Why did Bloomsbury U.K. eventually decide to offer “Harry Potter” books in disguised covers? Because people were ashamed to be seen reading about witches and wizards on the train. Fantasy had been made into a guilty pleasure, like pornography. It was immature, juvenile, escapist. As for all those Tolkien fans who liked to dress up as elves and orcs, the only explanation, spluttered Edmund Wilson in 1956, was that “Certain people . . . have a lifelong appetite for juvenile trash.” This, Michael Saler remarks, “from a man who liked to be called ‘Bunny.’ ”
In “As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality,” a historical and cultural study of fiction fandom, Mr. Saler counterpunches vigorously against the whole edifice of literary snobbery. What he has to say is so self-evidently right that the fact he has to say it makes one wonder how the critical profession has managed, for so long, to cultivate such a large blind spot. His book should be essential reading in every graduate school of the humanities. But it’s much more fun than that recommendation suggests. More..
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Elpidha sends along these scans from the December issue of Studio Cine Live, out on newsstands today! (in French markets). Elpidha writes: The French magazine Studio Cine Live, December 2011 issue, has a beautiful spread about the upcoming Hobbit films. I’m not sure if any of the information or images are new, but there are some quotes from the actors that might be. Continue reading “Studio Cine Live Goes Hobbit Happy”
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Author Anna Thayer sent along this press release about her new book ‘The Traitor’s Heir: Volume One of The Knight of Eldaran’ (ISBN: 9781849630894). Take a look!
In an epic tale, the young Eamon Goodman goes on a journey of discovery. A journey which sees him taking a pivotal role in the battle between the rival forces of the king and the master, and from being a young soldier in his home of Edesfield to being a fast-rising hero in the city of Dunthruik.
Add this item to your Amazon.com wishlist here! Continue reading “New Book: The Traitor’s Heir”
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Parker and Hart’s ‘Wizard of Id’ has gone geek again with a Gandalf/Balrog reference. Another little post-Christmas present!
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For as long as most of us can remember, licensed comics haven been a part of the comic book industry. From the original Star Wars to TRON: Legacy to the bizarre upcoming Prelude to Marvel’s Avengers – a licensed prequel to a comic book adaptation super-movie – these kind of things are standard fare for building a franchise and covering all of the bases. But one franchise in particular – one set to make a huge return in the coming year – has been notably absent from comic books altogether: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth saga of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. More..
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At Oxford in the nineteen-forties, Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was generally considered the most boring lecturer around, teaching the most boring subject known to man, Anglo-Saxon philology and literature, in the most boring way imaginable. “Incoherent and often inaudible” was Kingsley Amis’s verdict on his teacher. Tolkien, he reported, would write long lists of words on the blackboard, obscuring them with his body as he droned on, then would absent-mindedly erase them without turning around. “I can just about stand learning the filthy lingo it’s written in,” Philip Larkin, another Tolkien student, complained about the old man’s lectures on “Beowulf.” “What gets me down is being expected to admire the bloody stuff.” More..
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