I'd actually be interested to know about a lot of that. Having suffered through a ton of film analysis classes I can safely say I'm well aware of all the BS conclusions "academic" people come to regarding particular works. It's like the game of telephone... someone takes a guess at what some artist meant then passes it on, the next guy writes it down, the next one reads it, the one after that teaches it, so on and so forth, until we totally lose sight of the creator's original vision. I swear if some of my film professors taught Tolkien, we'd have believed the story is symbolic of Frodo losing his virginity and dealing with his increasing sexual attraction to Sam. Either that, or how the War of the Ring is metaphor for the Cold War and blacklisting despite being written previously. I'll stop now before I start rambling...

"Letters" is an excellent resource and an essential read in its own right. Not only does he e xp lain what he was thinking, he also occasionally gives inside info about the stories and characters (i.e., what did Sauron look like, and hint, hint, it wasn't a giant flaming eye) and so forth, but most of all, you get an idea of who Tolkien the man was. In particular, his staunch religiosity (is that a word?) comes across full power. I remember one jaw-dropping letter to one of his sons where he's giving him advice on women. I don't remember the details, but it was something along the lines of, the lips of a woman you're not married to are the gates of hell. I read the book once when it first came out and once again a couple of years ago when LOTR-mania was in full swing. I remember my jaw hitting the floor a few times at some of the old don's opinions....

[quote=""Sedhal""]I'd actually be interested to know about a lot of that. Having suffered through a ton of film analysis classes I can safely say I'm well aware of all the BS conclusions "academic" people come to regarding particular works. It's like the game of telephone... someone takes a guess at what some artist meant then passes it on, the next guy writes it down, the next one reads it, the one after that teaches it, so on and so forth, until we totally lose sight of the creator's original vision. I swear if some of my film professors taught Tolkien, we'd have believed the story is symbolic of Frodo losing his virginity and dealing with his increasing sexual attraction to Sam. Either that, or how the War of the Ring is metaphor for the Cold War and blacklisting despite being written previously. I'll stop now before I start rambling...[/quote]
I'm always wishing you keep rambling. You always cut yourself off right when you get heated (commendation for self control ). I really got a kick out of what your profs. would do with teaching; do they take all subjects down those roads?

Well, just the ones that require talent or knowledge they don't possess.


So, yes.

[quote=""sedhal""]well, just the ones that require talent or knowledge they don't possess.


So, yes. [/quote]
roflmao!!!!!