Posted on 03/19/2020 8:43:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Maybe it’s because of Amazon’s upcoming TV series, but lately we seem to be learning a lot of hitherto unknown facts about The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, or at least, some old facts are getting spread around anew. Just recently, author John M. Bowers posited that Tolkien may have written his genre-defining trilogy while procrastinating on his academic work. (Would that all our procrastinations were that fruitful.) Now, the @SecretsOfDune Twitter account has posted a page from Tolkien’s Library: An Annotated Checklist by Oronzo Chili, which seeks to understand this literary titan by perusing his bookshelf. And in going through Tolkien’s old letters, Chili gained some insight into Tolkien’s opinion on other genre-defining books of the day.
I’m talking about Frank Herbert’s Dune, a towering sci-fi classic that influenced everything from Alien to Blade Runner to Star Wars. What did Tolkien think of it? Read on:
So the pertinent quote comes form a letter Tolkien wrote to someone named John Bush in 1966, a year after Dune was published. Bush, for whatever reason, had sent Tolkien a copy of Dune, and the author wasn’t exactly bowled over:
It is impossible for an author still writing to be fair to another author working along the same lines. At least I find it so. In fact I dislike Dune with some intensity, and in that unfortunate case it is much the best and fairest to another author to keep silent and refuse to comment.
So Tolkien wasn’t a fan of Herbert’s heady space opera. I’d love to ask him why. Speaking as someone who’s read both works more than once, I definitely prefer the warmth and open emotionality of The Lord of the Rings to the chilly precision of Dune, but that’s just me.
Anyway, both of these franchises are about to come back to the fore in a big way, with Amazon’s LOTR series on the one hand and Denis Villeneuve’s new movie adaptation of Dune on the other. Whether you prefer sci-fi or fantasy, it’s a good time to be into genre.
Beg all you want— need some references? They are all at Oxford. C.S.Lewis was an atheist.
Mucho Clever!
The foundation trilogy would take at least 7 or 8 full length movies. Fabulous reading. Difficult to film.
Alright then, I’ll take Old Man’s War then. :)
vastly different books, both masterpieces.
but Herbert will teach you far more about nation-state political factionalism, the corrupt nature of politicians and all political parties, and human nature in general.
imo, it’s a far more useful-if less inspiring, book than LOTRs.
Herbert came up through newspaper writing and the American SF pulps and introduced ecological themes, drawing on science and social science, into his work.
So it's natural that Tolkien wouldn't have had much use for Herbert. Journalist, pulp writer, outer space, ecology, sociology, American: Herbert pushed all of the anger buttons someone of Tolkien's background would have.
Fantasy and science fiction can merge into each other, but some people want a clearer and more solid dividing line.
The Orange Catholic Bible?
Indeed. I cannot imagine anyone doing a better job than Cleese. Just perfection.
"The Most Reluctant Convert" by David Downing tells the story of Lewis' spiritual walk to the Christian Faith.
It was, indeed, Tolkein on Addison's Walk who sealed the deal.
Is that supposed to allude to the Douay-Rheims Bible?
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