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A lost audio recording of J.R.R. Tolkien giving a speech from the March 28th, 1958 "Hobbit Dinner" in Rotterdam is being restored and will be released later this year. Noble Smith claims to have heard the recording and gives more background details and hints at more secrets to be revealed.
According to Smith, we will get to hear Tolkien himself reading a poem in Elvish and then again in English. The recording was actually found over 20 years ago by Rene van Rossenberg (who knew what he had) but kept it hidden from the world during that time. Why? "Like Smaug I am guarding my treasure, hissing at any collector who comes near." A brief teaser can be heard in a YouTube video found on both sites.
The Smith blog also claims that Tolkien's meaning of Lord of the Rings is also revealed in the recording, but gives no details as to what this means.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bucc5062 on Tuesday May 27 2014, @08:28PM
adding..."for a price". I get the feeling that this speech, in it's remastered glory (and I hope it's better then the teaser) will be available only for a price. Hopefully I am wrong for it would be wonderful to hear the voice of a man who so inspired my imagination as a child. I devoured Middle Earth as a young teenager and carry that world with me to this day. From his work I expanded into other writers, other worlds that inspired not just creativity, but at times how to be. My parents land the framework, but it was Tolkien (and others) that helped put meat on how to be a decent human being.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Sir Garlon on Tuesday May 27 2014, @08:38PM
Brace yourself for disappointment if you do find out what Tolkein intended the theme of his books to be. The one observation that made sitting through Lit 101 worthwhile was my prof's point that the value of literature lies not in the author's intent but in the reader's response to the work. Great literature, he said, transcends the author's message and speaks to something universal. For example, I love _Don Quixote_, and what I get out of that book is pretty much the opposite of Cervantes' intent: but it doesn't matter because it's my life that's enriched by the reading. _Moby Dick_ is admired because so many different people can read so much into it. I don't read it as an allegory but some people do.
So I'm only mildly interested in "what it all means," or what Tolkein intended it to mean. And even what he said at a dinner party may be only one facet of the whole truth.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 2) by bucc5062 on Tuesday May 27 2014, @08:44PM
Agreed. I am curious for curiosity sake, not that he would reveal something profound. At this point in my life, the die is cast.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 27 2014, @09:49PM
> it was Tolkien (and others) that helped put meat on how to be a decent human being
In a related vein, those books are full of all sorts of courtly language, where characters may speak their minds, but in a careful, respectful, and exceedingly polite way. I've always felt great respect for this way of communicating, and yet in situations calling for this skill, I always fail to say the correct thing. My good intentions are belied by my lack of eloquence.