Well that resolution didn’t last long. I told myself: no new books for a month. I come home with a new copy of Tolkien’s 'The Children of Húrin'.Despite having read 'The Lord of the Rings' a number of times, in addition to 'The Silmarillion' and a few of the volumes of 'The Unfinished Tales', I don’t consider myself a huge Tolkien fan. I also thought the films trampled on the books like a runaway Oiliphant through a tavern full of hobbits. Even three huge four hour blockbusters flattened the stories. I’d like to forget the films before returning to the books. It was details on the smaller scale that I always enjoyed about the books, in addition to which they never really did justice to Aragorn.
I always think of Strider as a version of that windswept Madeley we only get to see on walking tours of the moors.
3 comments:
I have avoided the films just for that reason, there's no way anyone could do the books justice. I am happy with my own visualization of the stories.
Tolkien hated plays because they pin ideas down in too concrete a form. He preferred that a reader interpret things - so when he writes 'there was a low hill', the reader imagines a composite of all the low hills he's ever seen, or one in particular. With a play, that isn't possible.
Imagine what he'd have made of films.
Strider as a version of that windswept Madeley
You know, that was precisely the vision which crossed my mind too. Could it be that I also am aristocracy?
Post a Comment