The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Hobbiton Anachronisms, or, Were the Hobbits ahead of their Time?

Guinevere · 01-25-2003, 08:01 AM

Here is what Tom Shippey writes in his excellent book "Tolkien, author of the century" :

"The fact is that hobbits are, and always remain, highly anachronistic in the ancient world of Middle-earth. That indeed is their main function, for one might note that by their anachronism they engage a problem faced and solved in not dissimilar ways by several writers of historical novels. In setting a work in some distant time, an author may well find that the gap between that time and the reader's modern awareness is too wide to be easily bridged; and accordingly a figure essentially modern in attitudes and sentiment is imported into the historical world, to guide the reader's reactions, to help the reader feel "what it would be like" to be there."

So the hobbits actually bridge the gap between the ancient world and the modern one.
I guess that this is just the reason why it is so much easier to read the LotR than the Silmarillion!

[ January 25, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ]

[ January 25, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ]

01-25-2003, 08:01 AM	#7
Guinevere Banshee of Camelot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Switzerland Posts: 5,830	Here is what Tom Shippey writes in his excellent book "Tolkien, author of the century" : "The fact is that hobbits are, and always remain, highly anachronistic in the ancient world of Middle-earth. That indeed is their main function, for one might note that by their anachronism they engage a problem faced and solved in not dissimilar ways by several writers of historical novels. In setting a work in some distant time, an author may well find that the gap between that time and the reader's modern awareness is too wide to be easily bridged; and accordingly a figure essentially modern in attitudes and sentiment is imported into the historical world, to guide the reader's reactions, to help the reader feel "what it would be like" to be there." So the hobbits actually bridge the gap between the ancient world and the modern one. I guess that this is just the reason why it is so much easier to read the LotR than the Silmarillion! [ January 25, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ] [ January 25, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ] __________________ Yes! "wish-fulfilment dreams" we spin to cheat our timid hearts, and ugly Fact defeat!