I thought it was interesting how Shippey spoke about the time in which Bilbo is placed.
I was confused to see Shippey talk about their being railroads in Bilbo’s time when I do not recall reading about their being trains in the Hobbit or in the trilogy. Also, wouldn’t this conflict with Shippey’s statement that Bilbo lived in a time when the earth was quiet and green being that trains are rather noisy, polluting, and a sign of industrialization? My idea of “green” conflicts with my idea of industrialization. To me, green not only represents grass, foliage, and trees, but also freshness of air lack of polluting technologies. I may be out of line here but Shippey’s discussion slightly contradicts itself and doesn’t sit well with me.
I wasn’t surprised to see Shippey’s connection between hobbits and animals such as rabbits. The first line of the Hobbit read something along the lines of “And in a hole there lived a hobbit.” A lot of animals burrow holes for shelter so this connection does not surprise me at all. What I do find surprising is the fact that Shippey states that Tolkien denies this connection. It seems to me that Tolkien denies many connections and influences such as his experiences with war. I cannot seem to come to a conclusion as to why Tolkien would deny these influences and connections. Maybe these influences are subconscious and Tolkien did not realize their influence. Perhaps he thought they were mere coincidence.
I also thought it was interesting how Shippey outlined and discussed the connections of Tolkien’s work to ancient texts.
Steven Wilser? October 15, 2008, at 11:51 PM
