Will reading this improve my life in any way other than preventing normies from gasping when I told them I haven't read it?
>>23317547It’s a strange book because I feel you can read it and get the normie version but if you then obsesss over European myth and Wagner and reread it you’ll get the real version
>>23317561But I'm already into Wagner.
I stopped reading at Bombadil
Tolkien is shit, your normie friends probably only saw the movie
Gandalf gives very good life advice in this book actually. >I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo."So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
You may be imbued with a hunger for Medieval Germanic literature, causing you to learn Old Norse, Old English and Middle High German It's a terrible idea imo
>>23317547It's worth it, there are very beautiful and sublime moments.
>>23317802Andy Serkis made the Bombadil chapters quite enjoyable
>>23317561The Iceberg layers of LOTR:>The fun, light-hearted fantasy adventure story about good defeating evil that every writer since has ripped off>The creation of an entire mythology, languages and all, by the greatest philologist the world has ever known>An environmentalist story about how industry and rationalism is destroying nature and beauty>The greatest celebration of European myths and culture ever, of all that is good and beautiful, blending and weaving them together into a unique tapestry of the Western spirit>A melancholic dirge for Western culture; a postapocalyptic story where all that was good and great has long been lost and all that is left are ruins and song>An expression of everything that he experieced in WWI
>>23317547It's one of the comfiest, manliest books ever written, but naturally, that means most people can't appreciate it.
>>23317547Have you read the Hobbit?That's worth a read at the very least, and you can tell from there whether you want to read the full LotR.Personally I think the Hobbit is really good but I wasn't that engaged when I read LotR.
>>23319493>manliestYou can't go 5 pages without someone crying or singing.
>>23317547As someone who almost always prefers the original novels to their live action adaptions...the movies were better.
>>23318562Well said desu. I always grasped the sorrow but revisiting it after living in a bunch of modern literature and history and the series is truly very melancholy. A very deep sadness only surpassed by Wagner really
>>23317802am i the only one who liked these?
>>23320252No.
>>23318562He emphatically denied the last point snd the point about environmentalism was very open about the fact that LoTR was a fairy tale inspired by European myth and folklore.
> whilst you ponder https://youtu.be/K69tbUo3vGs?si=ui_IsKpfZMPY0bwL
>>23320308>No you don't understand, this story of innocent men from not-England going to a dark and horrible place where nothing grows surrounded by constant fire and ash and death only to return home to an industrialized home had nothing to do with my experience in the war! Damn allegory!Sure thing pops. Tolkien also insisted that Middle Earth, with its creation myth and god and system of angels and entirely new, based on pagan lore, was actually Christian. He was a great writer, but not always the best at realizing what he had put into his work.
>>23320252I liked them
>>23317547if you skip the songs you didnt read the book
>>23319769See what I mean? Most people will never understand it.
>>23319769Yes? Are the men in the Iliad and Odyssey less manly now for crying too? This is a stupid Anglo-ism (“stiff upper lip”) that itself then became a stupid crude chauvinistic Americanism. You’d probably get your shit stuffed in by an Ancient Greek pederast constantly going to the gymnasium and wrestling, then after that he would listen to the village bard recite passages of the Iliad and Odysssy as manly tears rolled down his and the rest of the audience’s faces, whereupon he would further push in the shit of his boy-slave, and he would be manlier than you the whole while.I will legitimately come over there and snap your fucking neck and stick you into a toilet if you tell me “crying is unmanly.”
>>23320308Tolkien rejected allegory of the sort CS Lewis used in Narnia, ie heavy handed, obvious, crass. Not the presence of a deeper, to some extent allegorical meaning. You obviously shouldn't read the book as allegory, that's moronic, but it's definitely there, as with any sort of work, because it was written by a human.
>>23317547No other book I've read makes me feel like I've gone on a journey and actually traveled quite like LOTR. Whenever I'm reading it and thinking of something that happened earlier in the story I'm not thinking "oh yeah that happened on page blah blah blah" but rather "oh yeah that happened back in Bree." My mind feels as if it is out there making the journey with the fellowship, rather than reading about the fellowship making the journey. It's a lovely feeling.>>23320529>Tolkien also insisted that Middle Earth, with its creation myth and god and system of angels and entirely new, based on pagan lore, was actually Christian.If you can't see the Christianity in Tolkien's writing and the lore of Middle Earth then you neither understand Christianity nor understand just how thoroughly Abrahamic our perception of European paganism has become.
>>23317547It's a fun book, I had fun reading it. So yeah, it might improve your life.
>>23320759I can absolutely see the influence of Christianity on Tolkien's writing. I reject the notion that it is Christian and can slot into the reality described in the bible, which was his claim.
>>23320252I liked it, it was very absurd. In fact, it was kind of eerie to me, I didn't trust the situation.
>>23320252I like Bombadil, I don't like him saving the hobbits from the Barrow Wights. Saving them from the tree is one thing, but coming back to save them again just makes him feel overpowered. Yes, yes, I know we get that explanation that his power doesn't extend much further, but still. His power should be limited to the forest. Two monsters in a row getting beaten because Tom comes by just feels lame.
>>23317547I'm currently making my way through the single-volume edition right now (halfway through ROTK) and I don't think I've ever read something so beautiful.
>>23320275>>23320672>>23320799>>23320814i remember starting reading lord of the rings in the most difficult time in my life, and bombadil helped me, i dont know how to explain this, but i liked him.
>>23320742To say a book is inspired in some sense by the author’s experiences and to say it’s in any way allegorical are two entirely different things. In the case of Lord of the Rings the former is true and the latter is not.
>>23320878Certainly, anon.
>>23318562>>An expression of everything that he experieced in WWIexcept only one of his friends died instead of all of them
>>23321266>war is awful experience>i yearn for english countryside>if everyone was hobbits living rustic lives life would be good>advanced war technology is bad and corrupts no matter who wields it>monarchy is pretty neateternal brit
>>23320188can you Wagnerpill me? where do I start?
>>23321720You can find the librettos online, I’d recommend buying side by side with the German if you can find a physical copy. Ring cycle is currently in print from penguin classic with a mediocre translation next to the German. I’d start in order though. Dutchman Tannhauser Ring and end with Parsifal. He’s the goat of all time desu
>>23321720Also I recommend starting to listen with Herbert Von Karajans versions. You can do Furtwangler next but Karajans recordings from the late 70s to 80s are very very good. Some don’t like his late 70s Parsifal bc the Parsifal actor was sick but I think it’s quality is still up there
>>23321883Do I read the librettos before watching the opera? Do I go in blind and refer to the text when I need context? What's the best way to experience this, as a total noob?
>>23320308>>23321266>More unbearable they became, not less, at each new cry. At length even the stout-hearted would fling themselves to the ground as the hidden menace passed over them, or they would stand, letting their weapons fall from nerveless hands while into their minds a blackness came, and they thought no more of war; but only of hiding and of crawling, and of death.
>>23322008It depends. Anon will probably tell you to read the librettos first, but my own recommendation would be to listen to the overtures and preludes first then jump in from there. They give you a much better sense of what you'll be experiencing, in my opinion. Regardless, if you do decide to watch/listen to a full opera then you'll want to either watch one with subtitles or follow along with the libretto, which is easier than it sounds.
elephant anon here, a good time to always share my ridiculously fine 1957 1st
>>23322130
>>23322130>>23322134I'm happy with my edition, but I do admit, I am a little jelly.
>>23320734Never read about Conan crying. He just gets angrier. The whole point of Lord of the Rings is a Christian allegory about not letting suffering corrupt you, because if it does, you will reach for power (the ring) and then evil will take you over. So you cry and sing all the fucking time.
>>2331754790% of normies don't read, let alone LOTR specificaly. If anything, they'll at you having read it. Anyways, yes it can improve your life. Read it and stop asking for our opinion, faggot
