The Company They Keep: CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien as Writers in Community

“No one has to actually read the book and give a review.” Music to my pointy ears! So, with a brief to simply provide an overview for this new work, I can report that this appears to be a fascinating book to add to your Tolkien collection, both for its subject matter and because it is apparently a very readable book about an intriguing group of writers. Primarily about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as the sub-title suggests, Dr. Diana Glyer provides a host of well-researched tidbits on all the Inklings, the group of Oxford academics who just happened to be excellent writers as well, who used to meet every Thursday in C.S. Lewis’ study (or alternatively at the pub quite often). The Inklings also included less famous but influential authors, Charles Williams (a writer of spiritual thrillers and in the early days of the group, the most published member); Owen Barfield (seminal philosopher, poet and essayist); John Wain (editor of numerous anthologies on the English poets from Shakespeare to his own post war contemporaries, he was also a poet and novelist of the ‘angry young man’ genre in his own right); and Neville Coghill (the acclaimed translator of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales into modern English).

In this work, Dr. Glyer has taken up the gauntlet from that other much admired work Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends by Humphrey Carpenter, who was of the decided opinion that Inklings did not collaborate with, or influence each other unduly, and has set out with great thoroughness to debunk this theory. She has taken information from many sources, including diaries, early roughs and personal correspondence, and then highlights much to suggest that Tolkien and Lewis in particular did take a lot of notice of each other despite Lewis famously saying that nobody could influence Tolkien. In another part she brings forward an anecdote that shows that comments by Williams had a ‘softening’ effect for Treebeard’s personality which Tolkien had written originally with a far more ebullient character – a kind of ‘Jolly Green Giant’ stereotype (with apologies to the Harvard Lampoon and Bored of the Rings). She also covers less literary subjects where the members may have ‘fed’ off each other, and theology and philosophy does come into her picture of the Inklings cosmos. Some of it is fairly obvious – there are immediate co-relations between Williams’ spiritual thrillers and Lewis’s Cosmic Trilogy for instance and of course the shared Catholicism of Tolkien and Lewis. Dr. Glyer finds many other instances of crossover and affinity between these friends, colleagues and critics. All the reviews I have seen agree that The Company They Keep does provide valid insights to support the impression that the Inklings did indeed influence each other, and their respective works, to some degree.

On the basis that the reviews I read unanimously voted this a good read, and praised the author’s intelligent and sympathetic investigation into the support network that these amazing and ground-breaking authors wove about themselves, I’m probably going to be adding this book to my gift wish list! 

In Search of…Mr. Bilbo Baggins

Eile

The celebration of The Hobbit's 70th year in print will be marked by the highly anticipated publication of a two volume work, The History of the Hobbit, which will contain previously unpublished manuscripts of The Hobbit in addition to maps, illustrations, and cover art by J.R.R. Tolkien.

A Bit of Background… The upcoming publication has a surprisingly long history. Work was initially begun back in the 1980's when Christopher Tolkien gave his blessing to an American, Taum Santoski, to proceed with the project, as he was focusing his own work on the History of Middle-earth (HoME) series. When Santoski became terminally ill, he turned to John D. Rateliff to finish the task as he had assisted him early on. Rateliff specifically chose to pursue his doctoral degree at Marquette University because their library houses many original Tolkien manuscripts, including the complete unpublished manuscript that is featured in his books.

About the Author… It is an interesting side note for our role players that Rateliff is also an avid role player and spent many years as an editor and designer for TSR and other gaming publishers. He was, in fact, working at TSR when the publisher was broached about developing a Role Play Game series based on Tolkien's writing. They, however, felt there was no market for it and declined the offer. They certainly missed the boat on that call… Rateliff's activities in Tolkien scholarship are many, including organizing Tolkien symposiums and conferences in addition to delivering his own papers.

Within the Pages… The History of the Hobbit features the original manuscript for The Hobbit in print for the first time. In much the same manner of the HoME series, in a chapter-by-chapter format, Rateliff provides a scholarly insight into the changes that were made from the original manuscript, why they were made, and how they fit into Tolkien's view of Middle-earth. He also examines the numerous elements of The Silmarillion, which appear in this draft and in what ways Biblo's tale draws from and contributes to Tolkien's legendarium. In addition to the text, artwork and maps that have previously only been viewable at select Tolkien exhibitions are included.

Much like Tolkien's work with The Lord of the Rings, Rateliff's book was split into two volumes due to its massive length of 350,000 words. The first volume will cover the storyline up to Thorin and company's departure from Lake Town. The second will include the remainder of the story as well as portions of two other editions; a 1940's rewrite of Gollum's chapter and the 1960 version in which Tolkien began to rewrite The Hobbit with the style used in The Lord of the Rings.

When can we expect it… According to a recent interview with John Rateliff at www.tolkienlibrary.com, the first volume was published May 1, 2007 and is due out in stores in England around May 25th. Alas for those of us in the U.S., as that edition will follow sometime much later in September. The second book is scheduled for publication a month later on June 4, 2007. If you have the time or interest, I highly recommend checking out the above-mentioned interview for the author's insights into both his and Tolkien's work.

A Legend Brought to Life

“It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.” ---J. R. R. Tolkien Started out as a tale in 1918 that was never completed, The Children of Húrin, was released as the first complete book by J. R. R. Tolkien in three decades (The Silmarillion being before it in 1977) on the 17th of April 2007 in the United Kingdom and the United States. Revised several times but not given the finishing touches, it gladly fell upon the shoulders of Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkine's son, to put the piece together and publish it as an independent work. Adam Tolkien, who is Tolkien's grandson and the French translator of History of Middle-earth, has spoken of the way his father collected all the parts of the legend that were left behind in order to place them as a whole, commenting that, “For anyone who has read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, The Children of Húrin allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy.”

The story follows Húrin, hero of the race of Men from the First Age, whose curse by the Dark Lord Morgoth dispels its effects on his children, Túrin Turambar and Nienor. Set apart from the tale on a level of its own, while at the same time complementing this amazing creation, is the art of Alan Lee, who was already well distinguished for his illustrations of Tolkien's works in previous editions, and later on became an Oscar winner due to his conceptual designs of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy. When asked what sort of mood he tried to present to the reader when creating his illustrations, Lee replied that he, “tried to show some of the fragile beauty of the landscapes and create an atmosphere that would enhance the sense of foreboding and impending loss.” Being a story that offers tragedy, he visualized the darkness that would come about with this mood, yet at the same time was aware that Tolkien's writing brought about a light and beauty to the whole scene nonetheless.

Since its publication, the book has been received by nothing but positive reviews, not only by fans, but periodicals. The Washington Post calls it, “a bleak, darkly beautiful tale,” and The Sunday Times claims that, “as a book in its own dotty but also awe-inspiring way, works.” Long-awaited since the news of its release, The Children of Húrin, made its debut on the New York Times Best Seller list at #1

Fraud of the Rings

Uruva

Tolkien lovers of all kinds can enjoy Fraud of the Rings, the comic that takes The Lord of the Rings series and satirizes it in a hilarious cartoon form.

Created by John Cook in 2000, Fraud of the Rings takes scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies and turns them into comic strips that make fun of the various situations in the film. With each release of a new comic, Cook holds a contest to see who can think of the best punch line for it; the top 10 punch lines are posted, and the wining one is put into the cartoon.

Even names of people and things are satirized in this comic; Frodo becomes a pun as he is renamed Fraudo, Gandalf is Gonedaft, Galadriel becomes Gladwrapriel, Hobbits are called Hobnobbits, Orcs Dorcs and many others have their names changed as well. Each character is wonderfully foolish and brings forth many laughs from those who know Tolkien's characters very well, or even those slightly acquainted.

The comic is published on an bi-monthly basis approximately and has moved beyond the three movies. Cook now satirizes The Hobbit, as well as creates miscellaneous strips relating to The Lord of the Rings.

The latest comic features Gonedaft (Gandalf), under siege by trolls. Parodying the situations with the typical, “I'm not interested in buying any line,” Gonedaft/Gandalf is portrays a grumpy old man and the stupidity of trolls is played upon.

More of these hilarious comics can be found at www.cartoons.sev.com.au/Sev-Space/Fraud-of-the-Rings, though cartoons archived over a year ago cannot be viewed by non-subscribers to the website. Still, there are plenty of comics to view, giggle, and laugh out loud at for free that should delight good-humored Tolkien fans. 

Cair Andros 2007

Shadowheart

The Greek Society, The Prancing Pony, is having an international event to celebrate its 5th anniversary. It will be held on the island of Andros between the 5th and 7th of October, 2007. There are going to be literary discussions on Tolkien-related works, paper presentations by well known Greek and foreign guests, and promise of much entertainment what with knowledge and costume contests, fencing demonstrations, and the like.

The special guests for the event are Mr. John Howe, Mr. Marcel Buelles, and Mr. Thomas Mastakouras. Mr. Howe is a world-famous illustrator of mythical landscapes. It was he who helped Peter Jackson with the illustration of the Lord of the Rings movies. Mr. Buelles is a philologist, a doctoral student in the University of Cologne, Germany, and a visiting professor of Wheaton College, USA. He is also the President of the German Tolkien Society. Mr. Mastakouras is a lawyer and the author of many books on the world of Middle-earth.

The deadline for registration and payment for CairAndros 2007 is the 31st of May, 2007. The payment is 150 euros for society members and 180 euros for non-members, which includes boat tickets from Rafina to Andros and back, transportation between the port and the hotel, two overnight stays, breakfast, one big dinner, and participation all events. For further details visit this site: http://www.cairandros.gr

The Hidden Door

Shadowheart

The Hidden Door, a music CD by Ted Nasmith, is perhaps a desired addition to anyone’s Middle-earth collection. The songs are conjured up from scenes and characters related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. The music is said to be entirely acoustic and sung in the bardic style.

Ted Nasmith is a renowned Tolkien artist and scholar. Due to his talent and knowledge he is a well sought after guest for various Tolkien-related meets and conventions. He is also a very prominent member of various Tolkien organizations like The Tolkien Society and Mythopoetic Society. He is also a musician, a guitarist and a tenor singer, and most of his musical compositions are also based on the works of Tolkien. His involvement with music has also brought him in close acquaintance of The Tolkien Ensemble.

Ted Nasmith’s latest musical release, The Hidden Door, has been released in the U.K. recently. It is available through www.ebay.co.uk, ADC Books. There are some sound samples also available in the latter. News of its release in the U.S. has yet to be received.

Real Life Hobbit House

Alanna Elessar

Have you ever dreamed of living in a hole? Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole of course, but a cozy, comfortable hobbit hole? Well for several Tolkien fanatics, that dream has become a reality. Arcitect Peter Archer designed and constructed a miniscule “hobbit house” that is built right into the earth and flanked on both sides by an 18th century stone wall. Archer, who went straight to Tolkien’s writings to gather inspiration for his architectural creation, built the hobbit-like cottage for a client who wanted a place to store his vast collection of Middle-earth memorabilia. On a similar (and even more bizarre) note, the Dale couple, along with their two small children, live in a home that was actually dug into the side of a hill in Wales. Their adorable hobbit-y abode, which was built using completely natural materials, rivals those created on the set of Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy. The home is also eco-friendly; the heat supply comes from wood burning. A skylight, along with solar panels, provides the lighting, and their water is brought from a nearby spring. Now that’s what you call a dedicated fan base.  

The Hobbit: Is it a movie or what?

Nenuphar

Hype, melodrama, and hot dispute – all of these surround the current controversy over the making of The Hobbit movie. What is going on, and why? Who disagrees with who, and how likely is it that these issues will be resolved? If and when The Hobbit is filmed, how closely will it resemble the book and, most controversially, who will direct it? All of these questions and more have been batted around on the Plaza movie forum for months.

The Hobbit movie has a complex history that needs to be understood in order to make sense out of the rest of the current debate. The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) movies were put out by New Line Cinema with no problems, as they were able to gain the rights to both production and distribution. With The Hobbit, however, things are more complicated. At the moment, New Line Cinema has the right to produce the movie, but MGM studios has the sole rights to distribution; this means that neither can go forward at this point without the other, at least not from a legal standpoint. At some point in time in the fairly near future, however, New Line must produce the Hobbit (or at least begin production on it). If they fail to do this, the rights return to Saul Zaentz, the person who originally owned them and who has apparently “leased” them out for an unspecified time period. Exact details on when this time runs out and whether the movie has to be finished or only started remain fuzzy; most comments seem to indicate that either production needs to begin by the end of 2007 or else the movie needs to be released by 2009, but no one wants to make a public statement answering this question.

Enter the controversy with Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema. Originally it seemed a no-brainer: Peter Jackson had directed a hugely successful LOTR trilogy that had satisfied not only many (if not all) Tolkien fans but had also brought many more into the joys of Middle-earth. Lots of happy fans equaled lots of money making its way to the producers, and general happiness all around. Most people assumed that Jackson was the obvious choice for directing the next Tolkien movies.

Unfortunately, life does not always work out so simply. Jackson had issues with some of New Line's financial decisions, and chose to request a financial audit of part of the income that came from FOTR. Exact details are hard to pin down. Peter Jackson states that his film company was merely interested in what the final results were, and were willing to go with whatever an outside, disinterested party would find. Robert Shaye, New Line's chief executive officer, states that Peter Jackson refused to discuss the conflict with New Line and went straight to legal action. Whatever the truth, New Line refused to allow the audit and Wingnut Films has brought a lawsuit against them.

At this point New Line's time crunch began to exert pressure on the film studio; if they did not start work soon, they would lose the rights to the movie(s). Discussion between them and Peter Jackson led to a stalemate, leading them to the decision that they would cut their loses with him and move on to someone else. In November 2006 Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh sent an email to theonering.net informing fans that they had received a phone call from New Line stating that they would not be directing The Hobbit. Fan response was swift; over 50,000 people signed a petition sent to New Line and MGM requesting that Peter Jackson be reinstated as The Hobbit's director.

At the moment things remain at an impasse. Various names have been bandied around for who might replace Jackson; the most heard name is that of Sam Raimi, director of the first three Spiderman movies. This is only a rumor, however, based on an informal conversation between Shaye and Raimi; nevertheless, this news was met with dismay by Tolkien and Spiderman fans alike.

In the meantime, the dispute is becoming ever more intense. Shaye has gone on record as saying that as long as he is in charge at New Line, Jackson will not be directing The Hobbit. This comment has locked New Line into a difficult position. Shaye has burned his bridges with Jackson publicly in a way that will be hard to back down from. In the meantime, Saul Zaentz and MGM have indicated a strong desire for Jackson at the helm; their plan is to wait until New Line's rights have expired, and then produce a Peter Jackson film. This will potentially be easier for them because even if New Line produces a film, it cannot be distributed without MGM; thus either way New Line must work with MGM, who has given indications that they would not support the movie without Jackson directing. With many fans angered at the idea of cutting Peter Jackson out of the movie, and LOTR actors weighing in on Jackson's side as well, Shaye's decision may prove costly for his studio.

If The Hobbit is produced and distributed in the next few years, with or without Peter Jackson, it is slated to differ from the book in various points. Rumors have spread that two movies will be made rather than one. The exact details of what will happen in the second movie vary, but it would be set in the time of The Hobbit rather than, say, The Silmarillion. Perhaps the book itself would be expanded into two parts so that less of it will need to be cut. Some of the characters that would have been around during this time but had not yet been created when The Hobbit was published might make their way into the movies: Galadriel, Arwen, Legolas, and Aragorn have been considered (Aragorn being the most controversial, as he was only 10 at the time of The Hobbit). The hope is that this would include the original actors and actresses, many of which have indicated interest in returning for the new movies.

Other ideas have been the inclusion of scenes only hinted at in the book. The famous White Council discussion at which Saruman convinces the others to let matters be, the attack on Dol Guldur and Sauron's flight to Mordor, Gollum's loss of the Ring and departure from Moria, or the friendship of Aragorn and Gandalf (perhaps including the search for Gollum in the wilderness) might all make their way into the movie. While such a movie would probably end up having a hard time as a stand-alone movie, the general popularity of LOTR would go a long way towards ensuring its success. One hopes that The Hobbit fans eager for a movie will not be disappointed merely for the sake of the New Line/Jackson/MGM conflict.  

A Seminar on Women in Tolkien (Cambridge UK: Women in Tolkien)

Shadowheart

A seminar is to be held at Wolfson Court, Cambridge, England on the 16th of June, 2007. The theme? Women in Tolkien. The registrations cost for Tolkien Society members is GBP 28.00 and GBP 30.00 for non-members. The cost includes a light lunch, and morning and afternoon tea. The seminar also includes mead tasting on Saturday evening for GBP 5.00 for members and GBP 7.00 for non-members. For a Punt moot to Granchester on Sunday, the cost is GBP 15.00 and GBP 20.00 for members and non-members respectively. This also includes a picnic lunch.

To get a booking form contact bookings@tolkiensociety.org

Contact details: naath@chiark.greenend.org.uk

For further information visit this site: http://www.tolkiensociety.info/seminar/2007_
seminar_cambridge.html