![]() It’s almost a plot summary.Ībout Gollum: “There is a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came though it, as through a chink in the dark…” That’s a very telling attribute to give to this repulsive character. #The lord of the rings war in the north truesilver full#Hope the voyage is a long one.” And it ends, “Wise as you have become, /so full of experience, /you will have understood by then /what these Ithakas mean.” The image of the unending, winding road on which the FellowshipĪnd this is shortly followed by another poem, one of the key zingers in the book: “One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them, /One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” This is followed by the list: 3 rings to the Elfin Lords, 7 to the Dwarf Kings, 9 to Mortal Men, 1 to Rule All (total 20, if my count is right). I was reminded of Cavafy’s poem, “Ithaka,” which starts “As you set out for Ithaka /hope the voyage is a long one, /full of adventure, full of discovery. The first one (“The road goes ever on and on…”) sets the broad thrust of the story line from the start – an epic journey is in store. (Birthday Party & Shadow of the Past) To start, I’m struck by the poems. It’s a stew of notes, comments and impressions, plot, characters, setting – in short, a mixed-up mess, which is why I’m using the chapter numbers and titles to let you know where am in the story, and hoping I’m getting near to where you have already been. In future, I promise to be much more concise. This is a long post, as sort of a catch-up, knowing you are already ahead of me. So, like Gandolf, I promise to return soon. I can read today and tomorrow, but Thursdays (and some Fridays) are usually shot with teaching my classes and the tutoring. So I’m at the point after the birthday party where Gandolf and Frodo are exchanging info about the disturbing “current events” going on in Middle-Earth. I looked at it briefly, and I noticed there is a loooong introduction to to the e-version with information about the various different published editions. It was delivered in about 10 seconds to my Kindle, and I like this because the Kindle has both a “search” function to look up something, a “highlight” function, and a “notes” function for my own comments. This morning I got on Amazon and bought the Kindle e-version. What to do? Slept on it (under my electric blanket). So – I confidently went up to my “library” shelving and looked at the literature shelves – Egad! Where’s Tolkien? Looked everywhere – nothing! There are a few boxes not yet unpacked (after 8 years!) so it must be there, but the attic temperature is a nice wintery -1 degree – brrrr. ![]() Okay, then, this page will become an experiment in posting-as-I-read, and I’ll see what that feels like. I may end up remembering thoughts this way which would certainly have slipped my memory by the time I got around to writing at the end of the whole book, especially as it’s a long book. It’s silly to post a monologue with myself, isn’t it? On the other hand, I’m liking the opportunity to post short random thoughts about the book as I’m reading it, instead of having to boil my thoughts down into one post when I’m finished. that leaves me wondering what to do with this page. But as the discussion boiled down to just the two of us … He was posting them because he had expected my sister and a friend to be reading what he wrote. ![]() But since we live in the same house, he doesn’t need to post his remarks just for me to read them. He is still reading the book, and we are having some pretty lively discussions between us over the supper table. Well, my dad has dropped out of the online discussion. The choices the characters will make are - well, they’re being made by folks who have not already read the rest of the book! I expect what happens in the next few chapters will play out differently if I keep that in mind. I think I’d forgotten that at this stage, even Gandalf was rather in the dark about a lot of things. But being reminded of what the characters in the story knew at this point, that’s a bit surprising. When I’m picking up the books to read random favorite bits, I’m likely to think, “Hey, I feel like reading the part where they’re in Bree”, - or “the part in Moria”, or “where Merry and Pippen meet Treebeard” - but certainly not, “Hey, I feel like reading the chapter where Gandalf explains all the background stuff we need to know.” So coming back to this chapter now for the first time in a decade, it’s strangely unfamiliar again.Īll the information in it is stuff we already know after all the times we’ve read the book, so that’s not what’s unfamiliar. Chapter 2 is one that I haven’t really read in awhile. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |