Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

Hobbits against Spiders in the Playoffs

The Heat-Pacers NBA series is like Sam Gamgee fighting Shelob in “Lord of the Rings.”

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Kate’s Pregnancy: Return of the King

Fascination with Kate Middleton’s pregnancy may be tied in with the “return of the king” trope found in much British fiction.

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Fantasy, Because Reality Is Unsatisfactory

Fantasy is nothing in and of itself but takes its character in opposition to an unsatisfactory reality.

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Federer: Floating Butterfly, Stinging Bee

In the immortal words of Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee as he won his 7th Wimbledon title yesterday.

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Gazing into the Palantir in 2012

Tolkien warns us about gazing too deeply into the world’s darkness.

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Beware Gazing at the Palantir in 2010

John Noble as Denethor    A palantir, as readers of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings know, is a crystal ball into which one may gaze and see events occurring around the world.   Although a seeming marvel, it can warp those who gaze into it.  The palantir holds lessons for us on how we to […]

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Discussing Literature without Teachers

My son Toby    My son Toby, who is with us for two more days before he leaves for the University of California-Davis English Ph.D program, gave a lecture to the St. Mary’s College Tolkien society on Friday. I am the club’s advisor but it was first time I had attended a meeting for several […]

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I Was a Secret Holden Caulfield

I contrasted Lord of the Rings with J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye the other day.    It’s not a contrast that anyone other than I would make, and it’s all based on the fact that I loved the one and hated the other.  In my post today I explore my dislike of the Salinger […]

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Fantasy As a Roundabout Road to Truth

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn  I didn’t do entire justice in Monday’s post to the Tolkien essay of my son Toby. In correcting that here, I also open up a more complicated vision of fantasy in general, as well as Tolkien’s fantasy specifically. I was wondering if Tolkien had retreated into fantasy as a refuge from […]

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