Thursday 31 January 2013

Review of the Father Christmas Letters Audiobook

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JRR Tolkien. Letters from Father Christmas - Audiobook read by Derek Jacobi (plus John Moffatt, Christian Rodska). 1997. Two CD set - 2:08 hours.

Four Stars (from maximum of Five)

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Due to excellent personal service from an Amazon marketplace seller, who enclosed a specialized printout catalogue with the book, I came across Richard Johnson's Qoheleth Resources

www.qohelethresources.co.uk

from which I bought a secondhand audiobook of Tolkien's Father Christmas letters read by Derek Jacobi - presumably the fruit of the same recording sessions which left us Jacobi's  superb versions of Farmer Giles, Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major (reviewed elsewhere on this blog) which I have owned and loved for several years.

I had no idea about the existence of this recording of Father Christmas; and perhaps I would not have been very interested by it if I had been aware; since it does not seem obvious that the work would transfer well to audiobook in the absence of Tolkien's illustrations.

But it does transfer, very well - and of course I can either recall the illustrations or look at the book while listening.

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Indeed, I take away from this audiobook a greatly enhanced evaluation of the Father Christmas letters, since I discovered how interesting and enjoyable they are for listening.

The great writer as father is a topic inevitably neglected by biographers - since it was not Fatherhood which made Tolkien famous - yet Tolkien comes across the years as a wonderful father - inspiring, even.

It is not just the sheer sustained effort which went into preparing these annual letters and paintings for his children - from 1920 to 1943 - twenty four years! But the details of love and concern within them.

This example of loving Fatherhood provides a 'depth' to the Letters, which underpins their more obvious storytelling charm - little comedy and adventure tales from the North Pole - usually featuring the North Polar Bear as either the cause or cure of these troubles.

Here, the Bear's voice is interjected by a deep voiced actor, John Moffatt, very effectively. Some of the later letters also have sections by the elf secretary Ilbereth (not Elbereth!) voiced by the ubiquitous and excellent English radio/audiobook character actor Christian Rodska.

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I have only two complaints - there is a somewhat-excessive amount of music between the letters - often an instrumental arrangement of Joy to the World, and done on synthesizers: tastefully, but still...

Also, Derek Jacobi makes a complete Horlicks of reading-out the verse letter from 1938. I find it peculiar but true that most actors, even great actors like Sir Derek, are naturally very bad at reading verse - unless they are given detailed direction by somebody who can read verse.

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What is most remarkable, considering these are letter written for private family consumption, serially over more than two decades, and spanning a time from Tolkien as young academic to a successful published author - is how well they work as a whole.

There is a definite sense of spanning the arc from the young childhood of his youngest son John to the leaving of childhood by Priscilla, his daughter and the youngest - with a bittersweet feeling about the leaving-behind of innocence and the prospects ahead.

The last letter is indeed a formal goodbye, a signing-off.

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In sum, anyone who loves Tolkien's minor works (Farmer Giles, Smith, Niggle, Adventures of Tom Bombadil etc) is likely to love this recording; if you can get hold of a copy...

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Tuesday 15 January 2013

The essence of The Inklings: idea for an Inklings Reader

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How could someone 'get' the essence of The Inklings, and what they were 'about'?

Well, not from reading Humphrey Carpenter's group biography, where the group are seen merely as C.S Lewis's friends. And not quite from Diane Pavlac Glyer's The Company they Keep - which sees them as a writers' group.

To understand the Inklings in their primary importance, as the last influential group of English Christian traditionalists or reactionaries, requires a different - and idiosyncratic - programme of reading; one which focuses on a set of texts that are mostly non-canonical.

1. Charles Williams The Place of the Lion. I see this is the primary text which - from 1936 when they first read it - inspired both Lewis and Tolkien to their greatest achievement; specifically in terms of reconnecting modern man with mythic history. I do not think anything else by CW had significant influence, thus Williams' influence on Lewis and Tolkien was essentially complete before he began attending the Inklings in person from 1939. 

2. JRR Tolkien The Lost Road/ Notion Club Papers. These two unfinished novels, begun in 1936 and finished-with in 1946, represent Tolkien's most direct representation and expression of what The Inklings was about.

3. CS Lewis The Dark Tower and That Hideous Strength. The short fragment of an unfinished novel and the climax of Lewis's science fiction trilogy form the culmination and fullest expression of The Inklings ethos.

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As secondary literature, there is not much - but of particular relevance are John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War for its description of Tolkien's early pre-Inkling group - the TCBS; and my own rambling compilation published on this blog: the Companion to the NCPs

http://notionclubpapers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/a-companion-to-jrr-tolkiens-notion-club.html

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Charles Williams' adulterous love, and his apostasy

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http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/can-love-be-bad-lessons-from-life-of.html

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Saturday 12 January 2013

The Place of the Lion: apex of Charles Williams' work?

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http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-essence-of-religious-mind.html

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