Quote:
Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard
I admit I went a too far calling Hobbits slothful, but Tolkien dosen't give the impression that Hobbits are hard workers. We can see this in Bilbo's mentioning of Pipeweed and how the Hobbits have mastered it to a fine "art" (sounds like they have a lot of time on their hands  ). |
That has to do with the "natural pace" of an agricultural society which Tolkien surely has been familiar with unlike we 21st century Westerners. Unlike in cities of today in the agrarian countryside the year was quite nicely sliced between times of 24/7 work phases (like ploughing & sowing in spring and harvesting in late summer, the times when the animals gave birth, when the repairs had to be made before the winter, when the berries, fruit & mushrooms riped, when the beer / wine had to be made as the crops/grapes were ready etc.) and then the lazier times (like midwinter etc.).
So one worked like mad on certain times of the year and on others one idled - or at least didn't have it so rough. That's the time they built their furniture, all the decorations, new clothes, telling stories, playing games... maybe cultivating pipeweed as well?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Groin
The Shire, is in my opinion, a traditionalists paradise. Bilbo says that change comes slowly in Shire, and I think that this represents Tolkien's traditionalist views. Wouldn't it be great to live in a place were things don't change!
|
I agree with you about the Shire being a "traditionalist paradise" but tend to doubt the 100% bliss of it...
-----
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Groin
I'm done now, so we can move along whenever we feel like it, or we can keep on disscussing until then.
|
Even if the discussion is slowish, let's wait for a few days to see if others wish to join - or we get new ideas. Also it would be nice if we'd have a clear and steady "deadline" when things change so that people would get used to it and know when we change the Chapter.
(Ha-ha, I'm just arguing for stability after saying I wouldn't like to live in a stabile society... but hey, I was calling for the stability of change!
)
So how about changing the Chapter on Friday / Saturday as the thread was started around then?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Lommy
Can we still talk about previous chapters later? Like, if it happened that I didn't have time to read Concerning Hobbits and write about it this week, should I still write about it here next week when others are discussing A Long Expected Party? Or should I just post on the CbC thread for Concerning Hobbits?
|
I think the initial idea was to make a re-read together so it would be nice if we all could advance with about a same pace. But if the discussions are this easy and slow it should be no problem to go back to some issues when someone is coming a little behind. But I mean "a little" behind. You probably see that if we're discussing the breaking of the fellowship then a discussion on pipeweed or Bilbo's birthday party (without an interesting link to the Breaking...) would be a bit out of the context.
Finally we were thinking of joining the CbC threads when we reach the point the previous re-read halted - or then not. Depending on how this goes. This far it looks pretty nice but we could have more people around.