Tuesday 5 March 2013

The Silmarillion - Love, Tears and Rambling.





Don't get me wrong - I love the Silmarillion. But what better way to show my appreciation than by making a (poorly crafted) video highlighting some of the things that mean other people might not love it as much as I do?

Feel free to leave comments! I'd love to get a discussion going here.

18 comments:

  1. I haven't read The Silmarillion, or at least not all the way yet. I read about 20 pages, got bored, forgot about it, and then by the time I thought I'd give it another try, it had to go back to the library. I agree with you about the prose... it must have been quite difficult to put together that book because no one but Tolkien would know exactly what he had in mind.

    "I have no idea how anyone's names are pronounced." - Like Froodo? *innocent smile*

    YOUR SHIRT. IS NEVILLE-COLORED!!! (Neville's the mascot of my blog... he's pink and purple and striped.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ehehehe, Froodo indeed.

      I'd recommend giving the Silm. another go if you could. I think age and maturity and generally more reading of "literary" books helped me get my head around the prose enough to enjoy it for what it was the second time. Then again, the first chapter (which I won't even try to spell, let alone pronounce) is very draggy - basically listing off all the Maiar and the creation of the world and blegh. It picks up once the creation of the races start. Enter one Feanor, and everything goes right up the chimney.

      As horrible as it sounds, I'd say skim the first few bits, just so you know who's who and what happened, and then get on some of the later chapters. They're where the good stuff is.

      Delete
    2. Yes, I'm planning to. It's just that my mom has banned me from getting any more books at the library until this academic competition I'm doing is over, because she doesn't want me to get distracted from studying with a book. :P

      Delete
    3. Possibly a wise move by your mother ;)

      Delete
  2. The one day I have videos to watch, my flash player doesn't work. Thank you, browser. I shall find another venue, my friend, for I don't want to miss this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Watching it now. I love the camera angle changes. "Death, war, and lumpy custard..."

    Tolkien was an enormous "milieu" writer, to use the MICE Quotient. His books are primarily concerned with milieu, or setting-- he describes the world, the characters, just about everything. It's so obvious, and if you're reading this book for the milieu, you'll have the same reaction that you and I did. If you're looking for the overarching plot line, you'll probably find bad allegorical fantasy, which is not what he wanted to write. (Just look at his comments about the Chronicles of Narnia. He didn't like allegories.) But if you read for milieu, you're set.

    Good talk. You're a very good impromptu speaker. I'm still laughing about the lumpy custard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Yes, as you said, Tolkien's a writer of scale - but I think people who've only read The Hobbit, and maybe even LotR, don't quite catch onto that until they read The Silmarillion. You have to admit it's a pretty big step up, but, just as you said, once you start reading it as that then you realise what a wonderful epic it is. Especially as the stories within it are, actually, just as well-crafted and exciting within that setting as they would be otherwise. It's just getting through the dense prose and into the milieu mindset that takes the doing.

      As for the lumpy custard - I probably feel more proud of that quote than I should be. Especially as I now have mental images of Maeglin cracking under the pressure of being threatened with a large bowl of lumpy custard to make him give up the location of Gondonlin xD

      Delete
    2. Dare: make one of the Dark Lady's titles the Lady of Lumpy Custard. It would be pretty far down the list.

      Delete
    3. Oh yes. I am totally doing this. I'm having a hard time keeping the titles i apply to her original already, so this is a great help!

      Delete
  4. What's the MICE Quotient, O Enlightened One?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi!
      First off, (and please don't kill me), I would like to say that you really don't seem like the person who wants to take over the world and kill Liam on his blog (or be his nurturing tutor of world domination, which ever banter you are the mood for). You seem too nice. Then again, I suppose that things aren't always what they seem.
      Second, what other books are on your bookshelf in the background? :)
      Third, I have not read the Silmarillion. Mostly because of the prose. It's written like a history text book, instead of a story. So... yeah. That's my input.
      ~Robyn Hoode

      Delete
    2. My previous comment-- it's for Charley. I accidently posted it as a reply to nevillegirl. Sorry!

      ~Robyn Hoode

      Delete
    3. Hello! And not a worry - I've done this more times than I'd like to admit too.

      As for murdering Liam, well, it's all part of the contract as nemeses. We're both quite nice people ususally . . . we're just the sort of nice people who enjoy dominating the world. Or aiming to, at least.

      And finally, RE the Silmarillion - yes, the prose is hard going. That said, once you get it into your mind that it essentially IS a history book, it gets easier. That, and the first couple of chapters are a bit dull. It's when everything kicks off post-Silmaril creation that things get really interesting.

      Delete
    4. My plans to take over the world are more subtle. I will do it by... Sleep Deprevation! My readers will stay up so late, but they have to find out how the book ends (I write good chapter cliff-hangers). Thus I will take over, because everyone will be a tired zombie and will not have the mental abiltiy to stop me! Mwahaha!!!
      ~Robyn Hoode
      P.S.-- I 'll get to The Silmarillion eventually... I'm reading a book called Less Miserable... And then I'd like to read Artemis Fowl, Redwall again, A Wrinkle in Time again, The Prisoner of Zenda... my reading list is not lacking. :)

      Delete
  5. Do *I* seem like the sort of person who wants to kill Liam on his blog, though? :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do I have to answer that question?
      (maybe... a bit...)

      ~RH

      Delete
    2. We're all very good at disguising our true intentions here ;)

      Delete