Tolkien Transactions XXXI

November 2012

So, November has gone and as I write this, Denmark has been decorated with a very beautiful white blanket.

In another part of the world, summer has started and the new Hobbit film has already premiered. In due time I will go and watch it with my family, but compared to how much this has dominated the internet news referring to Tolkien (quite often erroneously conflating Jackson fans and Tolkien fans), you will find relatively little in these transactions referrring to the film.

Oh, and have a merry midwinter celebration.

This month it has suited my purposes to sort the contents under the following headlines:
1: News
2: Essays and Scholarship
3: Reviews and Book News
4: Interviews
5: Tolkienian Artwork
6: Other Stuff
7: Rewarding Discussions
8: In Print
9: Web Sites
10: Sources

= = = = News = = = =

Bangkok Post, Monday, 5 November 2012, ‘New Zealand out to mine tourist magic from Hobbit movies’
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/319611/new-zealand-out-to-mine-tourist-magic-from-hobbit-movies
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bpd97nl
Let's set one thing straight before continuing: the action of Tolkien's Middle-earth books is centred around the north-western parts of Europe, and though the correspondance is not one-to-one, this is the only area that is truly associated with Tolkien's Middle-earth. That said, there is nothing new in the attempts by New Zealand tourism to cash in on the film locations from Jackson's films, though I can still be a little surprised at the deliberate cynicism of it all.

Damien Gayle, Daily Mail, Wednesday, 7 November 2012, ‘The Sauron dinosaur: Palaeontologists name beast after Tolkien's demonic creation after it is identified from just its eye-socket’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2229159/The-Sauron-dinosaur-Palaeontologists-beast-Tolkiens-demonic-creation-identified-just-eye-socket.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c4ndocl
Aargh! The worst thing is that the poor paleeontologists probably think they are honouring Tolkien this way. The irony is of course two-fold: first of all Tolkien firmly (and convincingly) rejected any connection between the Sindarin ‘saur-’ element in Sauron and the Greek saura (Letters no. 297), and secondly the ‘Eye of Sauron’ is a metaphor — Sauron was physically embodied in a humanoid form during the War of the Ring. Now, however, I just wonder how long it will be before we hear that Saul Zaentz Company tries to prevent palaeontologist Andrea Cau from giving any talk containing ‘Sauron’ or ‘Sauroniops’ . . .

Matia Burnett, Publishers Weekly, Thursday, 8 November 2012, ‘Movie Alert: 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'’
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/54658-movie-alert-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bp9n7s6
Despite the titular reference to the upcoming Jackson film, this article also gives an overview of other related items, including some of Houghton Mifflin's Tolkien-related portfolio.

Helen O'Hara, Empire, Tuesday, 13 November 2012, ‘Listen To The Complete Hobbit Soundtrack’
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=35757
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ad4eo48
This is essentially what it says — a chance to listen to the full 1 hour 45 minutes soundtrack of the upcoming The Hobbit film — having listened I am neither particularly impressed nor particularly disappointed.

JV, Wednesday, 14 November 2012, ‘Prince Charles gets a birthday tour of 'The Hobbit'’
http://www.examiner.com/article/prince-charles-gets-a-birthday-tour-of-the-hobbit
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ccbqnk5
It would seem that Prince Charles had a good birthday visiting the studios of The Hobbit films, including an oath of fealty from Dori (I wonder if either has any idea what such an oath would actually mean in Middle-earth). But good to read that the prince had a good day.

Nathan Vickers, Ozarks First, Wednesday, 14 November 2012, ‘Tolkien Series is Front and Center at Springfield Libraries This Fall’
http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=728662
The story about the Tolkien Festival 2012 in the Greene County Libraries this autumn. It is good to see Tolkien's work getting attention, and I have always found that libraries are at least semi-magic places.

Greg Garrison, Thursday, 15 November 2012, ‘Samford University opens exhibit honoring ‘Hobbit’ author Tolkien 40 years after his death’
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/11/samford_university_opens_exhib.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c7dxpxk
So, the Samford University Library has an exhibition about Tolkien commemorating the 40th anniversary of his death next September — well, if you're in Birmingham you might want to go and see it as it's open to the public. Birmingham, Alabama, that is ;) I do hope, though, that the exhibition itself is less focused on Jackson than the article and more on Tolkien himself, but who knows — I suppose the library knows their audience better than I.

Nick Clark, The Independent, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘Peta to picket The Hobbit premiere after whistleblower reveals ‘preventable’ deaths and ‘needless suffering’ of animals on set’
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/peta-to-picket-the-hobbit-premiere-after-whistleblower-reveals-preventable-deaths-and-needless-suffering-of-animals-on-set-8329326.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c5zl9k8
About the PETA allegations that animals were hurt due to their being involved in the Hobbit film — allegations that the producers (i.e. Jackson et Al.) reject — or at least put in a very different light (depending on which newsstory you read). This is one of two Tolkien-related stories that have received quite a lot of attention this month (try searching Google News for ‘PETA Hobbit Jackson’ . . .).
See also Nick Perry, Associated Press, Tuesday, 20 November 2012, ‘Wranglers say ‘Hobbit’ animals died on unsafe farm’
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iwzBws7kM3yIZYMStMp4OKWbKPMg?docId=0b7672a9638f4426b7dce3b7c52bbd22
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c694b3g
and BBC, Tuesday, 20 November 2012, ‘The Hobbit producers deny animal mistreatment claims’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20406456
and finally Tim Kenneally and Brent Lang, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, 21 November 2012, ‘"The Hobbit’ animal-death story: new line, Warner Bros. back Peter Jackson"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-thehobbit-animalsbre8ak12i-20121121,0,2459255.story
http://preview.tinyurl.com/crv9ub5
And finally, Reg Little, Oxford Times, Thursday, 29 November 2012, ‘'Don't sully the image of Tolkien's work'’
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/10076269._Don_t_sully_the_image_of_Tolkien_s_work_/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d6tz46h
In which members of the Tolkien Society express their opinion of the conflict. There are, of course, many, many more stories about this, but I think these will give the whole picture.

Dominic Patten, Deadline, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘Warner Bros Sued For $80M By J.R.R Tolkien Estate & Publisher’
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/warner-bros-sued-for-80m-by-j-r-r-tolkien-estate-publisher/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cblr7rk
This is the other big story, and curiously it broke at just about the same time as the story above. The Tolkien Estate and Harper Collins Publishers have sued Warner Bros. and the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) over their use of digital rights, which the Estate and Harper Collins claim are not included in the original contract in which Tolkien sold the rights to films and related merchandise based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The triggering factor appears to have been particularly outrageous on-line slot machines and similar games, which have caused some outrage in the on-line Tolkien fan community, but the lawsuit also mentions (e.g. §57) other examples of the SZC having "slowly and consistently,
begun to expand its trademark program to encroach upon areas of merchandise exploitation reserved to the plaintiffs" (pardon my legalese). I have long advocated that the grotesque attempts by the SZC to extend their claims beyond reason would need to be curtailed, and if this is what it takes, then I'll welcome it: I will certainly be rooting for the Estate in this (and if their winning will mean that I have to purchase a set of CDs in order to play The Lord of the Rings On-line (LOTRO), I am sure that I will survive that as well).
See also Matthew Belloni, _Hollywood Reporter, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘Tolkien Estate Sues Warner Bros. Over ‘Lord of the Rings’ Slot Machines (Exclusive)’
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/tolkien-estate-sues-warner-bros-393212
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cuqu8r8
And Allison Flood, The Guardian, Tuesday, 20 November 2012, ‘Tolkien estate sues Hobbit producers over video and gambling games’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/20/tolkien-estate-sues-hobbit-producers
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bv35ktq
As well as Erik Wecks, Wired, Wednesday, 21 November 2012, ‘The Tolkien Estate Sues to Protect Their Precious’
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/11/tolkien-lawsuit/
The latter including a sober analysis from a fan perspective (sober, of course, because I mostly agree . . . ;-) )
You might also wish to see John Rateliff's comments, Friday, 23 November 2012, ‘Pushback (Tolkien Lawsuit)’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/pushback-tolkien-lawsuit.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bnbljfp

_Santa Clarita Valley Signal, Monday, 26 November 2012, ‘City libraries embrace 'The Hobbit'’
http://www.the-signal.com/section/36/article/81907/
Libraries all over are taking advantage of the films to host events about the book.

Elena Cresci, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, ‘Farnham artist's Tolkien and Narnia work on display’
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2124851_farnham_artists_tolkien_and_narnia_work_on_display
http://preview.tinyurl.com/clqfa54
About an exhibition of artwork by Pauline Baynes in Farnham running from December 1st to January 12th. If you're in town and has time, I am sure that we are many who would appreciate a report and a list of the works that are on display.

= = = = Essays and Scholarship = = = =

JM, ‘Tolkien's Metaphysics of the Music’
http://jonathansmcintosh.wordpress.com/category/j-r-r-tolkien/metaphysics-of-faerie/metaphysics-of-the-music/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/8fkmw4k
November started with a discussion of the role of the Vision (parts 27 and 28), with McIntosh arguing the superiority of the Vision (despite its incompleteness). In part 29 he looks into the theodicy of the Music, and in part 30 he returns to the superiority of the Vision, which he argues can be seen in the conversation of Eru and Ulmo about water, and the superiority of the Vision is investigated further in part 31. Part 32 appears to have been lost, but in parts 33 through 36, McIntosh argues that there is a movement from the focus on Eru and themselves in the Ainur's performance of the Music to an awakening interest in, and love for, the idea of ‘the other’ that is introduced in the Vision and of course realized in the actual Creation. This love — or desire — for the other is likened to ‘pure’ natural science through the character of Tom Bombadil (part 34), and is placed on a ‘trajectory from intelligible potency to existing actuality’ (part 35) before the desire for the actuality of the other is itself taken up in part 36. In parts 37 through 42 McIntosh makes a side-track into a discussion of dream vs. reality that is based on Tolkien's comments in ‘On Fairy-stories’ about the use of dream as the framing device for a story. Despite some interesting comments about contrasts between the saints Augustine and Acquinas, I am not convinced that Tolkien's comments in OFS are relevant in the context they are given here. In part 43 McIntosh summarizes his arguments up to that point.

Various (The Tolkienist), October 2012, ‘75 reasons why you should read “The Hobbit” before watching the films’
http://www.thetolkienist.com/2012/09/22/75-reasons-why-you-should-read-the-hobbit-before-watching-the-films/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/8uu5hzp
This month Doug Anderson (Oct. 5th) argues that any work of literature that is worth making into a film is generally also worth reading before watching the film. Dimitra Fimi (12th) reminds us of the light-heartedness of The Hobbit, which is also reflected in the mishmash of influences on the book: we should read this story because of its uniqueness in Tolkien's Ardarin writings, a uniqueness that is very unlikely to be translated to the film-version. Michael Drout (23rd) writes about the meeting, the clash, and the interactions of the heroic and bourgeois worlds in The Hobbit — about Tolkien's excellent balancing where each ‘world’ becomes wiser and enriched by their contact.

Michael Cheang, Sunday, 4 November 2012, ‘Taste the original first’
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/11/4/lifebookshelf/12259252
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c4gf8bb
Another article arguing that people should read the book before watching the film(s), Michael Cheang urges his readers to read the book before watching the film, because he thinks The Hobbit ‘truly deserves to be seen through your own imagination so that you can form your own idea and impression of the characters and rich details before the movie does it for you.’

Robert Rodi, Monday, 5 November 2012, ‘Geek love: How a fantasy hater fell in love with J.R.R. Tolkien’
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/04/geek_love_how_a_fantasy_hater_fell_in_love_with_j_r_r_tolkien/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bgrp98d
Author Robert Rodi has looked inside himself and found that his love for Tolkien's books is rooted in a fascination with the Englishness of Tolkien's world. Rodi claims that all Americans are ‘a little bit English’ and that they all have ‘a corresponding desire — even a need — to nourish that part of ourselves.’ His claim is of course that Tolkien is capable of satisfying that need. Unfortunately this doesn't tell us anything about why The Lord of the Rings is so popular in many other places around the world, some of which have no reason to love the English.

H&S, Tuesday, 6 November 2012, ‘The ‘Father Christmas’ Letters’
http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/the-father-christmas-letters-4/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c5yaq5z
An overview of the publication history of the Father Christmas Letters by Christina Scull, with comments relating to the quality of the pictures in various editions, the transcribed texts, and the number of letters & pictures. Fully living up to the quality we have come to expect of Hammond & Scull research.

JDR, Thursday, 8 November 2012, ‘Glimpses of Helen Buckhurst’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/glimpses-of-helen-buckhurst.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c9pb497
A tracing of a few glimpses of Helen Buckhurst, Priscilla Tolkien's godmother and recipient of presentation copies of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Along the way there is also some interesting glimpses of Tolkien's relations to the women's colleges in Oxford.

BC, Friday, 9 November 2012, ‘What is the point of the tale of Turin Turambar?’
http://notionclubpapers.blogspot.dk/2012/11/what-is-point-of-tale-of-turin-turambar.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c28bb2v
I cannot follow Charlton in this religious allegory reading of the tale of Túrin Turambar. First of all the real ‘origin’ of the Túrin story is not in the Book of Lost Tales, but in Tolkien's retelling of the Kullervo story from the Kalevala where there is no such offer of hope at the end, and secondly I think this denies Tolkien's admiration for the idea of fighting evil without hope that he found in the Nordic myths and legends.

Il, Saturday, 10 November 2012, ‘Eucatastrophe, Discatastrophe and the destruction of the Ring’
http://ilverai.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/eucatastrophe-discatastrophe-and-the-destruction-of-the-ring/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cgp8gjt
While I cannot agree entirely with this analysis of eucatastrophe and dyscatastrophe in The Lord of the Rings, Ilverai nonetheless makes some intersting points along the way. The pattern of minor turns, either up or down, has been noted before, but warrants repeating, but the very explicitly Christian reading of eucatastrophe is, in my understanding, a misunderstanding of how Tolkien used this concept.

MM, Monday, 12 November 2012, ‘The Sauron Strategies: Footsteps Into Failure’
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/2012/11/12/the-sauron-strategies-footsteps-into-failure/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ca9ynca
In this essay Michael Martinez goes through Sauron's strategies in the Second Age in some depth, showing how Sauron was trying to adapt to changing circumstances.

NMB, Wednesday, 14 November 2012, ‘Seven Norse Myths We Wouldn't Have Without Snorri’
http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.dk/2012/11/seven-norse-myths-we-wouldnt-have.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/dxymkun
Basically Nancy Marie Brown claims that the reason we wouldn't have these myths is not just because Snorri's Edda is the only surviving source for them, but that Snorri invented some or all of them to fill gaps in the then current knowledge of actual Old Norse mythology. Old Snorri practicing mythopoeisis and his myths then later becoming taken up in the modern mythopoetic work of J.R.R. Tolkien — what a fascinating thought!

NMB, Wednesday, 21 November 2012, ‘Seven Norse Myths We Wouldn't Have Without Snorri: Part II’
http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.dk/2012/11/seven-norse-myths-we-wouldnt-have_21.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cwh2vt2
About Odin, Snorri's Odin, who might be more a figure of Snorri's invention (or perhaps ‘happy interpolation’ would be a kinder way to put it) than of Snorri's sources. Other known sources are, in any case, very brief on the matter of Odin — only in Snorri's Edda and Heimskringla do we find any substantial information. I do wonder what Tolkien would have thought of Nancy Marie Brown's ideas, though I actually suspect that he would have been sympathetic: his own attempt to interpolate and straighten up the Völsungasaga at least suggests as much to me.

JDR, Saturday, 24 November 2012, ‘Tolkien Sings’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2012/11/tolkien-sings.html
Discussion of newly published recordings of Tolkien reading and singing from The Hobbit — including a link to Tolkien singing the ‘Chip the glasses and crack the plates’ song from the first chapter. Rateliff also discusses the dating of these recordings and what they may mean to his book, The History of The Hobbit. (See also the post listed under books for November 19th)

NMB, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, ‘Saga Sites’
http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.dk/2012/11/saga-sites.html
About Iceland, the sites from the sagas that can still be visited, and not least how Snorri Sturlason came to receive a good education.

Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, Thursday 29 November 2012, ‘Why Tolkien was a fine modern artist’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/nov/29/jrr-tolkien-fine-modern-artist
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cfcqpr8
Jones takes a look at Tolkien's illustrations for his own stories, which were mainly for The Hobbit, and judges the Hobbit pictures to be ‘beautiful works of art’ that are ‘subtle, even abstract’, and he finds Tolkien a ‘a fine modern artist’. While I do agree that Tolkien's better pieces are very good, I would also have to admit that his range is rather limited by his lack of technical skill in some areas (notably in drawing people).

JF, Friday, 30 November 2012, ‘Reconstructed lexis in Tolkien's Middle English Vocabulary’
http://lingwe.blogspot.dk/2012/11/reconstructed-lexis-in-tolkiens-middle.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cju2dvz
Having himself missed such a list, Jason Fisher has compiled, and kindly published, a list of the reconstructed words (the ‘asterisk-words’) that Tolkien made (i.e. that are Tolkien's reconstructions) for his Middle English Vocabulary, which was originally made to accompany Kenneth Sisam's collection of Middle English poetry, Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose. The list comprises asterisk forms in Old English (West Saxon), Old Kentish, Middle English, Old French and Old Norse.

= = = = Reviews and Book News = = = =

Abingdon Press, Thursday, 1 November 2012, ‘About the Book and Author’
http://www.patheos.com/Books/Book-Club/Devin-Brown-The-Christian-World-of-The-Hobbit/About-the-Book-and-Author-11-01-2012.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cyowgm2
The praise in this piece is so thick that it's hard to take it seriously — I doubt that even Devin Brown himself would have written something so one-sided. I am still debating with myself whether I should buy this book or not, and this piece doesn't help me one bit. The only reason for including it is to point it out as an example of an entirely unhelpful review.

Charles Runnells, Thursday, 1 November 2012, ‘North Naples conference motivates Christian artists’
http://www.news-press.com/article/20121102/ENT/311020026/1015/SPORTS/North-Naples-conference-motivates-Christian-artists
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c2vkynk
This review is a bit more useful in giving an idea of what Devin Brown's book, The Christian World of The Hobbit intends to be, but it still doesn't say whether it actually achieves it. Clearly Brown attempts to strike a balance — emphasize the role of Tolkien's faith in his fiction without turning the book into a sermon as some Christian critics have done, and I look forward to some real reviews to see if he has managed to find that balance.

Il, Saturday 3 November 2012, ‘In Review: The Lays of Beleriand’
http://ilverai.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/in-review-the-lays-of-beleriand/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ccol2qs
Ilverai looks at The Lays of Beleriand. He finds that the Lay of Leithian in rhyming couplets a ‘joy to read’, but was not terribly impressed by the alliterative Lay of the Children of Húrin — curiously my experience is the exact opposite: for me Tolkien's poetry in general is not terribly exciting (and I occasionally have to drag my way by brute force of will through his long narrative poems in rhyming couplets), but his alliterative poetry is stirring and captivating — here Tolkien is the Master!

Gret Garrett, Monday, 5 November 2012, "Meaning and Imagination: A Review of ‘The Christian World of the Hobbit"’
http://www.patheos.com/Progressive-Christian/Meaning-Imagination-Greg-Garrett-11-06-2012.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/c6b3tuz
This appears to be the first review by someone who has actually read the book.
See also
Ellen Painter Dollar, Monday, 12 November 2012, ‘What Hobbits Have Taught Me About God's Providence’
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ellenpainterdollar/2012/11/what-hobbits-have-taught-me-about-gods-providence/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cusfzw6
These reviews suffer from the problem that the reviewers want to agree with the author (and perhaps even wanted him to go further), which make for poor reviews that deal very little with what the book actually is and nothing about what the book should be.

BC, Tuesday, 6 November 2012, ‘Roverandom Reviewed’
http://notionclubpapers.blogspot.dk/2012/11/roverandom-reviewed.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/boczgry
Thank you to Bruce Charlton for a review of Tolkien's Roverandom. Charlton finds Roverandom's ‘warmth of wit’ 'utterly charming', and he is especially fond of the light it sheds on the ‘good and loving father’ aspect of Tolkien's personality.

Jennie Ramstad, Wednesday, 7 November 2012, ‘Corey Olsen gets introspective with Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit’
http://www.straight.com/article-828131/vancouver/corey-olsen-gets-introspective-exploring-j-r-r-tolkiens-hobbit
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bqxgj5x
A quite short commentary on Corey Olsen's book, Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Jennie Ramstad writes that Olsen, ‘[s]omewhat painstakingly’ writes about the progress of each character, and admits that she found herself ‘gettting lost’ in the book's wealth of information '[d]espite [her] familiarity with the story] and recommends reading Olsen's book along with Tolkien's work.

Brian Sibley, Thursday, 8 November 2012, ‘Bag End Bookshelf’
http://briansibleysblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bag-end-bookshelf.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/dyr8s3t
Comments on the Latin Hobbit, Hobbitus Ille, and on Colin Duriez' new Tolkien biography, J R R Tolkien: The Making of a Legend, which Sibley recommends warmly (also in the blurb he wrote for it and which he quotes in the blog).

JDR, Sunday, 11 November 2012, ‘The New Arrivals (three more books)’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/the-new-arrivals-three-more-books.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cwwl66w
John Rateliff usually give a short description of new books as they arrive and after he has skimmed through them to see what is in there, and though I could wish for an occasional more detailed review to follow, I am grateful for these short notes. The Christian World of The Hobbit by Devin Brown is described as looking to be ‘one of the better books of its kind’ and that its ‘basic premise seems to be that Tolkien's Xianity was sublimated into the world.’ This at least sounds promising. The Hobbit and Philosophy: For when you've lost your dwarves, your wizard, and your way (edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson) gets, as Rateliff says, ‘the award for 'best subtitle'’, but though a sense of humour sounds very promising, I'll be waiting for other reviews before this gets on my wish-list. The last of Rateliff's new arrivals is Brian Sibley's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Official movie guide - in Rateliff's words, ‘If you're not interested in the movies, might consider giving it a pass.’ Thank you — I'll definitely watch the film, but I think I'll give books about it a pass.

Charlotte Williams, The Bookseller, Monday, 12 November 2012, ‘HoZ acquires life of 'Aragorn'’
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/hoz-acquires-life-aragorn.html
Surely in the realm of short items, this tells of a non-fiction book about king Oswald of Northumbria, whom is claimed to be ‘the real-life inspiration for J R R Tolkien's Aragorn.’ Perhaps a bit of research in that direction will not be entirely wasted.

Matt Forbeck, Wired, Thursday, 15 November 2012, ‘Bilbo's Last Song, Revised’
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/11/bilbos-last-song-revised/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4wsxam
In praise of this thin book, re-issued this October with the illustrations by Pauline Baynes.
See also J.R.R. Tolkien, Salon, Thursday, 15 November 2012, ‘Bilbo's Last Song’
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/bilbos_last_song/
where the text of the poem is reproduced in full.

JDR, Saturday, 17 November 2012, ‘The Hobbit EMPIRE’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/the-hobbit-empire.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cnva47m
About the Hobbit-film-celebrating issue of Empire magazine. Apparently they have also found a picture of J.R.R. Tolkien that wasn't known even to Rateliff. They also seem to spend enough pages on Tolkien and his story to at least inform the general public. I'm not surprised, really, that Shippey is proving very quotable — this also shines through in his lecturing style.

John Williford, The Miami Herald, Sunday, 18 November 2012, ‘Tolkien's ‘Hobbit’ has everlasting power’
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/18/3100412/tolkiens-hobbit-has-everlasting.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cgvdrrv
John Williford has been talking with Corey Olsen and with Wayne and Christina about The Hobbit and their own books on the subject prior to their visis at the Miami Book Fair.

JDR, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘Listening to THE HOBBIT’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/listening-to-hobbit.html
A list of audio versions (audio-books, audio adaptations, audio dramatisations etc.) of The Hobbit with some comments on each — so far the only additions to Rateliff's list has been some additional recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien reading passages from the book. Hence, if you like listening to your books, this is a very good starting place for The Hobbit. (See also the post listed under essays for November 24th)

Il, Saturday, 24 November 2012, ‘In Review: Splintered Light’
http://ilverai.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/in-review-splintered-light/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d9pd44p
We cannot get too many appreciative reviews of Verlyn Flieger's books out there! Overall this is an excellent review, though I have to say that I do not agree with ‘Ilverai’ about Frodo's defeat in the Sammath Naur: the eucatastrophe is there withheld to make way for a muted dyscatastrophe with the eucatastrophe following in the next chapter, ‘The Field of Cormallen’.

3 News, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, ‘Tolkien-inspired recipes include Hobbit pork pies’
http://www.3news.co.nz/Tolkien-inspired-recipes-include-Hobbit-pork-pies/tabid/1748/articleID/278262/Default.aspx
http://preview.tinyurl.com/co7c7q5
Health Dill, a food blogger working in cooperation with Corey Olsen, wishes to write a cookbook featuring Tolkien-related recipes with commentary by Corey Olsen. Some of the recipes have already been published on Dill's food blog, http://dillicious.wordpress.com. The book project has been tentatively titled Medium Rare and Back Again and they are crowdsourcing the money needed to develop the remaining recipes and write the book:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/783115992/medium-rare-and-back-again-a-tolkien-cookbook
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ap45prt

Mark Walker, Huffington Post, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, ‘Translating ‘The Hobbit’ Into Latin’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-walker/post_4176_b_2198075.html
A passage (or a pastiche of more than one passage — I don't really know) from Mark Walker's introduction to his Latin translation of The Hobbit, Hobbitus Ille. In this passage Walker speaks of the reasons for wanting to do a Latin translation, and some of the challenges that faced him as a Latinist in this endeavour.

= = = = Interviews = = = =

Andrew Hough, The Telegraph, Sunday, 18 November 2012, ‘Simon Tolkien: JRR Tolkien's grandson admits Lord of the Rings trauma’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9686451/Simon-Tolkien-JRR-Tolkiens-grandson-admits-Lord-of-the-Rings-trauma.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/au6avtp
A sober description of some of the problems of being the grandchild of a famous author when you're just trying to be yourself.
See also Daily Mail, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘The Tolkien ‘curse’: Author's grandson claims Lord of the Rings films were 'like a juggernaut that tore my family apart'’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2235098/Simon-Tolkien-Lord-Rings-films-like-juggernaut-tore-family-apart.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d2y357e

Joanna Moorhead, The Guardian, Saturday, 24 November 2012, ‘'Being Tolkien's grandson blocked my writing ...'’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/24/simon-tolkien-jrr-tolkien-hobbit
http://preview.tinyurl.com/crp6k8r
Another interview with Simon Tolkien, this one going into more details about his grandfather, the effect on his own desires to write, about the family and the immense pressure created by Jackson's films.

= = = = Tolkienian Artwork = = = =

JD, Tuesday, 6 November 2012, ‘Beren and Lúthien diptych’
http://goldseven.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/beren-and-luthien-diptych/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d5ac33v
One of the few (if not actually the first) pictures of Lúthien or Arwen that manages to convey to me a sense of a greater-than-life beauty. Dolfen manages (in my inexpert opinion) to strike that delicate balance between being too indistinct to convey anything beyond ‘young female’ and being too distinct so that the beholder cannot impose on Lúthien her or his own idea of perfect beauty. Beren, while shabbily clothed, appears to have found a good barber after his months in the wild (one who has left him fashionably stubbled) — but perhaps I should not complain too loudly lest I am accused of envy ;-)

JJK Movies , Monday, 12 November 2012, ‘Lord of the Rings Re-enacted by Ponies’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hD31VTdsw
I suppose we might question the application of the word ‘art’ here, but I found this video (12 min. 13 secs.) quite hilarious. The video itself is an adaptation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, but in many ways I am more comfortable with this work than I was with Jackson's original — not, I suspect, because of what Jackson didn't get right (in terms of closeness to Tolkien's story), but rather because the things that he did get right set too high expectations for the rest; expectations that were woefully unfulfilled.

JG, Friday, 16 November 2012, ‘Weathertop (Amon Sul/r Hill of Wind).’
http://joegilronanlordoftherings.blogspot.dk/2012/11/weathertop-amon-sulr-hill-of-wind.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/cc3pbxe
A very nice picture of the approach to Weathertop featuring the four Hobbit travellers, Bill the Pony and Strider — and another figure among the trees?

Broadway World, Tuesday, 27 November 2012, ‘Oglio Records Releases ‘In Elven Lands - The Fellowship,’ THE HOBBIT’
http://music.broadwayworld.com/article/Oglio-Records-Releases-In-Elven-Lands-The-Fellowship-THE-HOBBIT-20121127
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bot7vsr
The story about the release of an album that, judging by the titles, is inspired rather explicitly by _The Lord of the Rings, it would seem that they just added ‘THE HOBBIT’ to this in order to do something for their Google searchability. I also wonder if they have received permission from the Tolkien Estate to use Tolkien's texts for some of their songs.

JG, Thursday, 29 November 2012, ‘Bilbo's adventure (late for an appointment).’
http://joegilronanlordoftherings.blogspot.dk/2012/11/bilbos-adventure-late-for-appointment.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d8vwqno
A painting of Bilbo rushing to get to The Green Dragon at eleven o'clock — precisely!

= = = = Other Stuff = = = =

MD, Sunday, 11 November 2012, ‘A Successful Scholarly Sojourn’
http://wormtalk.blogspot.dk/2012/11/a-successful-scholarly-sojourn.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/d8qeo2m
Michael Drout tells of how he spent a week this summer taking a group of ‘students’ travelers through some of the locations of Anglo-Saxon England, turning their holiday into a learning experience. This way of spending a holiday sounds absolutely fantastic, but I'm afraid that I will have little success convincing the family to join next year's Scholarly Sojourn, ‘Imagining Middle-earth: A Journey Through Tolkien’s England’ with professor Drout — also because school will have started in Denmark at that time.

JDR, Friday, 16 November 2012, ‘Tolkien Day at Trout Lake’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/tolkien-day-at-trout-lake.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bz9h4a8
What better way to spend a holiday than talking Tolkien with good friends? Incidentally, adding something to The History of The Hobbit about Tolkien's sources for The Hobbit probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

MD, Friday, 16 November 2012, ‘Fun with Lexomics (and you can have some, too)’
http://wormtalk.blogspot.dk/2012/11/fun-with-lexomics-and-you-can-have-some.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/as6rvkj
I've always been fascinated by Michael Drout's Lexomics project, wanting to know also how it relates to other kinds of stylometric analysis — I want text and formulas, and they give me video ;-) Still, the project is highly interesting.

Robert Rodi, Salon, Sunday, 18 November 2012, ‘Are Hobbits' feet hot?’
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/17/are_hobbits_feet_hot/
A humorous (I sincerely hope!) attempt to apply, in the end, som Freudian analysis to Hobbit feet. It's a nice joke . . . I think.

JD, Monday, 19 November 2012, ‘Hobbit Feest’
http://goldseven.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/hobbit-feest/
A report on the Dutch Hobbit Feest convention. Jenny Dolfen had a good time and even ended up in the local newspaper.

H&S, Sunday, 25 November 2012, ‘Up in the Air: Milwaukee and Miami’
http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/up-in-the-air-milwaukee-and-miami/
http://preview.tinyurl.com/bqdjv2n
Christina and Wayne write about their journeys to speak about Tolkien's Middle-earth art at the Marquette and his Hobbit art at the Miami Book Fair. Along the way Christina writes that she utilized the time at the Marquette to look at The Lord of the Rings chronologies for a future paper, while Wayne researched ‘various queries [they] had received since [their] last visit to Marquette in 2009.’

JDR, Wednesday, 28 November 2012, ‘Tolkien and Westminster’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.dk/2012/11/tolkien-and-westminster.html
http://preview.tinyurl.com/brj8cpn
Following the announcement (not reported here) that C.S. Lewis will be be honoured with a memorial at the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, John Rateliff here speculates about the chances that Tolkien might be similarly honoured.

= = = = Rewarding Discussions = = = =

‘Notion Club, Night 69’
http://lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=244887
The discussions of the Notion Club Papers are certainly worth to look at. Here discussion of Night 69.

‘Christianity and Tolkien’
http://lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=244936
How to assess the importance and influence of Tolkien's Catholic faith on his writings is an old discussion that will likely never be fully resolved. In this thread the more extreme positions are absent, but many of the relevant arguments are nonetheless included.

‘Tolkien Studies 9’
http://lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=244366
Following publication, this thread now also features a discussion of Doug Kane's article on ‘Law and Arda’.

‘Tolkien's Prose’
http://lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=245026
A new promising thread on Tolkien's prose style — the thread still has to really take off, so here's a chance to be in on it from the outset . . .

= = = = In Print = = = =

Beyond Bree November 2012
This month's Beyond Bree features short pieces by Geoff Davies on the age of the One Ring and by Nancy Martsch on the poor survival chances of ponies in The Lord of the Rings. Also there are reviews / comments on the 2013 calendars (Nancy Martsch, Beyond Bree Calendar and Jef Murray Middle-earth Calendar; David Cofield, Tolkien Calendar), Mararet Hiley's book, The Loss and the Silence is reviewed by Ryder W. Miller, the J.R.R. Tolkien: The True Lord of the Rings comic by McCarthy, Lent, and Chichón is reviewed by David Cofield who also reviews the enhanced e-book edition of The Hobbit, and Nancy Martsch also reviews Aiglos special issue no. 2. Additionally there is a further report from The Return of the Ring as well as several smaller pieces and the customary columns.

Amon Hen no. 238, November 2012
In the backward-looking part of the latest issue of Amon Hen we find reports from Oxonmoot 2012 (Carella Ridley and a thank you note from Helen Armstrong [chair]), the unveiling of the Tolkien Blue Plaque in Leeds (Ian Spittlehouse), Discworld Convention 2012 (Jessica Yates), the celebration of the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit at the British Library (Jessica Yates and Chris Kreuzer together) as well as the minutes from a committee meeting and the regular news-columns. Other articles are looking forward such as a discussion of ideas for the future of Oxonmoot and the invitation for the AGM & dinner in April. Michael Cunningham reviews Mark T. Hooker's Tolkien and Welsh and Lyn Wilshire reviews Suzette Field's A Curious Invitation. Anne Marie Gazzalo has written a piece on ‘The Spiritual Kinship of Frodo and Sméagol’, which is at places quite interesting, though I think there is also a hint of the regrettable tendency to turn Tolkien's work into a sermon.

= = = = Web Sites = = = =

Joe Gilranon, ‘The Lord of the Rings Blog (Joe Gilronan Tolkien Art)’
http://joegilronanlordoftherings.blogspot.com/
Another artist making pictures inspired by Tolkien's Arda and its history.

‘Ilverai’ (Il). ‘Wandering Paths’
http://ilverai.wordpress.com/
A blog by Grey Havens Group member ‘Ilverai’ on Tolkienian matters.

‘Greisinger Museum’
https://www.facebook.com/GreisingerMuseum
The Facebook page for the Greisinger Museum, home of the Greisinger Middle-earth Collection. I do think I'll have to take a trip some day that takes me to Switzerland . . .

= = = = Sources = = = =

John D. Rateliff (JDR) — ‘Sacnoth's Scriptorium’
http://sacnoths.blogspot.com

Jason Fisher (JF) — ‘Lingwë — Musings of a Fish’
http://lingwe.blogspot.com

Michael Drout (MD) — ‘Wormtalk and Slugspeak’
http://wormtalk.blogspot.com/

Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull (H&S) — ‘Too Many Books and Never Enough’
http://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/

Pieter Collier (PC) — ‘The Tolkien Library’
http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/

Douglas A. Anderson (DAA) et Al. — ‘Wormwoodiana’
http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com

Corey Olsen (CO), ‘The Tolkien Professor’
http://www.tolkienprofessor.com

David Bratman (DB), ‘Kalimac’
http://kalimac.blogspot.com/
and the old home:
http://calimac.livejournal.com/

Larry Swain (LS), ‘The Ruminate’
http://theruminate.blogspot.com

Andrew Wells (AW), ‘Musings of an Aging Fan’
http://wellinghall.livejournal.com

Various, ‘The Northeast Tolkien Society’ (NETS), ‘Heren Istarion’
http://herenistarionnets.blogspot.com

Bruce Charlton (BC), ‘Tolkien's The Notion Club Papers’
http://notionclubpapers.blogspot.com/

Marcel R. Aubron-Bülles (MB), ‘The Tolkienist’
http://thetolkienist.com/

Andrew Higgins (AH), ‘Wotan's Musings’
http://wotanselvishmusings.blogspot.com

Various, The Mythopoeic Society
http://www.mythsoc.org

Henry Gee (HG) ‘cromercrox’, ‘The End of the Pier Show’
http://occamstypewriter.org/cromercrox/

Jonathan S. McIntosh (JM), ‘The Flame Imperishable’
http://jonathansmcintosh.wordpress.com/

Morgan Thomsen (MT), ‘Mythoi’
http://mythoi.tolkienindex.net

Steuard Jensen (SJ), ‘Strings, Rings, and Other Things’
http://steuard.livejournal.com

Tom Simon (TS), ‘The Superversive’
http://superversive.livejournal.com/

Nancy Marie Brown (NMB), ‘God of Wednesday’
http://nancymariebrown.blogspot.com

John Howe (JH)
http://www.john-howe.com

Jenny Dolfen (JD)
http://goldseven.wordpress.com/

Joe Gilranon (JG)
http://joegilronanlordoftherings.blogspot.com/

Josh Vogt (JV), ‘Tolkien Examiner’
http://www.examiner.com/tolkien-in-national/josh-vogt

‘Ilverai’ (Il). ‘Wandering Paths’
http://ilverai.wordpress.com/

David Simmons (DS), ‘Aiya Ilúvatar’
http://www.aiyailuvatar.org/

Michael Martinez (MM), ‘Tolkien Studies Blog’
http://blog.tolkien-studies.com/

Michael Martinez (MM), ‘Middle-earth’
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/

Troels Forchhammer (TF), ‘Parma-kenta’
http://parmarkenta.blogspot.com

Mythprint — ‘The Monthly Bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society’
http://www.mythsoc.org

Amon Hen — the Bulletin of the Tolkien Society
http://www.tolkiensociety.org/

Beyond Bree — the newsletter of the Tolkien Special Interest Group of the Americal Mensa
http://www.cep.unt.edu/bree.html

- and others