Episode #1
Q: John Garth – J.R.R. Tolkien – Intro
A:
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Read Lord of the Rings at age 9
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Fascinated by names, places in Tolkien
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Influenced by Tom Shippey
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Studied literature at Oxford
Episode #2
Q: What influenced Tolkien?
A:
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Deepest influences are from earliest memories
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Orphaned at age 12
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Focus on souls, life after, no natural mortality
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Love of England’s landscapes
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Religion, wife
Episode #3
Q: Did being an orphan drive Tolkien’s imagination?
A:
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Tolkien developed deep imagination at an early age
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At 7 he was already, “world building”
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Later, as a child, Tolkien invented his own languages
Episode #4
Q: Why does Tolkien resonate?
A:
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Readers come to Tolkien in different ways
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Demographic of readers is very different
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Mythic archetypes, multi-cultural
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Wrote for kids and adults
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Pushed barriers, not boxed in
Episode #5
Q: Are the movies, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, good?
A:
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Lord of the Rings – fine work of art
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Succeed when they match pre conceived images
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Fail when they do not
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Good at getting kids to read the books
Episode #6
Q: Can you compare Tolkien’s works to Harry Potter?
A:
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J.K Rowling is an amazing author
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Connects genres of fantasy, school & detective
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Hard to compare
Episode #7
Q: What was it like to be Tolkien’s student at Oxford?
A:
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Mixed reports regarding his lecturing
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Enunciation was often flawed
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Tolkien was a natural performer
Episode #8
Q: What inspired Tolkien’s Middle Earth?
A:
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Cultural heritage of Britain, Celtic, Anglo Saxon
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Elves by the sea
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Classical Greek & Roman myth
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Word Sounds from the Old testament
Episode #9
Q: Were Tolkien’s dwarves, Jews?
A:
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Tolkien made the comparison himself
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Comparison focuses on language, not race or religion
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Source language of dwarves is Semitic, including Hebrew