Man behind the Mythology - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 10-23-2004, 02:47 AM

Ten days are up - does anyone want to give it a try, or shall I post a new one?

Tevildo · 11-17-2004, 10:27 AM

Could you possibly give us a hint where to look?

Estelyn Telcontar · 11-17-2004, 03:15 PM

I found the reference in Carpenter's biography of Tolkien; to narrow it down, it's in the chapter "The Storyteller".

Tuor of Gondolin · 11-17-2004, 04:55 PM

Was it Farmer Giles?

Estelyn Telcontar · 11-18-2004, 07:14 AM

Good for you, Tuor - you got it! Let me give the complete quote from the biography, chapter "The Storyteller":

Quote:

Farmer Giles did not attract much notice at the time of its publication, and it was not until the success of The Lord of the Rings had reflected upon the sales of Tolkien's other books that it reached a wide public. At one time Tolkien considered writing a sequel to it, and he sketched the plot in some detail; it was to concern Giles's son George Worming and a page-boy named Suet, as well as re-introducing Chrysophylax the dragon, and it was to be set in the same countryside as its predecessor. But by 1945 the war had scarred the Oxfordshire landscape that Tolkien lovd so much, and he wrote to his publishers: 'The sequel (to Farmer Giles) is plotted but unwritten, and likely to remain so. The heart has gone out of the Little Kingdom, and the woods and plains are aerodromes and bomb-practice targets.'

Now it's your turn!

Tuor of Gondolin · 11-18-2004, 09:09 AM

Woo-hoo!

Okay. In what specific way did JRRT indicate a contempt for nazi anti-semitism?

Bêthberry · 12-01-2004, 01:36 PM

Are you referring to Tolkien's response to a request concerning a German translation of The Hobbit?

The company Rütten & Loening of Potsdam had written to Allen & Unwin asking if Tolkien was aryan. Letters 29 and 30 recount this situation. Tolkien personally would have refused to give any declaration but thought he should consider his publisher's wishes. Thus, he sent Allen & Unwin two versions of a reply. It appears that Allen & Unwin choose to send the letter where Tolkien refused to make any declaration.

The letters are from July 1938.

10-23-2004, 02:47 AM	#1
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Ten days are up - does anyone want to give it a try, or shall I post a new one? __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

11-17-2004, 10:27 AM	#2
Tevildo Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Curled up on Melko's lap Posts: 425	Could you possibly give us a hint where to look? __________________ Now Tevildo was a mighty cat--the mightiest of all--and possessed of an evil spirit,...and he was in Melko's constant following; and that cat had all cats subject to him, and he and his subjects were the chasers and getters of meat for Melko's table.

11-17-2004, 03:15 PM	#3
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	I found the reference in Carpenter's biography of Tolkien; to narrow it down, it's in the chapter "The Storyteller". __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

11-17-2004, 04:55 PM	#4
Tuor of Gondolin Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pennsylvania, WtR, passed Sarn Gebir: Above the rapids (1239 miles) BtR, passed Black Rider Stopping Place (31 miles) Posts: 1,548	Was it Farmer Giles? __________________ Aure Entuluva!

11-18-2004, 09:09 AM	#6
Tuor of Gondolin Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pennsylvania, WtR, passed Sarn Gebir: Above the rapids (1239 miles) BtR, passed Black Rider Stopping Place (31 miles) Posts: 1,548	Woo-hoo! Okay. In what specific way did JRRT indicate a contempt for nazi anti-semitism? __________________ Aure Entuluva!

12-01-2004, 01:36 PM	#7
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	Are you referring to Tolkien's response to a request concerning a German translation of The Hobbit? The company Rütten & Loening of Potsdam had written to Allen & Unwin asking if Tolkien was aryan. Letters 29 and 30 recount this situation. Tolkien personally would have refused to give any declaration but thought he should consider his publisher's wishes. Thus, he sent Allen & Unwin two versions of a reply. It appears that Allen & Unwin choose to send the letter where Tolkien refused to make any declaration. The letters are from July 1938. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.