In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. I hope Amazon does something amazing with Tolkien's world. But based on current politics and the generation of writers and 'entertainers' we have, I do not hold out much hope. For the last 10 years, far too much has been made of focusing on the need for diversity and gender politics. People are entitled to do as they please, I just wish modern entertainment wasn't so focused on cramming the ideology down our throats. Entertainment has long eroded cultural mores, but in my half-century I have never seen it so radically changed so fast.
Enough grousing, here's are some more pleasant thoughts.
I can still remember vividly when I discovered JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit. I was 11 or 12, standing in the fiction aisle at the local public library. It was quite by accident as I had never heard of Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion, Farmer Giles of Ham, Tom Bombadil, Bilbo or Sauron... I was just a kid who loved to read and was especially enamored with sci fi and fantasy. I wish now, 40 years later that I had understood what a culturally significant work that was (not in some part because 1st editions could be had for just a few dollars then) and how many lives it had and would go on to touch.
Looking back, I really miss the library as it stood. Thankfully, now the building has been repurposed as an events and art center and it's really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, the public library is now a droll box of a building with no character whatsoever and feels like any middle school library in America. No wood, no creepy stairs or rich, musty book smell.
I'll never forget finishing that first chapter and being excited to see what adventure Bilbo was going to get up to. In fact, when I finished the book, I couldn't wait to find the follow up. I was certainly disappointed to learn there was not Hobbit Pt 2 and even tried writing my own sequel. It wasn't very good and never got finished. However, I did reluctantly pick up The Fellowship of the Rings at a local used bookseller (remember those? Musty old strip mall buildings or sometimes someone's home where you could buy used books for a pittance? I miss those too, half price books isn't the same and they aren't half-price) and was disappointed that we had this IMITATOR Frodo... 'why couldn't we just have another Bilbo story?' I thought.. But, of course, as I read I came to love the superior storytelling and characterization in that book. I do believe, and I could be wrong, but I do think Boromir's death was the first time I cried that a character in a book died. It was make-believe after all... but everything that lead to that epic conclusion was just so wonderfully structured... even now, I regret his loss though I am glad that in that last moment, he had a chance for redemption. Peter Jackson did a decent job of portraying that series of events, with great emotional gravitas. But Tolkien did it better with a typewriter. That's always the rub, isn't it? The book is always better.
All this being said, with all of the rhetoric around the upcoming Amazon series, I thought I would dash out a quick sketch of Mr John Ronal Reul Tolkien as I watched and interview with him. He made several very interesting statements that I made note of:
"I did not use symbolism. I dislike allegory whenever I smell it. The dwarves remind one of the Jews, with their love of the material. If more of us valued food and good cheer over gold, the world would be a merrier place. Fantasy is escapist, and that is it's GLORY. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, do we not consider it his duty to try to escape? If we value the freedom of mind and should, if we are partisans of liberty then, it is our plain duty to escape and to take as many people with us as we can."
Indeed, Mr Tolkien, the road does go ever on and on, down from the door where it began. And those who do not read have not set one foot out the front door.
I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.