9 Comments

I am glad that Marquette is celebrating the Tolkien writings. They had such an impact on several generations of readers that they deserve to be remembered. I am not sure that recent generations are nearly so interested, but they certainly are an important part of our cultural history.

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The video of the curator includes him saying that people all over the world make a pilgrimage to the collection--especially from the Netherlands.

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Does the curator know why the collection is so popular in the Netherlands?

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He said there were many groups devoted to Tolkien studies.

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It should be said the way his manuscript was screwed around with to suit someone's arcane version of how it should be put together is a 'travesty' of modern literature. JRR would flip his wig if he knew.

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I think about this, too.

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The first version I read was published in the '60s, the latest just a few years ago. The result? The 'modern' version reads more like the thin soup Readers Digest specialized in serving.

I'm further reminded how I was childishly counseled as an author and speaker to write and speak for a grade six level of comprehension. I refused.

"You'll not sell many books that way."

"Oh," said I, "and I thought this was about telling stories, not keeping people dumb."

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I may be the only American of by my generation neither to have read nor been interested in Tolkien’s works.

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I studied at Marquette and Marquette libraries have a focus on Catholic authors. I think it so arcane that the orinigal ms. are in Milwaukee.

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