A hundredth re-read of the LotR - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Nogrod · 09-15-2008, 06:17 PM

A bit lighter opening to chew...

Has anyone of you noticed this little curiosity?

The part 1 ends talking about the hobbits delighting themselves in things that were accurate (the family trees and all their niceties); "set fair and square" - giving the air of hobbits being nearing precisionists in things relating to their history and organisation. Now the whole account of the Prologue is just about the ordering of the hobbit-kin and telling their history and the organisation of their Shire - which they were especially keen to have "fair and square".

And what happens after that in the book ?

Chapter 2 of the Prologue is 1+ pages of detour into the separate history of the pipeweed coming totally out of the blue... only to come back to the path of telling the story of the hobbits in an ordered fashion in chapter 3 "Of the Ordering of the Shire"!

Surely this was not unintentional by Tolkien?

So was it just a joke - something he had a good laugh with? And if yes, to what kind of laughter does it point at? Was he just laughing with sympathy, Gandalf-like, to the funny little hobbits he loved so much (Frodo / Sam / Merry wishing to make a separate entry on that issue just for the importance of the subject matter) or was it a more literary / structural joke referring to Tolkien's almost obsessive relation to the "Short cuts" and "unintentional bypaths" that finally settles the fortunes of the world in his view? In circles not unknown to Tolkien called providence.

Or was it just about the importance of the weed to Tolkien himself? The professor smoked pipe, didn't he?

09-15-2008, 06:17 PM	#11
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	A bit lighter opening to chew... Has anyone of you noticed this little curiosity? The part 1 ends talking about the hobbits delighting themselves in things that were accurate (the family trees and all their niceties); "set fair and square" - giving the air of hobbits being nearing precisionists in things relating to their history and organisation. Now the whole account of the Prologue is just about the ordering of the hobbit-kin and telling their history and the organisation of their Shire - which they were especially keen to have "fair and square". And what happens after that in the book ? Chapter 2 of the Prologue is 1+ pages of detour into the separate history of the pipeweed coming totally out of the blue... only to come back to the path of telling the story of the hobbits in an ordered fashion in chapter 3 "Of the Ordering of the Shire"! Surely this was not unintentional by Tolkien? So was it just a joke - something he had a good laugh with? And if yes, to what kind of laughter does it point at? Was he just laughing with sympathy, Gandalf-like, to the funny little hobbits he loved so much (Frodo / Sam / Merry wishing to make a separate entry on that issue just for the importance of the subject matter) or was it a more literary / structural joke referring to Tolkien's almost obsessive relation to the "Short cuts" and "unintentional bypaths" that finally settles the fortunes of the world in his view? In circles not unknown to Tolkien called providence. Or was it just about the importance of the weed to Tolkien himself? The professor smoked pipe, didn't he? __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet... Last edited by Nogrod; 09-15-2008 at 06:41 PM.