Clark Ashton Smith and Middle-earth

So, recently Doug Anderson's TOLKIEN AND FANTASY blog  had an interesting piece up that explored the question of whether Clark Ashton Smith, the best writer of Lovecraft's WEIRD TALES circle, ever read Tolkien.*

Certainly the timing makes this possible, since THE LORD OF THE RINGS was published in 1954 to 1956 and Smith died in 1961. And now Doug has dug up an interview from 2005 in which a friend of Smith's affirms that Smith did indeed read at least some Tolkien (THE HOBBIT and part of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING). The problem is that the witness (now deceased) may be conflating his own opinions with Smith's.

So, an interesting bit of evidence we shd be glad to have, so long as we treat it with due caution. Here's the post:

http://tolkienandfantasy.blogspot.com/2020/02/did-clark-ashton-smith-read-tolkien.html


Reading this makes me think now is a good time to read Dale Nelson's piece on the Lovecraft circle and the Inklings, which I had mislaid but recently rediscovered my copy of last week. It being a topic I've long been interested in but have never turned up much information about, there'll probably be another blog post here once I've had time to give DN's piece the careful reading it deserves.

--John R

---current reading: THE GRAPES OF WRATH and THE MEMOIRS OF SOLAR PONS


*At one time I tried to find out whether Fletcher Pratt (d.1956), Lord Dunsany (d.1957), or James Branch Cabell (d.1958) ever read Tolkien and came up with mixed results: almost certainly not in the case of Pratt, unknown but I think not for Dunsany, and possible but very unlikely in the case of Cabell (despite Edmund Wilson's attempts to interest him in the book).

Tolkien and Fr Murray

So, the newest of new arrivals here are a copy each of the only two volumes of TOLKIEN STUDIES I'd lacked, Volume XIV (2017) and Volume XVI (2019). I'd somehow wound up with two copies of Volume XV (2018) instead, and similarly failed to pick up the newest issue, Volume XVI, when it came out. Now I once again have a full set among my working library of books by and about JRRT and major journals devoted to his work.

As is usually the case when a new Tolkien/Inklings themed journal arrives, there's one piece in these that particularly caught my eye: in this case, Richard West's Note on Fr. Rbt Murray. While brief I think this is a major contribution on a major point in Tolkien criticism: to what degree is LotR a 'Catholic' book and Tolkien a 'Catholic' writer? Tolkien's 1953 letter to Rbt Murray (later Fr. Rbt) contains the oft-cited line

The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious 

and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first,

 but consciously in the revision (LETTERS .172)

This is often taken to mean that, however much he denied it elsewhere,* Tolkien intended his work to be read as allegory, not just Christian but explicitly Roman Catholic. It's a revelation, then, to find that the person to whom Tolkien wrote this passage didn't agree with that interpretation at all.

The main substance of this Note is Richard's reproduction of a letter Murray wrote in 1980 in answer to a query from Michael A Witt. In it Murray gives his evaluation on this point:

Tolkien was a very complex and depressed man 

and my own opinion of his imaginative creation 

is that it projects his very depressed view of the 

universe at least as much as it reflects his Catholic faith

. . . I don't think I would care to say more than that

on one level the values underlying Tolkien's imaginative

works are Catholic in a rather mediaeval form. But

I would subsume all theological evaluation under a

literary appreciation of them as works of imagination

inspired by ancient and mediaeval literature . . . 

There is a case to be made about Tolkien the Catholic,

but I simply could not support an interpretation which

made this the key to everything

("A Letter from Father Murray", ed. Richard C. West, TOLKIEN STUDIES XVI.135-136)

 As Richard points out,  '. . . it is of special interest that the person to whom Tolkien wrote that The Lord of the Rings was "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work" himself took that in a very nuanced and cautioned against reading too much into this statement' (ibid. 137)

All in all, I'd call this an important contribution to Tolkien studies (and to TOLKIEN STUDIES).

--John R.
--current reading: THE GRAPES OF WRATH (reminds me of CITIZEN KANE), MR. FAIRLIE'S FINAL JOURNEY (August Derleth pastiche)


*e.g. in the Prologue to THE LORD OF THE RINGS itself (Foreword 10-11)

Marquette, deferred

So, today I wd have started my next two-week research session working with the manuscripts at Marquette. Unfortunately, as with so many things these days, my plans came up against the measures being put in place by universities to protect students, faculty, and staff. In this case, the requirement put in place the day before I was to fly out wd have meant that, coming as I do from a state with confirmed cases of The Virus, I wd need to self-quarantine myself for fourteen days once I arrived. Which wd have eaten up so much of a seventeen day trip that it seemed better to cancel and reschedule when things have reset to normal, whenever that may be, and whatever the new definition of normal.

The good news is that this means I have more time to work on the Kalamazoo piece* -- although at this point it's uncertain whether the Medieval Congress in May will proceed as planned or be conducted remotely or deferred for a year.

As for the big Egypt trip, this definitely won't be going forward as planned, though there are hopeful signs that it has a good chance of being delayed (possibly by as much as a year) but not cancelled.

And the best news at all is that not only are we both well so far but so are friends and family, both here in Washington state and afar (Arkansas, Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Sapporo, England). Since I fit into two of the three at-risk groups I'm staying in as much as possible and catching up on a lot of my reading. I can already tell I'm going to miss my once or twice a week visits to Starbucks, which I use when I need a change of pace. But that's a small price to pay if it reduces my chance of getting sick.

And now, back to work.

--John R.

current reading; the latest in Martha Wells' MURDERBOT series


*"Valinor in America: Faerian Drama and the Disenchantment of Middle-earth"

The Fantasy Directory

So, the latest item of interest to emerge from the sea of papers is THE FANTASY DIRECTORY II. This must have been Taum Santoski's copy, since I was never plugged in to the fan network represented by this fantasy-themed apa.*

Looking through it now, it's a fascinating relic of fantasy fandom as it was in circa 1978. The first part, compiled by Paul Ritz, is literally a directory, listing the names, addresses, and interests of individual fans. Some of these are still with us and still active, like David Bratman (guest of honor at this year's MythCon) and Gary Hunnewell. Some have passed away, like Taum Santoski (who provided the cover art).

The DIRECTORY does not only list individual fans but also, casting their nets wide, organizations devoted to writers like Wm Morris, Lewis Carroll, Baum's Oz books, and Dorothy L. Sayers.  Both The Tolkien Society and The Mythopoeic Society are still flourishing,**  others have long since faded away, like the much lamented Fantasy Association.

All in all, a pleasant if slightly bittersweet amble down memory lane.

--John R.
--current reading: THE RAVENMASTER by Christopher Skaife (just finished)


*I in fact discovered the contact information for and got in touch with some of these organizations thanks to Grotta-Kurska's book, which I'm grateful to for that, whatever its shortcomings as a biography.

**unlike their Tolkienian cousins the Sydney University Tolkien Society and the American Tolkien Society (ATS)

The Nile

So, this week we went and picked up our tickets for the big trip.





Here's a picture of our ship, the S. S. Tosca. Basically we're thinking of it as a hotel that moves from place to place, so we don't have to deal with the hassle of checking in and checking out each day. Plus it shd prove handy in case we need some down time.





It's still a while off, but this is really starting to feel real.

Back when we got to go to Hawaii in 2006 my three want-to-see goals were sea turtles, a volcano, and petroglyphs, all of which were more than satisfied, and of course much else besides.

For Egypt, it's the Pyramids, Sphinx, and some temples.

Really looking forward to it.


--John R.



FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS (March 8th)
The Washington Post now reports a quarantine on a cruise ship on the Nile. Not our ship and not our tour company, but clearly something we'll have to keep a close eye on.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/on-the-nile-american-tourists-among-those-quarantined-on-ship-hit-by-coronavirus/2020/03/07/51b0f29a-60a1-11ea-ac50-18701e14e06d_story.html


Thanks to Shelly for sharing the link.
--JDR

One Hundred Boxes

So, I think I passed a milestone sometime this week. I did a rough count of the boxes that remain to be sorted down in the Box Room, and came up with a result of one hundred boxes. That figure may be off a bit one way or the other, but at least it gives an idea of where things stand: I've made real progress. There's still a long way to go, but I think it may now have something of the feel of a countdown.

My goal, by the way, is twofold: to get the clutter under control and to have the material be accessible. It'll also take up much less space after the sort-out.

I do have a private list in my head of a few specific items that I consider rewards, like the old reel-to-reel tape of his songs my father left behind.* It'll be a happy day when each of these emerges from its matrix back into the light of day.


--John R.
--current reading: RAVENMASTER (not a fantasy novel, as you might guess from the title, but an account by the man who takes care of the Ravens at the Tower of London.

*I do have a cassette copy I made of this in 1978, but it's become increasingly age-distorted over the years.

Elizabeth Warren

So, my first-choice candidate for the Democratic nomination has dropped out. I'll be sorry she won't get to make history by being the first woman elected president, which I think wd have been the probable outcome had she gone up against Trump in the fall. I console myself that she'll still be carrying on her good work in the Senate.

Luckily my second choice (Mr Sanders) is still in the running, and the election here in Washington state is this coming Tuesday. Here's hoping for a good turnout.

--John R.