The First Chapter is a Botch

When was that letter written?  I'm curious as to what stage of development the story and A Long-Expected Party were at when Lewis made that comment.

Given the overall context of the quote though - the mythic and more mature nature of TLotR - I think that the word botch may have been used to mean that A Long-Expected Party was more in line with The Hobbit than the rest of the book.  It has lots of hobbits with silly-sounding names, a big party, and a few narrator-asides to the reader (though not quite like in TH).  The very opening paragraph seems quite more like the style of TH, though perhaps that's just my perception.  Of course, I don't know for sure what Lewis meant, but I think this could be it.

However, I would not personally refer to this as a botch as I think that it works very well.  The Hobbit is simpler and more innocent, as is the Shire itself (before it is spoiled).  It makes a certain degree of sense that the book would start off in the same way and then grow darker and more mature in the later chapters.

I personally do not think the first chapter was a failure. Every book has a beginning to show the reader comments made other authors and to begin the tale with the right words. Tolkien was explaining what a hobbit is and their lifestyle in the small region of Middle Earth called the Shire.

Dor! That's for sure. I read Lewis' books, and my dislike in the ending of the first one just deepened to disgust as I went through the rest. As a child, I felt preached at by him; I not only did not like that!, I thought he did a really bad job of it as well.

I for one loved A Long-Expected Party, but if you read it without first reading The Hobbit, you totally miss the significance of it as a transition. All the questions it sets up! It just pulls you right on in. Worked for me!

Go on from THE HOBBIT at once to THE LORD OF THE RINGS . . . nearly as long as the Bible and not a word too long (except for the first chapter which is a botch -- don't be put off by it)

Lewis says as much in his review of The Fellowship of the Ring - but there he qualifies his remarks. Here's a part of it:

'First, we must clearly understand that though _The Fellowship_ in one way continues its author's fairy tale _The Hobbit_, it is in no sense an overgrown 'juvenile'. The truth is the other way round. _The Hobbit_ was merely a fragment torn from the author's huge myth and adapted for children; inevitably losing something by the adaptation. _The Fellowship_ gives us at last the lineaments of that myth 'in their true dimensions like themselves'. Misunderstanding on this point might easily be encouraged by the first chapter, in which the author (taking a risk) writes almost in the manner of the earlier and far lighter book. With some who find the main body of the book deeply moving, this chapter may not be a favourite.

Yet there were good reasons for such an opening; still more for the Prologue (thoroughly admirable, this) which precedes it. It is essential that we should first be well steeped in the ' homeliness', the frivolity, even (in its best sense) the vulgarity of the creatures called Hobbits... They are not an allegory of the English, but they are perhaps a myth that only an Englishman (or, should we add, a Dutchman?) could have created.'
(The Gods Return to Earth; _Time and Tide_ 14th August 1954. reprinted as part of 'Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings' in 'Of This and Other Worlds' ed. W. Hooper 1982)

Lewis's letter contains what are obviously off the cuff remarks; Like Tolkien, Lewis did not expect his letters to be published. In contrast, the views put forward in Lewis's review are qualified and well thought out & argued - partly in expectation of hostile reviews perhaps? Anyway; I don't think we need read too much into this letter of Lewis's. We all know that overall, he was very happy with his friend's book when it was eventually published, as is shewn in the letter he wrote to Tolkien at that time. (though, mind you, he could not forgo the odd niggle). 'I have drained the rich cup' he said.



Edited by geordie - 29/Sep/2009 at 4:48am