The Lord of the Rings is a book of undeniable quality, arguably one of the greatest books ever written and in recent years winner of the incredible accolade of ‘greatest book of the 20th century’. In comparison, The Hobbit has often been criticised for being a more childish and simplistic tale, some say fairly, some say not. This weekend, the Hall of Fire discusses whether The Hobbit is a worthy precursor to The Lord of the Rings.
Some claim that The Hobbit should not be judged in comparison to The Lord of the Rings but a singular piece of work in its own right. Originally, The Hobbit was conceived by J.R.R Tolkien as a story to tell his children at bedtime, and from that evolved into the story of an unintentional hero called Bilbo Baggins. The Hobbit is a different literary genre to The Lord of the Rings, written with no thought or intention on having a successor. Is it not unfair to view it as otherwise?
However, there are a number of people who hold a contrasting view to the above. The fact that The Hobbit was written as a children’s tale is irrelevant: as the predecessor to The Lord of the Rings it is highly unsatisfactory, a mediocre piece of writing, unworthy of being spoken in the same breath as The Lord of the Rings.
But which view do you share? The believe that The Hobbit is a more simplistic and idealistic tale that shares the innocent view of Bilbo Baggins as he steps out into the big, wild world? Or is it a piece of literature that pales in comparison to The Lord of the Rings, and falls short of its high standard. Whichever view you share, join us this weekend for what should be a fantastic debate!
Place:
Sep 7 & 8 – TTT Book 4, Chap 1 – The Taming of Smeagol
Sep 14 & 15 – TTT Book 4, Chap 2 – The Passage of the Marshes
Sep 21 & 22 – Hero & the Heroic in LoTR
Sep 28 & 29 – TTT Book 4, Chap 3 – The Black Gate is closed
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .
Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.
