Of Tolkien, Hobbits and Myth

J.R.R. Tolkien has been back in the news somewhat. Apparently, Christopher Tolkien has edited a new set of writings to further honor (cash in on) his father's memory. Since J.R.R. Tolkien passed away back in 1973, he's published more posthumously than most authors have done during full lifetimes. Still, one must be grateful that this current book apparently won't be a rehash of Middle-Earth notes in the margin, doodles and scribbles. The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun will appeal to the hermit-like, stodgy linguist in all of us. Elizabeth Hand of the Washington Post sums it up as follows:

The two poems, "The Lay of the Volsungs" and "The Lay of Gudrun," are modern English treatments of legends drawn from the Old Norse Poetic Edda and the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, dating roughly from the 13th century. Readers might be familiar with these tales from casual readings in Norse myth or from Wagner's "Ring" Cycle, which drew on the same source material: There are magic rings, warrior maidens, dragons, doomed lovers, betrayals and much head-cleaving.

For some, this description sound terribly boring and stunningly exciting at the same time. As for those of us who have grown up with Tolkien, loved everything from Farmer Giles of Ham to the Lays of Beleriand, we'll probably end up getting it anyway. It will be one of those books that many will buy, few will read all the way through. Those who will read the book thoroughly will either be those genuinely interested in the scholarship of Nordic saga and the connection between Tolkien's creative impulse to produce his seminal Middle-Earth chronicles and the history of the English language as a whole, or this guy on the right.



Meanwhile, in the realm of anti-magic, scientists are still debating the nature of these smaller humanoids dubbed "hobbits", though judging by the image, they don't resemble the pudgy little Edwardian country squires from Tolkien's books. National Geographic goes in-depth with an article about the possible foot-speed of these little men whose remains were first found on the Indonesian island of Flores.

Apparently, they may have been poor runners with an odd gait. No word if these "hobbits" were chain-smoking alcoholics whose males were unusually intimate with each other.