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/lit/ - Literature

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8628431 No.8628431 [Reply] [Original]

>repeatedly read TLotR as a teen
>immersed myself in the extended mythos with the Silmarillion, the Histories of Middle Earth, the Book of Lost Tales, etc
>could pick up anything related and start reading it happily
>particularly loved Turin Turambar and found his story haunting and beautiful
>can and did quote passages to myself as expressions of encouragement, sorrow, wonder etc throughout life
>internalized TLotR as my 'favorite' for years and years
>constantly consumed derivative media via the films, video games,
>haven't read any Tolkien in a long time
>can't bring myself to begin The Fellowship
>I know how it goes after all...
Anyone else know this feel...how do I un-ruin a series for myself? Can attenuation be undone? Am I undone? ;_;

>> No.8628456

>>8628431
Go back to it's sources. Read Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon literature and history

>> No.8628516

>>8628456
This is a nice route.

Fascinating reading the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer whilst having all that Tolkien in mind.

>> No.8628644

>>8628431
just move on. it's normal and healthy to grow out of teenage obsessions. what you're asking for is a return to childhood, which is not possible. just let it go and keep the fond memories.

the alternative is to join the legion of bitter old nerds that will forever consume [tolkien/star wars/star trek/...]-branded products in a hopeless pursuit of endlessly frustrated desire. you don't want to become one of those people.

>> No.8629007

>>8628431

Those are some nice tits man

>> No.8629100

>>8628431
don't read it, you won't like it as much as you did

>> No.8629109

>>8628644

this is a good response. Though you can always find new "childish" desires. You don't have to burn your comics and video games and start reading the weekly issue of "CCCPoetry: A Magazine for Experimental Postmodern Marxist Poetry, Focused on Race and Gender in Slavic Ex-Bloc States"

>> No.8629359

>>8628431

I was in the Imperial War Museum of Manchester today, and I saw a revolver on display that was used by Tolkien in WW1.

>> No.8629577

>>8629109
>he doesn't live alone in a apartment with only postmodern cinematique textbooks and ironic-impresionist sculptures on every shelf

Get off my board

>> No.8629962

Think about Lord of the Rings while asphyxiating yourself. Eventually you'll kill the cells in your brain related to those memories and you'll be able to re-experience it for the first time.

This is a controversial but effective method used by some mental health professionals for eliminating traumatic experiences from one's memory.

>> No.8629972

>>8629007
They're big huh

>> No.8629986
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8629986

>>8628431
Pic reminds me of my cousin.

>> No.8629998

>>8629962
The problem is that it will never be the same anymore.
What seems to be awesome when you're 11, isn't that wool when you're 25+.
Not that LotR is bad, but well, I doubt it will be as "fresh" since pretty much every fantasy author copied him.

The best post here is this one: >>8628644

Don't dwelve in the past, seek new experiences, cherish your memories, and live your life to the fullest.

>> No.8630031

>>8629986
she want sum fucc????

>> No.8630043
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8630043

>>8630031
If she did I would've given it to her by now

>> No.8630117

>>8629986
than you should fuck her

>> No.8630163

>>8628431
who is this semen demon

>> No.8630634
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8630634

Why are people saying that Tolkien is a teenage fantasy as if his writing is below other authors when the guy invented god damn languages before he started the hobbit and onwards. Just read the books op, they're really good I mean sitting there posting on lit asking if you should read it or not is pretty dumb when most people would already say how the fuck haven't you read them yet.

Even if you know the ending you don't know the journy and the amazing tales of frodo sandbags.

>> No.8630650

>>8628431
Find a kid relative and read it to him. You will love it all over again.

>> No.8630679

LotR is not good.

It is poorly written, wooden dialogue, two dimensional characters, muddled motivations, weak plot.

>> No.8630737
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8630737

>>8630679

>> No.8630777

>>8630634

This.

The whole story is so rich. The silmarilion has the epic shit but only in LotR is it brought to a human level with characters you can connect with. I cry eveytime.

>> No.8631249

>>8630634
>zero reading comprehension, completely misunderstands the OP
>advocates TLotR as serious and worthy of literary merit
really makes you think

>> No.8631275

>>8631249
>He doesn't appreciate the merits of the artificial mythology.

>> No.8631284

Can it be done again? Could someone write a story again with the same depth of lore, vastness of scale, and moral applicability?

Should someone write a fictional mythos for the Americas?

>> No.8631302

>>8628644

This is a solution for some people, sure. But there is another way...

Critical Analysis.

Do you want to simultaneously relive your former experience reading a favourite work from childhood while enjoying it in a new way?

Critical Analysis.

Open it up once more, and tear it apart every way imaginable. Read it from the viewpoint of a future human rediscovering 20th century literature. Read it and try to empathize with Sauron. Better yet, try to empathize with Saruman... It's a lot easier than you might think. Debase the motives of the protagonists and paint them as disillusioned villains. Read it from the view point of a black man. Go ahead.

Critical Analysis! Keep pushing in one direction, and find yourself being pulled into bizarre philosophies!

>> No.8631333

>>8631302
>Critical analysis
>Turn the moral upside down

OP, you should check out Corey Olsen he's a professor at washington state and runs a course on Tolkien studies that he uploads to the internet. He's fairly insightful and he really "gets" Tolkien.

>> No.8631399

>>8631333
I just listened to this lecture
>https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.podcast/TolkienProf/TolkienProf59.mp3
It seems extremely superficial and even takes things out of context to make its points. If that's what passes for insight I don't think I'm interested.

>> No.8631412

>>8631399
Well this is a conversation, not a lecture. Usually he prepares lectures to talk to students. Those are better. The inherant nature of conversation being participatory and awful to observe in third person.

>> No.8631416

>>8631412
Link one you found interesting?

>> No.8631438

>>8631416
I'm listening to the formal lectures, it's basically just summary. The most interesting thing is how often the students have no answer to his simple questions on just the plot.

>> No.8631444

>>8631438
Well it's an undergraduate course. You can't put too much faith in them.

>> No.8631476
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8631476

>>8631444
The sad thing is I know exactly what answers he's driving at, just what he is looking for them to say. I never went to college. American academia really is a fucking joke.

The lectures on his site really aren't much more than a hand holding read along, as if the plot wasn't digestible on its own. And frankly his delivery is off putting, it's extremely sterile, he says things like 'Bilbo's career', 'Elf hall of fame', and never rebukes stupid answers, there's simply not enough gravity or even sophistication appropriate for the works he's dealing with. Just goes to show college is nothing but an echo chamber for mediocrity.

>> No.8631488

>>8628456
I actually picked up a copy of Poetic Edda and a big old second hand volume of LOTR for this exact reason today.
Don't lose heart, OP.

>> No.8632075

>>8628431
>that laptop
T H I C C

>> No.8632123

Just read it as a new experience instead of trying to relive the old. The best books always reveal their layers with time.

>> No.8632156

>>8631438
Only two kinds of people answer a lecturer's questions during the lecture: mature age tryhards, and morons.