Tag Archives: J. R. R. Tolkien

Will Ships Be Sent to Puerto Rico?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 26, 2017

We need to send ships to Puerto Rico as we did to Haiti following the earthquake. I imagine them showing up as the unexpected ships in the “Lord of the Rings” siege of Gondor.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged hurricanes, Lord of the Rings, Puerto Rico, U.S. aid | Comments closed

Novels with Waterfalls and Secret Caves

By Robin Bates | Published: August 10, 2016

When I was growing up, the adventure books that I read influenced how I regarded and interacted with nature.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Tables Turned", caves, Lucy Fitch Perkins, Nature, Rob Roy, Scotch Twins, Sir Water Scott, Two Towers, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

The Road Goes Ever On and On

By Robin Bates | Published: July 20, 2016

Tolkien’s “The Road Goes Ever On and On” is a good poem for travelers returning home.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged adventures, journeying home, Lord of the Rings, traveling | Comments closed

How Trump Is Changing the Discourse

By Robin Bates | Published: May 12, 2016

Adam Gopnik of “New Yorker” and Andrew Sullivan of “New York” are very, very frightened by the rise of Trump. As they explain why, they quote Tom Stoppard, Sinclair Lewis, Mark Twain, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Plato.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, Fascism, GOP, Huckleberry Finn, It Can't Happen Here, Jumpers, Lord of the Rings, Mark Twain, politics, Presidential politics, protofascism, Sinclair Lewis, Tom Stoppard | Comments closed

If Trump Tweeted Classic Lit Reviews…

By Robin Bates | Published: March 17, 2016

Donald Trump has a very distinctive twitter style., one that would be great for classic book reviews. A BuzzFeed writer imagines how he might have reviewed “Hamlet,” “Tristram Shandy,” “Ulysses,” and other classics.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Albert Camus, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, Hamlet, James Joyce, Lawrence Sterne, Lord of the Rings, Stranger, Sun Also Rises, Tristram Shandy, Ulysses, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Ring Wraith Trump Wins in New Hampshire

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2016

Donald Trump, winner of the New Hampshire primary, has been promoting torture. I’ve been teaching “Lord of the Rings” recently and he reminds me of the temptation of the ring, which hollows one out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Donald Trump, Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings, torture, Waterboarding | Comments closed

British and American Fantasy Contrasted

By Robin Bates | Published: January 12, 2016

An “Atlantic” article argues that British fantasy is richer than American fantasy. I agree that they are different and that there are interesting reasons for those differences–but that American fantasy is vibrant as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, Edgar Allan Poe, fantasy, Kenneth Grahame, Lord of the Rings, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen King, wind in the willows | Comments closed

Criminal Case: Turkish Prez & Gollum

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2015

A character analysis of Gollum could determine whether a Turkish doctor goes to jail. This after he tweeted images of the Turkish president that resembled the film’s depiction of Gollum.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged censorship, Gollum, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, power corrupts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish president | Comments closed

How Fantasy Saves Our Souls

By Robin Bates | Published: April 13, 2015

Great fantasy can always be seen as oppositional, pushing against prevailing modes of thought and opening up portals into new human possibilities.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Age of Reason, Bacchae, Don Quixote, Enlightenment, Euripides, fantasy, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Miguel de Cervantes, Scientific Revolution, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tracks | Comments closed