I'm not quite sure where updates on
Mr. Baggins should go but I thought I would post this here.
There is a great interview with John Rateliff
here. The most intriguing quote to me was this one. (The italics are mine.)
Quote:
Q: Why do you think Christopher didn't go in to the Hobbit in his HoME?
Partly because he was in the middle of such an enormous task -- try counting the number of pages in HME.VI-XII sometime. Partly because he believed Carpenter's claim that the H. ms was very close to the published book and, more importantly, that THE HOBBIT was not originally part of the Legendarium.
Q: How you feel about this?
I think I've made a good case that it always was, from the first chapter, part of the Legendarium.
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On a "gut level", I've personally felt this way for some time, although with no special "proof". I am also assuming most people would disagree. Despite the obvious disparities in tone, detail, etc between LotR and Hobbit, I have always felt that the Hobbit was connected with the Legendarium from an early date. I will be extremely curious to see what evidence Rateliff brings forth for this position and how far back he pushes it. This could be interesting! I have a copy on order from Amazon, U.K., since the U.S. edition won't be out for some time. Whoever manages to get their hands on this first (it won't be me, with the slowness of the post), I'd like to hear what you think.