So, thanks to Doug, Andrew, and Dimitra for reminding me about this year's Pembroke Tolkien Lecture. The speaker this year is Guy Gavriel Kay, who famously worked on Tolkien's manuscripts as the junior partner helping Christopher Tolkien put together THE SILMARILLION before launching his own career as a fantasy author (of fourteen novels so far). I wasn't able to watch the live online presentation, but fortunately it's available (at least for now) on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1TgX0alFuM
He talks some about Tolkien, but it's Dasent's Bones of the Ox he's interested in, not in revisiting his work on THE SILMARILLION. Recommended for admirers of Kay's fiction and for those who enjoy the insights gained from hearing a fantasy author talk about his or her work (in specific, discussing specific passages in specific books, and in general, about fantasy as a genre). Of particular note is his definition of 'magic realism' as a work of fantasy a critic liked.
I know hearing this draws my eye to the fantasy shelves, where the eleven books of his I have include three I've somehow never gotten around to reading, not to mention the three that have come out in recent years that I not only haven't read but don't have. Maybe it's time I gave his books a try again.
--John R.
current reading: MISTRESS MASHAM'S REPOSE (1947)
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