What an affect on the world this man's writing has had. One could argue that Lord of the Rings was a strong underpinning to all the 60's wrought. At least for me.
It was exam time after my first year at university, my last. i was certain that in the last few days before my French exam, i was brilliant enough to study hard and pass the exam, even though i hadn't been to one class, except the first, to see what girls were there.
Then someone handed me the first volume. By the time i finished the second volume, non-stop, i was beginning to realize the French exam ws dissolving away. I ran down to a drinking establishment to exchange the second volume for the last, when i noticed an absolutely stellar display of Northern Lights building.
I grabbed a friend, and we took guitars and harps to the cemetery, propped our backs against the headstones, and played spellbound to unfolding cosmic spectacle. Perhaps there were tiny dried mushrooms involved.
I finished the third volume in time to go to my French exam, and tell the teacher quote, "I don't think i'm ready for this," and showed her what i'd been studying the past week. Instead of failing me, she told me I had already dropped the course. Merci, i said.
I am still one of those people who read a shitload of metaphor in the Trilogy. But i remain amazed that a writer could create such a compelling and full other world. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
I innocently got my ears thoroughly boxed in my early days at ET with this Diary
One Ring to Rule Them All
Tolkien was apparently somewhat to the Right of Genghis Khan, and used the Ring as an analogy for the grip of gold-backed deficit-based money (and the "Jewish Conspiracy" yada yada).
It didn't make the analogy a bad one, but Muggins here didn't check his sources.
One could expect the same pummelling if venturing into commenting on Hitler's Economics, and so on..... "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
but i was only writing about the blind youthful idealism i was flooded with, ignorant of what i later learned.
Thanks for the perspective, which adds to the mystery. i still think it was amazing to create complete languages.
Reading the comments to your diary i now realize i've already stepped into a wormhole. What i don't understand is, i'm getting really old, so why haven't i become a reactionary? And why do i still treasure the insights i had as a young idiot to his tales? "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
I must say I thought it was also one of the rare occasions when the film did justice to the book.
I always thought it impossible to film, but Jackson proved me wrong..... "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
as for the dividing line between genius and madness, i can't really address that, and neither can i. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Oddly (according to some of the comments), I'm the technical type, yet I completely get your point.
Thanks for bringing up the subject, CH. paul spencer
And your comment makes me wonder if I should finally start to read his books. What do you think?
I always thought it must be read before you see any of the films, because how you process and self-create the images he makes probably can't be done after seeing the films. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
