B2MEM

[dreamflower]

This quote is from The Tolkien Handbook by Colin Diurez, (who also wrote another favorite book of mine The Gift of Friendship, which was about the friendship of JRRT and C.S. Lewis). In this extract, he is disputing the claim of some critics that the “hobbity” and home-spun opening chapters of FotR are a flaw:

“Considered structurally, however, the opening is not a flaw, but sets the scene of homeliness so important to Tolkien. Out of this humble context, the unexpected heroes Frodo and Sam arise. The charge of a lack of moral seriousness does not hold once the subtlety and range of Tolkien's examination of evil is explored. On character portrayal, it is important to realise that this is not meant to be novelistic. The Lord of the Rings is a heroic romance. Characters are know according to type, and in Tolkien type can be Dwarf, hobbit, Ent and Elf, as well as varieties of the human. And so the discussion can go on.

One mark of the quality of The Lord of the Rings is its linguistic basis. Tolkien makes use of the invented languages in names, and also in imaginative possibility. Language is the basis of the background mythology. Another mark of its literary quality is Tolkien’s success in integrating the wealth of symbolism of his work. Quest, the journey, sacrifice, healing, death and many other symbolic elements are beautifully incarnate in the book. The very landscapes through which the travellers pass are symbolic, suggesting moods which correspond to the stage of the journey and to the phase of the overall story. The terrors of Moria, the archetypal underworld, contrast for example, with the refreshment to the spirit of Lórien. Always, these landscapes are fully part of the movement of the book, aesthetically shaped and integrated.

Comments

[shirebound]

Out of this humble context, the unexpected heroes Frodo and Sam arise.

Exactly!

[dreamflower]

You know, if I could travel in time, I'd like to go back to one of the meetings of the Inklings, and tell the Professor that he needed to put in lots *MORE* hobbity chapters! *grin*

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I like how it starts because you really see where the heroes come from. Otherwise you wouldn't get what they were fighting for or what they missed or how vulnerable they really were on the Outside!

[dreamflower]

I know. Those who criticize because he doesn't hop right into the Quest are spoiled, I think, by more modern writers. JRRT never followed all that advice about how to hook a reader and how to please an editor.

I'm so glad he wrote when he did, and that he had an old-fashioned publisher like Stanley Unwin, who did not try to spoil everything by telling him what was "marketable".

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with him about the opening chapters. They are crucial, specially at the end when the hobbits return to a home that has been devastated by Sharkey and his Men. We wouldn't feel so acutely the loss and grief they experience if the early chapters didn't exist.

[dreamflower]

I know. They are essential to the ending.

But then, those are the same critics who think the "Scouring of the Shire" is anti-climatic and believe the story should have ended after Mt. Doom!

*shakes head*

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

To me, having it end at the Shire completes the circle of the entire epic. Even back as far as the Hobbit, it starts with Bilbo setting out on a journey, and then Sam finishes the journey with his very humble (which is, after all, so very Samwise), "Well, I'm back." The story arc would not have been complete without it coming back to the Shire.