On The Shelf – Big Books – The Lord Of The Rings – 10/14/2018

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land Of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL, ONE RING TO FIND THEM,

ONE RING TO BRING THEM ALL AND IN THE DARKNESS BIND THEM

In the Land of  Mordor where the Shadows lie”

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“In The End, The Shadow Is But A Passing Thing”

This is the Third in my Big Books series – introduced in this post:

http://booksofbrian.com/on-the-shelf-big-books-9-9-2018/

The purpose of the series is to “spotlight what, for me, are the biggest, most important books in my collection and why.”  My first two choices were historical and very U.S. focused:  “The Constitution Of The United States” and “Miracle At Philadelphia”.

I thought it best to move to something with a bit more universal appeal – both in terms of subject matter and in terms of geography – “The Lord Of The Rings (LoTR)”.  While this post is ostensibly about LoTR, I made the conscious decision to headline a picture of the author because LoTR, while certainly a BIG book – actually represents a culmination of the man’s life’s work.  I think you’ll see that as this post progresses.

This was a seminal reading experience for me.  It was my first foray into Fantasy.  It came early in life – the Middle School years if memory serves – and, to be completely honest, it set the bar for every other book I’ve read within the genre.  I honestly don’t know whether this represents a sad or a happy comment but no other work of speculative fiction has impacted me or stayed with me the way LoTR has in all my 57 years.  More than any other book, it launched me into a life centered on reading and books – a reverence for the written word and a life of speculation and imagination.  It’s occupied a central place in my mental landscape for over 45 years and it’s a work to which I often return.  For many years, this was a Christmas read for me and I went back to it as recently as 3 years ago.  For my age group, I don’t think I’m totally alone in all this.  I’ve always felt that LoTR occupied the same place with young readers of my generation that Harry Potter occupies with those of my childrens’.

I can also honestly say that over the course of 45 years – give or take – I’ve never read a finer work of fantasy and I’m willing to broaden that to the general category of fiction – thought not with the same level of certitude.  I’ve read so much fantasy in my life and so much of that reading has likely been a search for an author or a book or a series of books that could move me in the same way I was moved by Tolkein and LoTR.  I’ve yet to successfully complete that quest and I think I know why.  This wasn’t just a book or a story for Tolkein.  It represented decades of thought and academic labor.  He devoted a significant portion of his life not only to writing the books but to designing an alternate history and an alternate world with a level of granularity that no one since has ever attempted.  I see authors who have made valiant attempts – Jordan with his Wheel Of Time series and Martin with Game Of Thrones – but, in my opinion, no one has created a speculative weave as detailed and as substantial as that from which LoTR was born.  Given the pressures of daily life today and the demands placed on professional writers – I’m not sure that anyone ever will.  Tolkein was a University Professor – an Academician – a Philologist.  That was his vocation.  The work he did to produce LoTR was his avocation and his passion.

There are so many reasons this book impacted me the way it has and so many ways in which it’s helped to shape my approach to life.  It left me with a deep and abiding belief in heroes (both small h and capital H heroes).  Aragorn was likely my first and to this day still my archetypal literary hero.  In the back of my mind, as I’m reading other works of Fantasy, I suspect I’m constantly comparing the protagonists and the strengths they bring to their story to those of Aragorn.  It reinforced my belief in the necessity of living to stringent standards – right vs. wrong and good vs. evil.  It helped to reinforce my belief in service to a higher cause – something larger than just yourself.  Finally, it left me with a deep and abiding belief in the potential – the POTENTIAL – for a just and worthy outcome no matter how high the odds – tempered by the realization that any worthy outcome would almost always be accompanied by loss.  Those were all deeply personal and critical influences for someone entering his teen years and they’ve stayed with my throughout the arc of my life.

Will I ever find a work like this again?  Given my age and the time I have left, given the time we live in and attitudes that sometimes treat the types of principles I’ve counted out above as a bit old fashioned and unrealistic, I’m not hopeful.  I may be wrong but what I perceive to be a decline in High Fantasy tells me I may be right.  Almost all of the Fantasy I read these days – so much of it exceptionally well-written and impactful – falls into the Grim Dark category – far too gritty and ugly and bloody and painful to be uplifting in the way that LoTR has always been for me.  As much as I’ve enjoyed recent works like “Ravenmark” and “The Traitor God” or seminal Grim Dark like Cooks “The Black Company”, they have no potential to move me to a higher place – only to engage and entertain me with stories that focus too much time and effort on spotlighting the worst of us – not the best.

The good news – I always will have LoTR to go back to when I need it.  It occupies pride of place within my Library, as I feel it should in the library of anyone who purports to love Speculative Fiction or Fantasy.  It’s presence isn’t just confined to these three small volumes, however, I’ve spent years and a great deal of effort acquiring source material and related works.  Here’s a list of the books that occupy this section of my shelves – all in hardcover:

Two separate versions of LoTR:

• Three volume, boxed set of the Houghton Mifflin 2nd Edition
• Single volume, Houghton Mifflen 50th Anniversary edition

Three separate versions of “The Hobbit”:

• Green box, Houghton Mifflin edition
• Gold box, 50th Anniversary Houghton Mifflin edition
• Unboxed, 70th Anniversary Houghton Mifflin edition

Bilbo’s Last Song, Hutchinson Edition

Two volume Houghton Mifflin edition of “The History Of The Hobbit” by John D. Rateliff

Two separate versions of The Silmarillion, Houghton Mifflin 2nd edition

Unfinished Tales Of Numenor And Middle-Earth, Houghton Mifflin edition

Boxed, three volume The History Of Middle Earth, Harper Collins edition, encompassing:

• The Book Of Lost Tales, Volume 1
• The Book Of Lost Tales, Volume 2
• The Lays Of Beleriand
• The Shaping Of Middle Earth
• The Lost Road And Other Writings
• The Return Of The Shadow – The History Of LoTR, Volume 1
• The Treason Of Isengard – The History Of LoTR, Volume 2
• The War Of The Ring – The History Of LoTR, Volume 3
• Sauron Defeated – The History Of LoTR, Volume 4
• Morgoth’s Ring – The Later Silmarillion, Volume 1
• The War Of The Jewels – The Later Silmarillion, Volume 2
• The Peoples Of Middle Earth

Individually Published Houghton Mifflin editions of The History Of Middle Earth (Incomplete – I currently have Volumes 1 – 5 and 10 – 12 – still searching for quality copies of volumes 6 – 9)

Three Volumes, published separately by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, of Tales Of The Silmarillion

• Beren And Luthien
• The Children Of Hurin
• The Fall Of Gondolin

I also have the Houghton Mifflin Boxed edition of The Children Of Hurin

Finally, I’ve collected many of Tolkein’s remaining published work:

• “Tales From The Perilous Realm”
• 50th Anniversary Edition of “Farmer Giles Of Ham”
• “The Lay Of Aotrou And Itroun”
• “The Story Of Kullervo”
• “Beowulf”
• “The Legend Of Sigurd & Gudrun”
• “The Fall Of Arthur”

With the exception of “Farmer Giles Of Ham”, which was published by Houghton Mifflin, all published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Sorry for trying your patience with all of this.  I included the list for two reasons.  First, I’m proud of the collection and I’m all too human to resist the temptation to show it off.  Secondly, and more germane to the post, it illustrates just how deep, rich, thoroughly conceived and detailed the world of Middle Earth actually is.

If you’ve had the pleasure of reading LoTR, I’m happy for you.  If you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to give it a go.  This is where so much of what you read today – begins!

Best Wishes For A Wonderful Week.

Brian