Barlimans Regular Lai found a lecture transcript comparing LOTR to Wagner’s opera cycle “Ring des Nibelungen”. The speaker was Dr. Bradley J. Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College and author of forthcoming study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s thought, to be published by ISI in 2003. “When the Swedish translation of The Lord of the Rings appeared in 1961, its author was appalled. Fluent in Swedish, J.R.R. Tolkien found no problems with the translation. Indeed, Tolkien often considered the various Scandinavian languages as better mediums for his Middle-earth stories than English, as the medieval Norse and Icelandic myths had strongly influenced them. His disgust, instead, came from…” [More]
Day: May 19, 2002
The Figwit site has moved to a bigger-bandwidth location. Here it is, Figwit Lives! They have some fresh news…a photo of Figwit’s father, who plays Elendil, for starters. [More]
I always love people that combine their passions creatively. Retelling LOTR in LEGO is one example. This fly-fishing guide to Middle-earth is another. The fishing journal is particularly delightful.
News from CherryC: New Line Cinema revealed it was in negotiations with British playwright Tom Stoppard to take the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman to the big screen. This is good news for lovers of seriously brilliant fantasy. Look’s like LOTR’s success has thrown that door wide open. [More]
[Omigod, I love this new server….posting news is such a BREEZE! *Muah*muah*muah* to all of you who set it up!!!]
There’s an article here on EmpireOnline that says that the playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard is in negotiations with New Line to write the screenplay for “His Dark Materials,” the fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman. This is great news for fantasy fans.
So, it seems that New Line is committing itself to intelligent fantasy – a genre that has barely existed up until now and least of all within the major movie production houses. Is the success of Peter Jackson’s version of The Lord of the Rings the reason for this sudden faith in the intelligence of fantasy-loving audiences? New Line is not alone in this – the Sci-fi channel engaged LOTR screenwriter Philippa Boyens to turn Ursula Le Guin’s first three “Earthsea” books into a screenplay.
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is a great story and in my opinion it’s destined to be a fantasy classic – well, you can read what I think about it in the Tehanu’s Note about it. It’s also a controversial book, and I’d be interested to see if the film-makers try to tone down some of the philosophy in it. Their interest in Tom Stoppard for the screenplay seems to suggest that they are not. Apart from his witty lighter works like the “Shakespeare in Love” screenplay or his famous riff on Hamlet, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” Stoppard has written a number of plays centring on tough ethical and philosophical issues, such as “Arcadia,” “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, and “Professional Foul.” These are plays about scientists, philosophers, and political dissidents. It’s hard to imagine Stoppard taking an intelligent book like Pullman’s and dumbing it down into mere eye-candy.
Here’s a biography of Tom Stoppard listing his major works.