tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post4798519383057225241..comments2023-09-29T05:32:04.308-07:00Comments on StrangePegs: The Hobbit: A Review (Part 2)Andrew Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-58340570085310398512013-12-28T12:07:57.616-08:002013-12-28T12:07:57.616-08:00TAS: You know, I never thought about that.TAS: You know, I never thought about that.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-55004862445082419332013-12-27T06:45:35.383-08:002013-12-27T06:45:35.383-08:00I think Arthur Dent has a bit of Bilbo in him. In...I think Arthur Dent has a bit of Bilbo in him. Interesting that Martin Freeman has played both!The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10739833215220853127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-29537256706663597272013-12-22T22:06:25.750-08:002013-12-22T22:06:25.750-08:00RG: There's a "too good"? I think I&...RG: There's a "too good"? I think I'll take that. :)Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-50712824749818994272013-12-22T15:01:06.738-08:002013-12-22T15:01:06.738-08:00I have to wrest this book from my daughter's h...I have to wrest this book from my daughter's hands so I can reread it. She's had it long enough. YOU are too good at writing reviews and making me want to read, or reread certain books. :)Remembering Gracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14760441035721518260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-90323381220298426612013-12-22T14:29:07.648-08:002013-12-22T14:29:07.648-08:00Elizabeth: Tolkien, for lack of a better way of pu...Elizabeth: Tolkien, for lack of a better way of putting it, pulled a lot of disparate threads together. George MacDonald was a huge influence (and on Lewis) which may have prompted the creation of a new world... except that Tolkien didn't really see Middle Earth exactly as a place separate from our world. It was more like... an older version of it. The Silmarillion was his attempt at creating a mythology.<br /><br />Anyway... I'll be talking more about this stuff soon and give my own take on it.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-76731544768022362762013-12-22T12:46:18.987-08:002013-12-22T12:46:18.987-08:00I re-read The Hobbit quite recently - last year, I...I re-read The Hobbit quite recently - last year, I think? I enjoyed it thoroughly. Like many books of its vintage, it feels like it was aimed at an any-aged audience. I know the history there wrt Tolkien's intended audience, but as an adult there was a lot to enjoy and connect with that I think would be over kids' heads.<br /><br />I know more about the history of horror than I do about fantasy, so I feel a little underqualified to address your claims about fantasy literature. I would contend that it has much deeper roots than Tolkien, specifically, in medieval and renaissance literature. Spenser's Fairie Queene (1590/96) has quests, knights, monsters, etc., etc. That work was a revival of medieval Romances, containing much of the same content. Don Quixote (1605) is about a guy so addicted to these stories that he tries to reproduce them in real life. Everything old is new again.<br /><br />I guess Tolkien's contribution was the invention of a complete second world with a self-coherent system of politics, sentient races, good and evil. That is definitely something that was emulated from that point forward. <br /><br />Agreed totally that the older protagonist is not something that has been carried forward enough. Not sure what that's all about, but the older and more crotchety I become, the more I wish there were more older protagonists out there.Elizabeth Twisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133959633383307056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-79407722411001622352013-12-21T14:25:34.353-08:002013-12-21T14:25:34.353-08:00Briane: I don't think Tolkien is given too muc...Briane: I don't think Tolkien is given too much credit; I think he's given the wrong credit. There is no question that fantasy literature did not come into its own until The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Prior to Tolkien it was either aimed specifically at kids (like the Oz books) or was kind of airy and dreamy (as with George MacDonald). Tolkien made fantasy real. So to speak. And I don't think you can under value that. However, he did not write the stories we think he wrote as you can see in The Hobbit.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-51338146358352397732013-12-21T14:18:16.108-08:002013-12-21T14:18:16.108-08:00I actually read this yesterday but then didn't...I actually read this yesterday but then didn't get a chance to comment until today, so it's been fermenting in my brain.<br /><br />First, like everyone else here, I didn't recall the book all that well. I remember the party at Bilbo's house, the trolls and Gollum, riding the barrels, and that was about it. I didn't recall Bard at all or the Battle of Five Armies, nothing.<br /><br />I think you're right in that people give Tolkien a lot of credit, maybe more than he deserves, but he did some things that I don't think had been done much before him, if at all. His world was fully formed; I don't know if he drew those maps or not but he obviously put a lot of thought into the different regions and even the various parts of The Shire, let alone the interactions in the characters. He invented myths for the characters, and languages, too. I daresay his elves and dwarves were probably drawn from historical ideas of those things, but maybe they were different? (I recall reading Frank Baum's Santa story a year or two ago and being bewildered by how different Santa was in it, and that there were trolls and stuff), so I think Tolkien standardized those beings and made them more or less into the tropes they are now.<br /><br />But overall, your analysis seems spot-on. How could I argue with it? I don't remember the book half as well as you.<br /><br />Brianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-64164059081000750932013-12-21T13:52:02.902-08:002013-12-21T13:52:02.902-08:00Jeanne: It is funny, but I also think I know where...Jeanne: It is funny, but I also think I know where that comes from, but that's for a different post.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-30411326657483766792013-12-20T15:56:15.995-08:002013-12-20T15:56:15.995-08:00It's been so long since I've read The Hobb...It's been so long since I've read The Hobbit. I certainly didn't remember it being such a non-trope filled book. It's funny how set in their ways fantasy books have become since it was written.J E Oneilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-48271820928616991392013-12-20T11:58:21.782-08:002013-12-20T11:58:21.782-08:00Rusty: Well, LotR actually has the anti-quest, so ...Rusty: Well, LotR actually has the anti-quest, so the only real way it fits into what has become the modern mold is with the companions, but Tolkien doesn't even keep them together for long. Overall, almost no time at all. And Frodo, also, is 50 when the whole thing with the Ring starts.<br /><br />But I have a different theory about where this whole mold comes from that I'm going to try to get to soon.<br /><br />Jo: You simply must.<br /><br />GP: Oh, come on, I'm sure you've seen the animated version.<br /><br />G_G: Well, you should go back and read it again, then!Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-18798319453049993652013-12-20T07:41:30.392-08:002013-12-20T07:41:30.392-08:00Your post makes me want to go back and read the bo...Your post makes me want to go back and read the book again. I definitely like how you summed it up in this review. Great post!Gossip_Grlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06603645371306284338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-91612033057149970742013-12-20T06:40:21.239-08:002013-12-20T06:40:21.239-08:00I haven't read it since 4th grade so thanks fo...I haven't read it since 4th grade so thanks for spoiling the ending. I started some fantasy book last year and it involved that whole Chosen One thing, so eventually I got bored and stopped reading because I already knew how the story was going to play out.PT Dillowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09394481476862013009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-72446726796501635312013-12-20T05:47:12.425-08:002013-12-20T05:47:12.425-08:00I simply have to re-read it. I simply have to re-read it. Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14087140585742801854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-15384879499706926152013-12-20T05:31:01.351-08:002013-12-20T05:31:01.351-08:00Although I can't speak to anything regarding t...Although I can't speak to anything regarding the Hobbit, I'll mention that while LOTR is probably the father of modern fantasy in the way that there is a quest and a band of travelers that have to complete it or the world is doomed. <br /><br />I love the LOTR books, but in order for me to really appreciate them, I have to remember that they, more or less, appeared from the vacuum as these fully formed books that really managed to influence so many of the writers of the stories I know now. <br /><br />But your right that they aren't the sole influence, probably just the most identifiable (well, I could probably make an argument that the Jesus story has become bit of a trope with the orphan/wanderer/warrior/martyr character arc that many stories follow for their lead nowadays. <br /><br />But I'm glad you've pointed out the differences. It is still on my tbr list, I'll get to The Hobbit before I die... unless I die before I complete my list, which is likely, but hopefully it's not so far down. Rusty Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09887821877521181811noreply@blogger.com