Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Hekate

(95,959 posts)
41. If you don't think fantasy fiction has anything to offer, give it a miss. However, if one likes the genre...
Mon Dec 9, 2024, 08:04 PM
Dec 9

…. it’s amazing. The author, Tolkien, was an Oxford don, deeply serious. He was a scholar of languages, specifically those of early Northern Europe. He knew the myths and legends and sagas backward and forward and translated them into modern English.

He was already at work on his creation of languages when he joined the British military in WWI, along with a number of his friends. I think he was the only one who made it back from the gas and the trenches — maybe there was one other.

It was there in that hell that he started creating another world. He spent the rest of his long life writing about Middle Earth — when he could spare the time from research, teaching, and the myriad duties of a university professor. His published works were largely academic — the translations of Beowulf, Chaucer, the Eddas, and so on — but he kept creating Middle Earth. The enormous success of The Hobbit and LOTR surprised him, I think.

I think the battered paperback set I read in the summer of 1965 was the unauthorized first American publication. I had quite a background in F&SF by that time, since it had always been in the house before I could even read. From sheer experience I intuited good writing from bad, and while this didn’t hit me as a blinding revelation the way it did others, when I read the last page I proceeded to read all the appendices because I could not let it go. I have read it a number of times since then — and in what I think of as a peak moment of my motherhood, I read all of it aloud to my 11 y.o. son in lieu of the books reports he wasn’t writing, but could give orally.

In college I met people who were trying to learn Elvish, which I thought was weird. In my family we read F&SF avidly, but the opinion from Mom was that it was escapism and not literature. As it happens, she was wrong.

The further along in my own education I got, the more I realized the depth of knowledge certain authors brought to their fictional worlds. But not every genre or sub-genre fits every reader. I had a fascinating conversation with a cousin and his wife in 2002. He knows about a dozen languages fluently. She is Chinese and a well-known author in China. (A whole bunch of her books are by now translated into English) In any case, LOTR was out in film — and the conversation turned on the fact that neither of them understood why the heck it was so popular — what did it mean, what in our culture made it so gripping? I felt I didn’t explain it well — or couldn’t get it across the barrier, so I never really stopped thinking about that conversation.

So — there it is. All I can tell you is there are reasons — and Western/European mythology has a different point of view from Asian/Chinese mythology. My cousin is as American as I am, but his interests and the course of his life are not as mine. His wife is an amazing woman, but I find her novels tough going — no mythology involved. So

Sorry if this is TLDR — I got interrupted several times, as often happens.
All the best in whatever it is you like to read — not everyone is keen on Elves and Wizards.

Recommendations

1 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Post removed Post removed Dec 9 #1
Prison rape jokes and hopes are not permitted on this Board, last time I checked Prairie Gates Dec 9 #2
The most powerful man in America IS A RAPIST onecaliberal Dec 9 #12
As are like at least a quarter of his cabinet secretaries. Karasu Dec 9 #21
to the extent that prison rape exists, rampartd Dec 10 #66
Kick dalton99a Dec 9 #3
He'll be a hero in prison. Demobrat Dec 9 #4
If he makes it to prison NJCher Dec 9 #10
Good thing ForgedCrank Dec 9 #22
Timothy McVeigh killed innocent people. Aristus Dec 9 #25
Are you ForgedCrank Dec 9 #26
Timothy McVeigh was found guilty in a court of law. Aristus Dec 9 #27
you're flipping ForgedCrank Dec 9 #28
I'm strangely drawn to his side. SleeplessinSoCal Dec 9 #32
I draw a hard line between the two things. ForgedCrank Dec 9 #35
But isn't it more of an assassination than murder? SleeplessinSoCal Dec 9 #43
The National Review is a right-wing cesspool. TwilightZone Dec 9 #46
I purposely used a right-wing source to show the denial. SleeplessinSoCal Dec 10 #65
There is a difference between understanding a motive Demobrat Dec 9 #38
I see, ForgedCrank Dec 9 #39
You're better. Demobrat Dec 9 #40
Seriously. H2O Man Dec 10 #62
Our "justice system" protects the one percent. That's become more apparent with every high profile BComplex Dec 9 #29
Our "justice system" protects the one percent. ForgedCrank Dec 9 #31
Hard to agree that our justice system doesn't favor the 1% Aristus Dec 9 #36
I'll refer ForgedCrank Dec 9 #37
You nailed it. H2O Man Dec 10 #63
OOPS! Marcia Clark spent over 3 times what OJ did. GreenWave Dec 10 #60
Well this shooter was part of the 1% LeftInTX Dec 9 #34
He also was an Elon and Thiel stan. This isn't a class isue. Self Esteem Dec 10 #52
I was trying to figure out what you were saying NJCher Dec 9 #48
Thank you ForgedCrank Dec 9 #49
I fully understand your conviction about this soandso Dec 10 #50
You don't ForgedCrank Dec 10 #55
I didn't think you were defending insurance companies soandso Dec 10 #59
I'd love to live in a black and white world NJCher Dec 10 #56
I'm thankful ForgedCrank Dec 10 #57
Ok, welllll... NJCher Dec 10 #58
Did you ForgedCrank Dec 10 #61
completely mystified as to what your comprehension problem is NJCher Dec 10 #64
We have a justice system in place... Conjuay Dec 11 #72
The killer was wealthy himself. He don't need no GFM! LeftInTX Dec 9 #33
Agree, but when will the board of United Healthcare, Bluethroughu Dec 10 #71
He supposedly killed a member of the ownership class of this country. He will be suicided. AZLD4Candidate Dec 10 #70
Fascinating Johnny2X2X Dec 9 #5
He also posted a review of Brave New World ck4829 Dec 9 #6
If I were a juror and he had personally witnessed the death of family/friend because of denials, I might have had Silent Type Dec 9 #7
From his reading list, it looks like he has back problems and an interest in psychedelics among other things. LudwigPastorius Dec 9 #8
There's an X-ray from a back surgery on his Twitter Sympthsical Dec 9 #9
just so you know NJCher Dec 9 #11
The John Rogers quote. spike jones Dec 9 #13
never read NJCher Dec 9 #14
It is irony. Atlas Shrugged, not LOTR, is the actual childish fantasy. Celerity Dec 9 #15
yeah, I thought that NJCher Dec 9 #16
I believe grok is from Stranger in a Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. ShazzieB Dec 9 #18
Yep, that's the one. nolabear Dec 9 #20
If you don't think fantasy fiction has anything to offer, give it a miss. However, if one likes the genre... Hekate Dec 9 #41
early involvements in reading NJCher Dec 10 #53
Damn, I'm always behind! 🤪 ShazzieB Dec 9 #17
oh, sigh NJCher Dec 9 #19
Grok iirc is full and complete mental and spiritual understanding between people or of a situation... Hekate Dec 9 #45
"Violence is as American as cherry pie." cer7711 Dec 9 #23
His goodreads account is now private. LauraInLA Dec 9 #24
The EPA was founded in 1970 by Richard Nixon. SleeplessinSoCal Dec 9 #30
I know the type. Jacson6 Dec 9 #42
This guy was a right winger standingtall Dec 9 #44
one of his friends is mentioning a possible second motive ecstatic Dec 9 #47
. dalton99a Dec 10 #51
that certainly hits home NJCher Dec 10 #54
+1. The sentiment is shared by many people dalton99a Dec 10 #68
This was looking to be a good read Blue_Roses Dec 10 #67
Corporate Media Coverage or Cover up uncledad Dec 10 #69
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»CEO shooter Luigi Mangion...»Reply #41