[Rimbaud]

The magic of Lord of the Rings for me can be encapsulated by the reading list that spawned from within it. JRRT's writings led me, as a teenager, to read many varied texts, some that seem only tenuously linked to hobbit-holes in retrospect, but when traced through my life, can be seen as baby steps taken from the birthplace of my true love of writing. I had read voraciously as a child, as I continue to do so, 'some' years later, yet I can see now that it was with The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings that my interest became my passion.

If the reader(s) will allow me to skip steps; from JRRT I eventually found my way to the epic sand-sagas of Frank herbert's Dune - a truly towering fictional text. I stepped back to the medieval stories, as so capably told by Umberto Eco in "The Name of the Rose" and "The Island of the Day Before". As a student at University, I managed to stereotype myself a little with Camus, Kafka, the Russian masters, Plath and even the 'Germinal' writings of Zola. Yet along with this, throughout those years the love of the fantastical has stayed with me and I shall always be grateful for the hole-dwelling Bilbo, who taught me that loving books was preferable to passionlessly devouring them.

Where did Gandalf lead you? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: Stephanos ]