LOTR and your Weltanschauung - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Mithalwen · 09-21-2005, 01:16 PM

Gandalf's speech about Gollum completely and irrevocably changed my views on Capital Punishment.

It encouraged the "Tookish" side of my nature to win over the "Baggins" (although part of the responsibility for that was my aunt who said when my sister and cousins all married aged 21/22 that I would have to be the family traveller.....I will have to remind her of that the next time she suggests it is about time I settled

)

Bêthberry · 04-12-2008, 10:28 AM

Look -- a eucatastrophe! An unexpected party for the newer set to party on.

Fordim Hedgethistle · 04-12-2008, 08:24 PM

Thanks for excavating this thread Beebs.

I don't know about changing or effecting my view on life (or anything beyond) but given that I ended up writing my Master's thesis on Tolkien and that I'm now trying to retool my entire existence so that I can be a writer rather than an academic it would seem that having read the works and admired the writer has guided me in ways I never would have expected when I first encountered Middle-earth at the ripe age of 11.

Bêthberry · 04-13-2008, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

Thanks for excavating this thread Beebs.

I did it because of Mister Underhill's great sense of vocabulary. . . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Also it was a chance to use the word Weltanschauung, which I never pass up. Try it. It's fun. Weltanschauung.

. . . . and because we have more German-speaking Downers now than in the past and I wanted to see what sense they would make of a word which has sounded 'round the world. Really, no one has taken up my alternate suggestion of Sturm und Drang, which I continue to think has Tolkienesque potential.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

I don't know about changing or effecting my view on life (or anything beyond) but given that I ended up writing my Master's thesis on Tolkien and that I'm now trying to retool my entire existence so that I can be a writer rather than an academic it would seem that having read the works and admired the writer has guided me in ways I never would have expected when I first encountered Middle-earth at the ripe age of 11.

Now this raises an interesting question. Did you take up this ring-work, so to speak, voluntarily, or were you pre-destined to be the bearer of this guidance? Were you free to reject Tolkien's influence or not?

Fordim Hedgethistle · 04-13-2008, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Now this raises an interesting question. Did you take up this ring-work, so to speak, voluntarily, or were you pre-destined to be the bearer of this guidance? Were you free to reject Tolkien's influence or not?

Tra-la-la-la-laleee to you.

Mithalwen · 04-15-2008, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Look -- a eucatastrophe! An unexpected party for the newer set to party on.

Hmm... I had to look up eucatastrophe but knew Weltanschauung.... since I have degrees in literature but only a failed O level in German that has now affected my Weltanschauung .. :P

Bêthberry · 04-16-2008, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Hmm... I had to look up eucatastrophe but knew Weltanschauung.... since I have degrees in literature but only a failed O level in German that has now affected my Weltanschauung .. :P

I do hope you looked eucatastrophe up in the right source--Tolkien's OFS. He does that to us all the time, though, doesn't he, with his philological derivations and historical development of words.

Mithalwen · 04-21-2008, 03:01 PM

No Bethberry I didn't. That would be a slippery slope that might get to make an attempt on threads such as Canonicity...without the help of a sherpa... I looked it up on Wikipedia.

Nogrod · 04-21-2008, 03:42 PM

Okay... Katastrophe

Quote:

Originally Posted by The New Testament Greek lexicon

1. overthrow, destruction of cities
2. metaph. of the extinction of a spirit of consecration

Add then the prefix eu which means good.

Whatever Tolkien says...

Aiwendil · 04-21-2008, 04:16 PM

From the OED:

Quote:

a. Gr. katastrophe overturning, sudden turn, conclusion, f. kata-strephein to overturn, etc., f. kata down + strephein to turn.

1. ‘The change or revolution which produces the conclusion or final event of a dramatic piece’ (J.); the dénouement.

So neither the etymology nor the first definition requires the sudden turn to be for the worse (what Tolkien called "dyscatastrophe").

09-21-2005, 01:16 PM	#1
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Probably only in one or two specific ways.... Gandalf's speech about Gollum completely and irrevocably changed my views on Capital Punishment. It encouraged the "Tookish" side of my nature to win over the "Baggins" (although part of the responsibility for that was my aunt who said when my sister and cousins all married aged 21/22 that I would have to be the family traveller.....I will have to remind her of that the next time she suggests it is about time I settled ) __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace

04-12-2008, 10:28 AM	#2
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	Look -- a eucatastrophe! An unexpected party for the newer set to party on. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. Last edited by Bêthberry; 04-12-2008 at 08:32 PM.

04-12-2008, 08:24 PM	#3
Fordim Hedgethistle Gibbering Gibbet Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Beyond cloud nine Posts: 1,844	Old bones Thanks for excavating this thread Beebs. I don't know about changing or effecting my view on life (or anything beyond) but given that I ended up writing my Master's thesis on Tolkien and that I'm now trying to retool my entire existence so that I can be a writer rather than an academic it would seem that having read the works and admired the writer has guided me in ways I never would have expected when I first encountered Middle-earth at the ripe age of 11. __________________ Scribbling scrabbling.

04-21-2008, 03:01 PM	#8
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	No Bethberry I didn't. That would be a slippery slope that might get to make an attempt on threads such as Canonicity...without the help of a sherpa... I looked it up on Wikipedia. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace