Names and Numbers

 So, Janice asked me a question I cdn't answer. In TotR Orcs occasionally refer to other orcs as having identification numbers. She asks: Who keeps track of the enormous bureaucracy this wd generate?

I'm rereading The Lord Of The Rings for the first time in years and I have questions! John is absolutely no help.

In Book 6 Chapter 2 during a dust-up a soldier orc threatens to report a tracker orc. The tracker demands to know to whom he'll be reported and the soldier responds, "I'll give your name and number to the Nazgûl." What is this number? Who assigns it? What is it used for? Is there a Mordor Department of Orc Relations? Is there a separate Mordor Department of Human Relations for the easterlings? Do they share office space? I have so many questions.

There's a hint sharing something of the same attitude in Tolkien's anger in his comments to the Zimmerman script at the rooms in the inn at Bree having been assigned room numbers. 

--John R.

More on the Anderson Design Group's calendar

So,  a little more judicious poking showed a listing of retro-style posters. Here's the listing:

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/literary-classics?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACw_eEcg_BJukFk-tbLc4CXCZcrLD&gclid=CjwKCAjw5qC2BhB8EiwAvqa41uRbXvmTCznc0BEEeDT-BXiY7DJ6b_23tIu3YSnJVL0MXsGziIRgrxoC2r8QAvD_BwE

Of this fuller list, I've read thirty-six of forty.

--John R.

 

update

So, thanks to Paul W. for pointing this out: there was indeed a link that got left out to my recent post re. the odd assortment of folks who identify with Tolkien.

The Boston Globe website proved surprisingly difficult to navigate, but let's try that again.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/02/opinion/essay-lord-of-the-rings/?utm_campaign=Opinion_Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawE3Hl1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfHXK2w5GiAl0KgiWqJycUjoF8LJrqGc62XkhBfzLrfZ7v_Ft3xKTDzYLg_aem_0AEGWW7-rizoryagH8fuTw

--John R.  

This year's calendar: 'Literary Classics'

 So, my office calendar this year (in a break with tradition, replacing the Mayan) is an oversized wall calendar called 'Literary Classics', with Art by 'Anderson Design Group', whom I've never heard of. But I like the art, which seems deliberately evocative of the WPA poster art of the 1920s and 30s. 

Just as interesting as the style are the choices of the Literary Classics chosen.  

January: 20,000 Leagues

February: Peter Rabbit

March: The Call of Cthulhu

April: The Count of Monte Cristo

May: The Secret Garden

June: Treasure Island

July: Hamlet

August: The Island of Dr. Moreau

September: Moby Dick

October: Sleepy Hollow

November: The Little Mermaid

December: The Time Machine

An eclectic group. Some quite short (the Potter, Irving, Andersen, Wells), others quite lengthy (Dumas, Melville).  I suspect I'm not the only one who, when confronted by such a grouping of display, such as frequently appear in the local Barnes & Noble,  pauses a minute to work out how many of them I've read. So I'll go ahead and confess I've never read The Secret Garden or Count of Monte Christo. And while I'm at it, I'll share that my favorite among the art pieces here are the dramatic view of the last moments of the Pequod and crew; the Verne; and The Time Machine.

The most interesting thing about this selection is that it includes Lovecraft, who continues his ascent out of the pulp dungeon towards canonization --which wd I think have astonished Lovecraft and his pulp peers.

No Tolkien, but then he's in copyright.

For those who want to see more of these posters, see 

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/literary-classics?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACw_eEcg_BJukFk-tbLc4CXCZcrLD&gclid=CjwKCAjw5qC2BhB8EiwAvqa41uRbXvmTCznc0BEEeDT-BXiY7DJ6b_23tIu3YSnJVL0MXsGziIRgrxoC2r8QAvD_BwE

or 

https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/search?

or just ADG.com

--John R.

Calendar

So, I like calendars. 

For years now I've gotten several every year: 

--each year's new Tolkien calendar (sometimes multiple different Tolkien calendars in the same year), which I hang up in my office

--a Mayan calendar (beautiful artwork and archeology), which I hang just under the Tolkien one

--the Moon calendar (combining in a postersized grid a calendar, the entire phases of the moon for one year, and a little image of the moon as it appears on that day); this hangs in the stairwell in the hallway next to the cat-stand

-- a half-sized calendar, about the size of a trade paperback book, for carrying in my satchel. The topic for this one can vary widely.  This wide range of topics applies also to the downstairs calendar hanging by the phone; these two are the ones we write on to keep track of the schedule. The current ones are whimsical Lear birds and drawings of fruits and berries, respectively

--and a miniature calendar the size of a credit card (good in previous years for scheduling; nowadays the print size is too small for aging eyes).

As for this year's calendar, 'Literary Classics', see next post.

--John R.

current reading: THE SHADOWS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD by Th. Ligotti

My Favorite Twain Quote

So, here's a picture of me sharing a bench with one of my favorite writers, taken during our recent visit to Fairhaven.*

"And then, to add insult to injury, they threw me over the Falls, and I got wet."
 

--Mark Twain, A Day at Niagara

*photo courtesy Janice C

Mr. Taphouse

So, here's a sample entry in Philip Pullman's intriguing little book THE IMAGINATION CHAMBER I wanted to share. I've broken up the lines to make for easier reading. --JDR

 

 

   Mr Taphouse said one day as he ran his hand 

over a freshly-planed length of oak:

"Feel that, boy, feel how old that is," Malcolm tried,

 but all he could actually feel was the glassy smoothness

 of the bare surface. 

 

 So he imagined it: acorn, sapling, mature tree, 

a mighty canopy in the summer and a gaunt skeleton

 in winter. From then on whenever Malcolm had 

a piece of oak in his hands, or walnut, or even 

simple honest pine, he liked to think of the tree it had been. 

 

He liked to feel the immense age of it, visible 

in the growth rings, and the past of it, and the 

future too, as he thought of the acorns and walnuts

 and pine cones. He imagined it. He pretended 

he could see it. 

 

From somewhere he remembered the expression 

"the mind's eye". He imagined it, and thus he came

to see it, every time, until it became second nature . . . 

 

 

—The Imagination Chamber. Philip Pullman (2022). page 21

 

 

--John R.