Smith of Wootton Major in Middle Earth? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 05-09-2005, 03:48 PM

Not sure where I'm going with this but...

Smith seems, on one level, to be a series of images, incredibly bright, colourful & intense, strung together with connecting narrative, rather like a 'necklace'. The 'storyline' seems less important than the images it contains. This thread was sparked by a single image - a scene illustrated by Pauline Baynes. In fact, I'd go so far as to ask how important Pauline Baynes illustrations are. My edition of Smith has those illustrations (& so does the upcoming Flieger edited edition I referred to earlier) & I have to admit that they are what first struck me about Smith (LMP's avatar is one for anyone who hasn't seen them). When I think of Smith it is those pictures that first come to mind - actually I remember little of the actual text itself, only the general storyline.

I wonder about this. Hearing the BBC radio adaptation of Smith a few years back I remember feeling disappointed & it took me a while to work out why - the acting wasn't bad, the adatation (by Brian Sibley who had previously co-adapted the BBC LotR) was good, but it somehow wasn't the Smith that I know & loved. I realised later that it was the absence of Baynes' illustrations. Oh to see an animated version of Smith in that style!

I'm beginning to wonder if it is the illustrations,not the text, of Smith that provide the real doorway into Faerie for me in terms of this story.' The one of the 'Eleven' Mariners', 'the one of Smith & Alf returning to the Great Hall', etc: these are 'Smith' to me. What I'm also beginning to wonder is whether the reason for this is that the pictures can stand alone, & thus, not necessarily being bound to the story Tolkien wrote, can spark the imagination, or open the mind & heart, to Faerie itself.

I wonder if the 'split' between the 'Sils' & the 'Smiths' might have something to do with which edition of the text they have read - maybe those of us who have read the illustrated edition of Smith find it the more 'Faerielike' of the two, & I wonder how much Pauline Baynes work has to do with that.

(Waits for loads of people to say they prefer Smith even though they've never seen the illustrations....)

05-09-2005, 03:48 PM	#28
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Not sure where I'm going with this but... Smith seems, on one level, to be a series of images, incredibly bright, colourful & intense, strung together with connecting narrative, rather like a 'necklace'. The 'storyline' seems less important than the images it contains. This thread was sparked by a single image - a scene illustrated by Pauline Baynes. In fact, I'd go so far as to ask how important Pauline Baynes illustrations are. My edition of Smith has those illustrations (& so does the upcoming Flieger edited edition I referred to earlier) & I have to admit that they are what first struck me about Smith (LMP's avatar is one for anyone who hasn't seen them). When I think of Smith it is those pictures that first come to mind - actually I remember little of the actual text itself, only the general storyline. I wonder about this. Hearing the BBC radio adaptation of Smith a few years back I remember feeling disappointed & it took me a while to work out why - the acting wasn't bad, the adatation (by Brian Sibley who had previously co-adapted the BBC LotR) was good, but it somehow wasn't the Smith that I know & loved. I realised later that it was the absence of Baynes' illustrations. Oh to see an animated version of Smith in that style! I'm beginning to wonder if it is the illustrations,not the text, of Smith that provide the real doorway into Faerie for me in terms of this story.' The one of the 'Eleven' Mariners', 'the one of Smith & Alf returning to the Great Hall', etc: these are 'Smith' to me. What I'm also beginning to wonder is whether the reason for this is that the pictures can stand alone, & thus, not necessarily being bound to the story Tolkien wrote, can spark the imagination, or open the mind & heart, to Faerie itself. I wonder if the 'split' between the 'Sils' & the 'Smiths' might have something to do with which edition of the text they have read - maybe those of us who have read the illustrated edition of Smith find it the more 'Faerielike' of the two, & I wonder how much Pauline Baynes work has to do with that. (Waits for loads of people to say they prefer Smith even though they've never seen the illustrations....) __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."