Thursday, December 20, 2012

Good Story 049: The Hobbit



Julie and Scott lose track of time as they close out the second year of Good Story with The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Julie finds remarkable meaning in it, while Scott forgets the name of every actor he's ever seen. In glorious 48fps 3D! Good Story, Episode 49.

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7 comments:

  1. A good discussion as usual. Strangely I had never read any of Tolkien's books until I was in my 40s. Part of it was my early aversion to Fantasy in not being scientific and I thought it must have been overhyped. Now I am trying to make up for this mistake by reading the Hobbit and the LOTR series every year or so.

    I just got the audio version of The Hobbit when it was on sale the day the movie was released. I think I will wait for the movie to be released on Blu-Ray as it sounds like Peter Jackson decided to make The Lord of the Rings 4 instead of The Hobbit.

    I've listened to some of the Tolkien Professors podcasts and enjoy them. But I really like the lectures I have heard from Joseph Pearce on Tolkien as he really opens up the theological dimensions. While Tolkien's book are certainly not allegorical, they do have a deep theological dimension as Tolkien himself said they were "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work." I love the little details like the fellowship departing on March 25th and the ring being destroyed on Christmas. Pearce also has a new book which I want called "Bilbo's Journey: Discovering the Hidden Meaning in The Hobbit"

    As for Charles Williams he was not Catholic. He was actually at one point a Rosicrucian and involved to some extent with Aleister Crowley and later became a devout Anglican. I have a couple of his books in my current queue.

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    1. I'm going to look around for Pearce's Tolkien podcasts because I enjoyed the ones I heard from his Great Literature series. I was vaguely aware of his book but I actually enjoy hearing him more than reading him ... although maybe our library has it. I'm going to look.

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  2. Hey hey hey! I've been trying to leave a comment from my iPad but it doesn't seem to want to let me. I had to find my way back.

    Anywho, I think the idea of getting some podcasters together and drinking wine/coffee and just recording whatever comes out (or skipping recording it) sounds wonderful. I've been thinking of going to Dragon*Con, but that would be one of my reasons, and I know you guys more. So let's do this some day, some year, yeah?

    The other thing I think I wanted to say was that I think you both should see the movie. Ignore the negative reviews. I absolutely loved living in the world for three hours. I didn't care which parts weren't accurate, and yes I didn't care much for the extended battle scenes, but overall it was a truly great experience. Maybe you could do a podcast on it. :)

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    1. Yes, we need to set up something for the drinking and talking ... and perhaps reading to each other from the books we love (a la The Inklings).

      Some day I will see the movie, but ... I don't know. I've got Les Miserables in my head now and The Hobbit seems so far away. :-)

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    2. Reading from books we love is a fantastic idea for a podcast like that!

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    3. ... since I don't have a work in progress, a la Lewis and Tolkien et al. :-D

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  3. Jeff: Thanks for the tip on Pearce. I'm going to look him up. And please let me know what you think of Charles Williams' books. War in Heaven looks interesting to me.

    Jenny: That really would be great. We better get something set up! And I have seen the movie now. You are so right that living in that world is vibrant. I have trouble watching the movie without the book in mind, and I think that's where a lot of the negative reviews are coming from.

    Happy New Year!

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