{"id":9531,"date":"2023-06-25T16:59:15","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T15:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=9531"},"modified":"2024-09-27T09:24:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T08:24:11","slug":"books-the-hobbit-the-illuminated-silmarillion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=9531","title":{"rendered":"BOOKS: The Hobbit & The Illuminated Silmarillion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ever since the proverbial excreta obliterated the fan, around about six months ago, which brutally terminated a relatively long period of happiness – so odd and unusual for me (happiness, that is) that I posted on here about it a few times – I\u2019ve been struggling with depression in ways that, whilst very normal and familiar to me, are yet, by their degrees (esp\u2019 at particular times, like right now) much<\/em> worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, amongst the many ways I seek to ward off that ol\u2019 black-eyed dog – which can include such humdrum therapies as watching tennis or snooker on TV or online – occasionally I\u2019ll opt to read. Reading used to be a very frequent pleasure. But maybe I over-read? *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it is that now I sometimes don\u2019t have the energy to even read! That said, at present I\u2019m revisiting an old favourite, Tolkien\u2019s The Hobbit<\/em>. For anyone who doesn\u2019t get Tolkien, I\u2019m not going to make a case for him here, at least not beyond simply celebrating what it is I love about his writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly I think the whole Jackson\/Spielberg Hollywoodification of his works has debased the finest aspects of the Tolkienian universe. But again, I\u2019m going to try not be distracted – aside from acknowledging this dimension – from my own personal encomiums!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve written elsewhere before, one or more editions of the LOTR had some dust jacket blurb describing Tolkien\u2019s writing as \u2018epic yet homely\u2019. The best three word synopsis of his style ever penned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi writings are filled with romanticism, lyricism, nostalgia, melancholy, all things that resonate deeply with my rather maudlin soul. And a love of nature, and beauty, and storytelling, and so on. I could go on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now to the second book. A book I have<\/em> read, albeit not<\/em> in the format that I\u2019m posting about.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst reading and enjoying the lovely 75th anniversary edition of The Hobbit<\/em> I recalled that I\u2019d read about some guy doing an illuminated manuscript of something by Tolkien. I couldn\u2019t recall which work: was it also The Hobbit<\/em>? Nope\u2026 \u2018twasn\u2019t. Turns out it was The Silmarillion<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit of Googling turned up this<\/a>, an interview with Benjamin Harff, a German artist\/illustrator, who chose to do an illuminated rendering of The Silmarillion for his \u2018exam at the Art Academy\u2019, as he puts it. We might call his project a thesis, or something similar, or \u2018degree project\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harff at work. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently Harff has been tugging at the sleeves of the Tolkien estate, and all to no avail, so far. That\u2019s sad. This looks like something at least as deserving of the backing of the official Tolkien \u2018branding machine\u2019 (as, one supposes, and sadly so, it\u2019s become, in our hyper-crapitalist times), perhaps even more so, as the above mentioned films. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, for now all most of us can hope to enjoy, of this ambitious and impressive work, are the few snippets out there on\u2019t interweb, such as this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pretty impressive, eh?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If ever this project is published, I want a copy! To finish, a couple more images:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BACK TO THE HOBBIT\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, it\u2019s back to my 75th Anniversary edition of The Hobbit<\/em>. Oh, but before I sign off, I believe the Tolkien Empire is shortly to publish yet another edition of Said Hobbit<\/em>, which, like the 75th, is to be illustrated solely by Tolkien himself, only this time with even more<\/em> of his archival artwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about that or even order it here<\/a>. I will definitely be getting this. By hook or by crook!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The latest edition, to be published 14\/9\/23.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s now 1.11am, as I return to this post to add a rather pathetic and desperate coda: can Tolkien save my life? I\u2019ve said the same of a number of things recently (though I can\u2019t recall what right now?). And I mean it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the record that\u2019s stuck in a groove in my head is constantly repeating \u2018kill yourself, it\u2019s the only way out\u2019, as it is or has been just now, and so often does, can reading Tolkien\u2019s The Hobbit <\/em>help see me through another hopeless night? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only time will tell, I guess?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* As a reviewer for both Amazon Vine and Pen & Sword, reading\/reviewing changed from a simple hobby and passion to an obligation and drudgery, as is so often the Crapitalist Way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since the proverbial excreta obliterated the fan, around about six months ago, which brutally terminated a relatively long period of happiness – so odd and unusual for me (happiness, that is) that I posted on here about it a few times – I\u2019ve been struggling with depression in ways that, whilst very normal and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “BOOKS: The Hobbit & The Illuminated Silmarillion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-2tJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9531"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9531"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23431,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9531\/revisions\/23431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}