Insanity and HOME

[Arothir]

For those of you who read HoME, do you ever go crazy for a little while? I find that every once in a while, random statements like "fair copy, A, B, typescript, revision, hastily emended, scrawled" going through my friend. Besides this, I find all the references by CJRT to "my father" to be annoying, it makes him sound self important. Does anybody else get this?

[Encaitare]

The "my father" bit doesn't bug me... well, because he was his father, and it makes sense. Also, I think it's good that he acknowledges when something is "scrawled" or something like that as opposed to written in a good copy which would probably be more "official" than a little note on a scrap of paper. But when CRT starts listing drafts A, B,C, D, etc. it drives me crazy because I can never remember which is which!

Oh well, let's not be mean to CRT, he has after all brought us the Sil and HoME and so many wonderful things.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Encaitare

Oh well, let's not be mean to CRT, he has after all brought us the Sil and HoME and so many wonderful things.

I quite agree. I sometimes wonder what CT did do deserve some of the criticism he gets. After all he must have put so much time in to editing HoME which perhaps he would have preferred to spend on projects of his own. Maybe he isn't the best editor in the world ( I don't feel qualified to judge) but I am sure what ever his imperfections, we would have lost a lot of insight if he had refused the task. Personally, I quite like his style and I really think he is merely stating simple fact rather than self aggrandizing when he says "my father". It would seem slightly ludicrous to me for him to refer to him as "Tolkien" (and confusing since he is Tolkien himself) or by his initials. I prefer the works where CT is an overt narrator rather than the seemingly seemless Sil.......

I get the impression that some people think he was merely cashing in but I am sure that the revenue from HoME is miniscule compared to the main works especially related to the herculean nature of the task. If anything, I think CT seems quite restrained if you remember that actually he was rather important in the development of Middle Earth . In a way he was editing his father from day 1 - keeping him on track with things such as the colour of dwarf hoods - he was sent early drafts of the rings, he attended meetings of the inklings. He didn't just find a box of papers in the attic which set the mental cash registers ringing.

I wonder sometimes if there is an element of jealousy in some people's (meaning generally, this isn't intended as a personal attack on Arothir - I would like to make that clear ... this topic has just raised something I have noted in other places ) seeming dislike of CT.... some people get a bit possessive about Middle Earth - and as someone pointed out on another thread some people like to pretend to themselves it is "real" history - may be CT and HoME provide too much reminder that it is a "created" mythology and one designed to be plausible....

But on this point, I agree totally with Arothir; HoME is hard. However I guess after UT it had to be all or nothing - once the relatively coherent stuff had been issued, either there would be a lot of complication or CT (or whoever) would have had to make very swinging editorial judgements "on the way to go". SinceCT admits that he may well have made a wrong call on the lineage of Gil Galad in the Silmarillion, he may have been reluctant to go down that road. The alternative is that the archive might have remained largely private, available to accredited scholars only- and while I struggle with a lot of HoME I am so grateful that it is available to me; so it would take a lot of more substantial criticism of CT to outweigh my appreciation of his efforts.

[Encaitare]

I can only imagine why he'd be criticized, considering the amount of work sifting through all the often disorganized and illegible papers would be! A little thing that irks me, even though it's not his fault, is the fact that sometimes he can't read a word and puts a ...... in its place. It takes me right out of the story.

I get the impression that some people think he was merely cashing in but I am sure that the revenue from HoME is miniscule compared to the main works especially related to the herculean nature of the task.

Yes, considering it doesn't seem like there's a huge rush for everyone to go out and buy all of HoME! Most people don't even know it exists (I certainly didn't for quite a while).

[Lalwendë]

it doesn't seem like there's a huge rush for everyone to go out and buy all of HoME!

Indeed! And there is the not inconsiderable cost - £10 a volume - the kind of prices which non-blockbuster books tend to be lumbered with.

As Mithalwen says, it's amazing that we can view the drafts and papers of Tolkien with such ease, and I'm certainly glad that CT put all this effort into producing HoME. So many other writers' papers are locked away in universities and us mere mortals never see them.

About getting confused with all the different versions, well, I've been there too, but a packet of those sticky page tabs in different colours works wonders!

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Indeed! And there is the not inconsiderable cost - £10 a volume - the kind of prices which non-blockbuster books tend to be lumbered with.


About getting confused with all the different versions, well, I've been there too, but a packet of those sticky page tabs in different colours works wonders!

Yes the cost was a factor in me stopping to collect them when they were first issued - as a teenager, I couldn't afford books I couldn't cope with reading! - I then had to wait for the reissues ....... my first 4 are a bit crumbly...... and white bound...

Exellent tip that to use those tabs.....

[Lalwendë]

I used to take them out of our little local library - I seemed to have 'Lays of Beleriand' on permanent loan, as the one non-fire-breathing-dragon-like librarian would kindly re-stamp it for me every three weeks until I'd finished it, despite me being on a 'child' card and not permitted to take many books from the adults' section. The new paperbacks are very handsome though, and worth collecting. Although I understand that if bought in a 'box set' then certain sections are missing? Maybe someone will know?

Those sticky tabs - what's even better is that you can write on them and have little page notes!

[Encaitare]

Lucky you, my library isn't cool enough to carry HoME. It's got UT, though, so I suppose I must not complain all that much.

I bought HoME I-V in a box set, and I assume they've got everything. They're the same as the paperbacks that are sold separately, anyway, except they cost less together.