Reminiscing about Books #5

Well, 2011 brought quite a revolution to my reading life when my husband gave me a Kindle! I was not interested at first. (Some of my regular readers may remember that I wrote many blogs about how digital reading causes us to read less deeply), but I finally succumbed because I could carry dozens of books with me when I travelled and because my favorite genre, literary classics, was almost always free. 

Anyway, my Kindle opened the door to discovering some lesser-known vintage authors such as O. Douglas, Ralph Henry Barbour, and C.N. Williamson, whom I have thoroughly enjoyed when in need of light, clean reading that is not dumbed-down. (I wrote two posts on favorite titles here and here.)

I was introduced to three wonderful new-to-me authors in 2011: Jon Hassler (review of Green Journey), Joseph Crosby Lincoln (review of Fair Harbor) and Maurice LeBlanc (review of The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin). 

It was also the year I first read the first two Lord of the Rings books. Truly, you are never quite the same after reading them. 

A good year for literary riches!

Blessings,

Cozy Christmas Suggestions

Most of us will be having quieter Christmas celebrations this year. And that's okay. It's a good thing that we'll focus less on shopping frenzies and over-full calendars and have more time to pay attention to the real meaning of the season.

I am reading some Christmas-themed books (A Christmas Carol, Shepherds Abiding and Letters from Father Christmas). I also plan to listen to Hercule Poirot's Christmas on YouTube, narrated by Hugh Fraser. In my early days of blogging I wrote about two free audiobooks that you might enjoy.

We are getting ready for our annual viewing of the movie, The Nativity Story, reviewed here. I also have some suggestions for lesser-known holiday films here. Last of all, I'm enjoying quiet, worshipful music in addition to the peppier tunes. Another blog post from yesteryear highlights some of those songs. 

May you have a peaceful and blessed Christmas,  

Tolkien on Fairy-Stories - a review

It was in fairy-stories that I first divined the potency of words, and the wonder of things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass, house and fire, bread and wine. (p. 69)

I have always been intrigued by G.K. Chesterton's passion for fairy tales as important precursors to a child's understanding of divine truths. C.S. Lewis echoed similar sentiments when he said, "Someday you will be old enough to read fairy tales again," implying that there is a hidden depth to these stories. Tolkien's lectures "On Fairy Stories" add to the conversation of the importance of these tales and why they continue to endure.

First, he defines a fairy story. It has much less to do with tiny, ethereal creatures than it does with the creation of a secondary world beyond the five senses. He coined a word for this place: the land of "faërie." Anyone can say "the green sun, but to make a secondary world inside which the green sun will be credible demands a special skill, a kind of elvish craft. (p. 140)

Just as humans are hard-wired for human language, so they are hard-wired to make stories out of that language, and to make a world out of their stories. Unfortunately fairy tales have been relegated to the nursery as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play room. (p. 43) But, writes Tolkien, fairy stories have more meaning for adults. Fairy stories offer in a peculiar degree or mode these things: Fantasy, Recovery, Consolation, all things which children, have, as a rule, less need of than older people. If fairy story is worth reading at all it is worthy to be written for and read by adults. They will, of course, put more in and get more out than children can. (p. 58)

Essentially, Lewis, Tolkien and Chesterton viewed fairy stories not as "untrue," but as stories within which the greatest truths are hidden.  (See this quote on fairy stories as vehicles of grace.) That is why Chesterton calls the gospel "The Truest Fairy Tale" and why Tolkien writes, The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy stories. They contain many marvels - peculiarly artistic, beautiful and moving; 'mythical' in their perfect self-contained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe [Christ's resurrection]. (p. 78)

This book is not light reading. Because Tolkien invents various words to describe his ideas, you are literally working your way through new language. But it's a worthy endeavor. The intro by editors Flieger and Anderson was very helpful.

One of my favorite quotes on fairy tales by Victorian author Juliana H. Ewing is here. I wrote two posts about them here and here.

Blessings,

Tolkien on Fairy Stories - a quote

My head is still reeling from the depth and richness of Tolkien's lectures on fairy stories. Until I cobble together a few thoughts for a future blog post, I'll leave you with this quote. The words in italics are words that Tolkien himself coined.

The consolation of fairy stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the "good catastrophe," (a eucatastrophe) the sudden joyous 'turn' (for there is no true end to any fairy tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially 'escapist' nor 'fugitive.' In its other-world setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure; the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies (in the face of much evidence) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief. (p. 75)

 Blessings, 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Morpurgo

A few years ago I bought J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.   The original version was written in a 14^th Century English dialect that has not survived and Tolkien sought to make the story accessible to modern day readers.  However, he strove to retain the poem’s original cadence and it seems somewhat stilted at times. 

Since our family is reading War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, Morpurgo’s name has been on our radar and my son found his children’s version of Sir Gawain. It seemed less intimidating than Tolkien’s version, and I dug right in.  At first, I read one chapter from Morpurgo and followed it with the same chapter in Tolkien.  But by chapter three I was so caught up in the story that I discarded Tolkien’s version and read Morpurgo’s straight through to the end.

The story begins with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table:

It was Christmastime at Camelot, that time of year when all King Arthur’s Knights gathered to celebrate the birth of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  For fifteen joyous days, after holy Mass each morning, there was nothing but feasting and dancing and singing, and hunting and jousting too.  Jousting was the favorite sport, each Knight striving to unseat the mighty Sir Lancelot – but rarely succeeding, of course.  And all was done in fun, in a spirit of comradeship, for they were happy to be all together once more at this blessed time. (p. 12)

The festivities are interrupted by a huge green giant who enters the banqueting hall.  He dares any knight to take up his challenge.  Gawain accepts and his adventures begin.  I don’t want to share any details because going into the story without knowing the particulars is what makes it such a page turner.  As Sir Gawain faces trials and temptations, will he be true to his chivalric code?  Will he survive the wrath of the terrible green giant?  Will he return safely to Camelot?

While I enjoyed the story very much, I was puzzled at this paraphrase for children because one of the subplots involves a woman who is more than willing to be unfaithful to her husband.  Maybe that’s why Michael Dirda calls this “an adult Christmas story”.   Anyway, I enjoyed Morpurgo’s translation very much.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Trying to review the Lord of the Rings trilogy is like standing in front of “The Pieta” and calling it “a nice statue.”  There just aren’t words to describe the combination of whimsy, adventure and manly virtue.   As I noted in my review of Fellowship of the Rings, Tolkien’s novel requires a tremendous amount of perseverance, but the rewards are rich.  It’s no wonder that those who love these books have a mystique about them.  The beautiful language and compelling story seem to demand a heart response from the reader.

Near the end of The Two Towers, Sam talks to Frodo about what makes an enduring story.

 “The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them.  I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say.  But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind… I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?

“I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales.  We’re in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards.  And people will say: “Let’s hear about Frodo and the Ring!” And they’ll say: “Yes, that’s one of my favorite stories.  Frodo was very brave, wasn’t he, dad?” “Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits….”’ (p. 711-712)

Did Tolkien know when he wrote these words that he was writing a masterpiece that would be read and re-read for generations to come?

Again, nothing I write can do the book justice.  I loved the Ents, I loved Faramir, I loved the constant references to Galadriel, I loved Gimli’s guileless infatuation with her, I loved faithful Sam, I loved the gorgeous prose:

When Sam determines to go with Frodo till the bitter end: “Sam said nothing.  The look on Frodo’s face was enough for him; he knew that words of his were useless.  And after all he never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning; but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.” (p. 638)

Or when Sam describes Galadriel as “Hard as di’monds, soft as moonlight.  Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars.  Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime.” (p. 680)

The Two Towers is a literary feast that nourishes and delights.

P.S. I watched the movie a few days after completing the book and was disappointed with its portrayal of Gimli and Faramir.  Gimli brought comic relief in the film, but he was not a buffoon in the book.  Faramir is a much more honorable character in the print version, although he does redeem himself in the movie.  Oh well. We all know that films are rarely as satisfying as the books...

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I have long looked at lovers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy as an exclusive fan club with their inside knowledge of the books and their disdain for the rest of us illiterates.  I was half afraid to read the books just in case I didn’t “get it” and was forever barred from this privileged group. I’m even a little embarrassed about reviewing them now since there are others who have read the books multiple times and who understand them more than I do.

Fellowship is an epic adventure in the truest sense of the word: “an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary hero.”  Simple, home-loving Frodo becomes involved in a larger-than-life battle between good and evil and he willingly sacrifices his own wishes and comforts to “do the right thing” as far as the powerful Ring is concerned. 

I don’t regret having seen the films first (something I rarely do) because a certain amount of foreknowledge kept me from getting bogged down in the many confusing names.   Not only do several people have more than one name (Aragorn/Strider, Gollum/Smeagol), but the mountains and even the swords have names.  Being familiar with the main characters from the movie was helpful as I worked my way through the book.  “Work” is the key word because The Fellowship of the Ring is no easy read.  This first book in the trilogy is 400 pages long, but by page 200 hundred, Frodo has barely left the Shire to head out for his adventures.  Still, the book is worth the effort.

Tolkien’s tale is compelling in its portrayal of friendship and bravery among Frodo and his companions, but it is made even richer by its use of beautiful language (at times reminiscent of the English in the King James Bible). 

An example from page 244: Sauran was diminished, but not destroyed.  His Ring was lost but not unmade.  The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will endure.

I’m very glad I took the plunge and began the LOTR trilogy.  Now I’m hoping I’ll find time to read the sequels.