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Bêthberry · 07-10-2007, 12:09 PM

Thanks for this sneak peak of your lecture, Esty. Not all of us can attend this "Thing".

Alas there is one great difference between Shrek and Farmer Giles--of the latter we are denied a full sequel. A great pity that Tolkien's children grew up so he couldn't 'recapture the spirit of the original inspiration', as Scull and Hammond suggest.

It is interesting to note--although this has nothing to do with Shrek--that Tolkien lifted the name Caudimordax, Tailbiter, from another academic parody. E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros. Eddison's book is itself set in an invented world, in Jacobean times (rather than a vaguely Middle Age) and written in what has been called "Shakespearean prose." For a comparison, see here. How completely foreign from today's world is that academic life they lived.

Also, I am certain my kids have spoken of a children's fantasy work using the name Tailbiter which is itself a parody of Tolkien, but I can find no online references nor the book. (It is, I've been told, a tale of a cat!) It is probably stashed away secretly somewhere to lead a certain Catberry on a merry chase!

Good luck with the presentation!

07-10-2007, 12:09 PM	#2
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 5,978	Thanks for this sneak peak of your lecture, Esty. Not all of us can attend this "Thing". Alas there is one great difference between Shrek and Farmer Giles--of the latter we are denied a full sequel. A great pity that Tolkien's children grew up so he couldn't 'recapture the spirit of the original inspiration', as Scull and Hammond suggest. It is interesting to note--although this has nothing to do with Shrek--that Tolkien lifted the name Caudimordax, Tailbiter, from another academic parody. E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros. Eddison's book is itself set in an invented world, in Jacobean times (rather than a vaguely Middle Age) and written in what has been called "Shakespearean prose." For a comparison, see here. How completely foreign from today's world is that academic life they lived. Also, I am certain my kids have spoken of a children's fantasy work using the name Tailbiter which is itself a parody of Tolkien, but I can find no online references nor the book. (It is, I've been told, a tale of a cat!) It is probably stashed away secretly somewhere to lead a certain Catberry on a merry chase! Good luck with the presentation! __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.