W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
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Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#2For a contrary view, Google for Edmund Wilson's essay, "Oh, Those Awful Orcs".
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#3Much kinder than the interjection from his fellow literary club member Prof Hugo Dyson to a reading by Tolkien of a draft of LOR:
"Oh no. Not another fucking elf."
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#4For a contrary view, Google for Edmund Wilson's essay, "Oh, Those Awful Orcs".
> "Oh those awful Orcs," they bleat, flocking after Edmund Wilson. They know if they acknowledge Tolkien they'll have to admit that fantasy can be literature, and that therefore they'll have to redefine what literature is. And they're too damned lazy to do it.
- Ursula Le Guin
https://books.google.com/books?id=asYXBgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA266&ots...
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#5I need to re-read it. I probably finished the last book 20 years ago. Then I saw the films. And in the intervening years my opinion and attitude towards it, and the genre as a whole, has shifted toward the negative. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just from getting older.
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#6I’d never read this review and I must confess I am very relieved to find two authors that I greatly admire, and lean on often for strength, to be on each other’s wavelength.
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#7I need to re-read it. I probably finished the last book 20 years ago. Then I saw the films. And in the intervening years my opinion and attitude towards it, and the genre as a whole, has shifted toward the negative. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just from getting older.
It can certainly be an acquired (or reacquired) taste.
If you want a different type of Tolkien story - the children of Hurin is tragic as anything the Greeks wrote.
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#8I had not read this review before, and I was surprised how positive it was. I can't imagine Auden and Tolkein would have got on well. But they both loved countryside, and so maybe I am wrong.
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#9For a contrary view, Google for Edmund Wilson's essay, "Oh, Those Awful Orcs".
Ah yes. That fine scholar who authored among several notable works the outstanding “To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History”. A landmark work that every successful actor has read and every aspiring author must read.
Re: W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring
#10It saddens me that the Lord of The Rings was commercialised.
It was one of the happiest parts of life - to be able to read the books and venture into that world.
It's been spoiled for me by the ridiculous movies like The Hobbit (holy god, Peter Jackson turned Dwarves into ridiculous comedy clowns, covered Radagast with birdshit) , the endless licensed garbage and whilst The Lord of The Rings movie was quite good it hacked the story instead of treating it with reverence. The movie should have changed nothing, regardless of what "modern audiences" expect.
The Harry Potter movies were fabulous in my opinion because the stories were not hacked by directors who felt they knew better than the original author. I may be wrong on that but that's my understanding - that largely the Harry Potter movies are true to the script.
Thank goodness there's a single example in this world of a great work not being commercialised - Calvin and Hobbes.
UPDATE:
A counterpoint to my grumble about the hacking of Tolkien's work:
Anyone who would like to listen to the most fabulous audiobook of The Hobbit that was ever made:
https://www.discogs.com/release/4205817-JRR-Tolkien-Nicol-Wi...
It was made in 1974 narrated by Nicol Williamson. You can find pirated versions of it popping up on the web from time to time.
It's truly beautiful.
Email me if you want a copy - I might know a link. andrew.stuart@supercoders.com.au