certain, if imperfect, knowledge of Finnish.

 

[Corpsey]

Is that true? 😳😳😳

 

[luka]

apparently, yes

 

[Corpsey]

Researchers were surprised to find a few scribbled lines addressing the book among Tolkien’s lecture notes:

‘… Stream of consciousness. A mere pattern visualized (without interpretation) — […] disjointed or artificial or “monstrous”. Not possible with “meaning”. “Random thought” — is satanic and anarchic.’
(J.R.R. Tolkien on Finnegans Wake)

We find a certain distaste for the Wake in Tolkien’s comments and this is not surprising. Joyce was ahead of his time and, indeed, is perhaps ahead of ours. He elevated linguistics to a form of high art, but Tolkien knew there was more to language than aesthetics.

Tolkien understood language as a living thing that can only exist among the people who speak it. Around hearths and camp fires, in pubs and public houses, in villages and cities, in royal courts and temples… Wherever there are people, there is language.

What Tolkien thought was ‘satanic and anarchic’ about Joyce’s last work was that it is written in nobody’s language. Its words are taken forcibly from their homes around the world. Devoid of historical context, they become only shadows of their true selves. It is language as an artifice, a pristine work of art, but sterilized and twisted. ‘Monstrous.’

 

[version]