/lit/ - Literature

Don't expect a Lord of the Rings sequel/prequel.

It's basically Tolkien's history of the creation of middle earth and some heroic epics.

I liked it very much.

Yeah, both, also Book of Lost Tales I and II. All very good but only interesting if you really if you really want to study the prehistory of Middle Earth.
When I get bored I masturbate.
When he got bored he created the history/metaphysics/religion/languages of an imagined world.
Kind of puts you in your place.

>>2233460
Read Silmarilion first. Unfinished tales are expanded parts of silmarilion that won't make sense unless you've read it first.

Very good read, at least 'till you start noticing the parallels with bible.

>Very good read, at least 'till you start noticing the parallels with bible.

oh for fuck's sake what's wrong with that

>>2233582
>'till you start noticing the parallels with bible.
oh, you mean like how the very first chapter is very explicitly a creation myth? like, with no subtext, it's all about god creating the fucking universe? how long did it take you to notice that 'parallel'?

>>>/reddit/

>>2233460
If you like mythology and you have the ability to imagine a fantasy world as real history or you maintained yorself your good childish phantasy you will enjoy it. But it's not well written in the sense of modern fantasy literature which aims for casual entertainment. Tolkien tried to invent a mythology for England (which doesn't have a proper one) and a world for his own created elvish language, not a exciting story for his readers. He created a world which should be as much believable as possible in every sense, so he developed details of politics, history, mythology, ancestors, symbols which would not have been necessary to make the lord of the rings work. But here they are. It's a matter of taste.

>>2233594
Derp. Coming from a place where bibles aren't really common and as I've read silmarilion before bible, yeah, it took me a few years.

>>2233582
Also consider the implicit reference to the Jews, eg, the Numenorian exodus of cBB3000 (Before Bilbo).
>>2233585
>oh for fuck's sake what's wrong with that
>Oh for fuck's sake, what's wrong with that?
That's what's wrong with your sentence, dumbfuck.

>>2233594
that's actually bullshit. I don't know whether Tolkien was christian, but he was interested in pre-christian european culture, e.g. the icelandic creation myths and that sort of things. Just the fact that the Maia and Valar exist alone proves that this religious myth was more polytheistic than christian. Also, Feanor is a elvish Prometheus, which was also greek myth figure, not christian. If the Silmarillion creation myth sounds christian to you, then just because the christian creation myth was intendedly pagan translated culture to make christianisation work.

>>2233606
He was a pretty devout Catholic actually.

>>2233607
Whatsoever, christian interpretation of literature is lame anyway.

>>2233606
>but he was interested in pre-christian european culture

It was more than an interest, it was basically his academic specialty.

Tolkien was a philologist who focused on Old English and Old Norse.

Silmarillion was boring as fuck. Though so was everything else I ever read by Tolkien and I was 14 when I read it, so...

>>2233630
Read it again, might be more fun this time.

>>2233600
i'll be honest too: i almost never pick up on any biblical shit that doesn't reference the MOST well-known bible stories amongst the general agnostic public (includes adam & eve, noah's ark, the exodus, maybe job -- nothing about cain & abel, tower of babel, abraham, jacob, whatver the fuck kings & judges are about...)

feels bad, man. i'm currently trying to read it, actually.

It's dry but rewarding.

i was having some trouble keeping track of all the shit

it went from beautiful prose and imagery to something akin to Gibbon

i was having some difficulty keeping track of all the names, even though i knew i should pass over them without thinking too much about it

maybe i'll give it another go sometime