Class Notes
o The
epic exists to give a large cultural message
Tolkien
o Spent
most of his life studying languages
o Born
in South Africa
o His
father was middle class merchant kind of family
o His
father died as soon as Tolkien went back to England to cure his own respiratory
illness
o Tolkien’s
mom converts to Catholicism causing a rift between her and her family
o Where
is the money coming from? They moved into a small house under the patronage of
the priest- in a small house on a pond at the end of town
o Industrialization
of the country side reflected in the movie more than the book
o Countryside
being idealized
o Destruction
of nature
o His
mother dies when he is 12
o Interested
in linguistics
o Make
up languages to play with it when you learn the rules
o If
you are making up a language you have to make up a culture to go with it (why
middle earth is so detailed)
o Joins
up for World War I
o Marries
the teenage sweetheart from the orphanage
o Eventually
ends up in Oxford teaching early languages and linguistics
o He
knows epics
o The
Hobbit is written before the 2nd World War
o The
Bird and the Baby pub club meetings every week
o The
Inklings (college club) form the center of English fantasy club
o He
mumbles all his lectures
o The
lord of the rings was originally one big volume
o The
publisher divides it into three parts- this affects the entire realm of fantasy
o Doesn’t
really catch fire until the late 60’s in the United States
o “Big
hippie thing”
o Gigantic
revival with the movies
No comments:
Post a Comment