Will The Hobbit do damage to the books?

[Mithalwen]

The Lord of theRings is one of the top selling books of all time and was voted book of the 20th century by readers. That is quite successful whatever the literati may have thought fifty or sixty years ago. Most authors and publishers would be happy with that.

Many younger academics find him quite worthy of their attention. Some of them even post here. I like the Harry Potter books though I think Order of the phoenix could have lost a hundred pages. I also think Rowling really loves language as the raw material of her work and knowa her mythology but maybe since I read her as an adult I don't find her world aa engaging.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

The Lord of theRings is one of the top selling books of all time and was voted book of the 20th century by readers. That is quite successful whatever the literati may have thought fifty or sixty years ago. Most authors and publishers would be happy with that.

Many younger academics find him quite worthy of their attention. Some of them even post here. I like the Harry Potter books though I think Order of the phoenix could have lost a hundred pages. I also think Rowling really loves language as the raw material of her work and knowa her mythology but maybe since I read her as an adult I don't find her world aa engaging.

Academics are probably wising up to the fact that it's now a market out there and students want to study works they feel they will get something out of as opposed to those they are told they should get something out of - and as forums like this prove, there's actually endless picking to be had from Tolkien's work. It will go on regardless.

JK Rowling's Harry Potter books are very under-rated by a lot of adults, but her work too stands up to digging. Just one thing I realised the other day was how she pays homage to Tolkien by using some of his Hobbit surnames. I love Order of the Phoenix for the pin sharp satire on the Civil Service, and maybe a worse enemy even than Voldemort, Dolores Umbridge.

[Rhod the Red]

Also inspired a lot of art. I recommend deviantart.com

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Rhod the Red

Also inspired a lot of art. I recommend deviantart.com

On the flipside what with the saturation of imagery from the films in our culture it can be very difficult to find book-inspired art on deviantart! It's always a nice surprise to find something which hews a bit more closely to the original text and its implied aesthetics.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

On the flipside what with the saturation of imagery from the films in our culture it can be very difficult to find book-inspired art on devianart!

It can be very difficult to find art on deviantArt...

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

On the flipside what with the saturation of imagery from the films in our culture it can be very difficult to find book-inspired art on deviantart! It's always a nice surprise to find something which hews a bit more closely to the original text and its implied aesthetics.

It saddens me when I see images that so clearly represent Viggo Mortensen or any of the other actors from the movies.

The joy of drawing Tolkien is to use one's own imagination from the words to create a unique visual image, rather than to replicate another image.

[Lalwendë]

To be fair, deviantart is used by a heck of a lot of young people, especially teens, to show off their work, and I remember spending a lot of time copying other images either outright or adapting them when I was learning to draw.

And then of course, there is slash art

[Bêthberry]

True enough. I remember when we saw the students copying the masterpieces at the Louvre--my kids were very small but they insisted they had to draw too. So my guidebook to the Louvre has their pencil sketches in it too, as I had no other paper.

But what really sparked my reply, and the mention of Viggo, was a picture I saw passed around on FB. It had exquisite technique but it was of a movie shot and it broke my heart that such talent was spent on a movie image rather than an original interpretation. It is true that we take our inspiration wherever we find it, and that everyone has the right of interpretation. Yet that does not mean we cannot also comment upon things. One does not cancel out the other.

[Rhod the Red]

My memory is strongest about treatment of the first two HP films that the critics were kindest then. However the transfer to film of the latter ones seemed to have irked many, as if Rowling made a mistake getting more serious and darker in the latter books. While I didn't see it as a mistake, because a storyline without flow feels plastic & artificial to me

I guess Rowling was correct that people wayyyy underestimate children's ability to absorb serious issues or events. As if they couldn't hack the latter books & they aren't forced to in their lives, which is rot. Children in Western societies don't life a perfect life in a bubble that can only be pierced by dark books & films; the literary critics perhaps ought to open their minds more.....ahem, lol.

[Lalwendë]

A very nice colleague of mine today crept over and said "Look what I've decided to give another go!" It was an old, but very unbattered copy of Lord of the Rings. A while back she had said to me that she absolutely could not stand the way Tolkien writes, she'd tried to read it and failed. But she went to watch The Hobbit over the Christmas break and now she's been inspired to give Tolkien another go.

I was quite pleased with this.