h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien - A845958
Author: Nylarthotep - U200240

This is the first attempt...not sure what it needs...maybe something to round it all off?

Hi,

i haven't had time to read it through properly, but it looks good.

there is a hobbit sized gap in the edited guide, and this looks set to fill it.

you might like to link to A656967 - L&W of JRR Tolkien

How do you feel about headers? Guide-ML?

The Characters

Bilbo Baggins

Gandalf the Wizard

etc.

it not only brightens pieces up a bit, it also makes the structure clear to the reader. Your entry already has structure; the headers would just help the reader.

well, all the best with this and future writings
spiff

Good work!

It needs headings. Do you know how to do GuideML? If so, you can put and around your headings and make them look good. If not, just put the headings on separate lines and worry about the formatting later.

There are a number of mispellings, but I'm sure you'll be able to spot them.

It needs some sort of a conclusion, rather than just stopping with Gollum shouting at Bilbo.

You seem to consider The Hobbit as a book for adults which betrays its origins as a children's story. I would consider it to be very definitely still a children's story. It can be somewhat tedious for adults to read, because of its "Now what do you think happened next" style. But it is a difficult book for children because of the ethical issues involved. It comes as a great shock to the child reader that the dwarves are not necessarily in the right, even though it was their gold.

I agree fully with you that the book is a children's story, just look at the formulaic pattern of Gandalf wanders off, dwarves get in trouble, Bilbo saves them and Gandalf reappears to point out how much they undervalue the hobbit.

I read The Hobbit after LOTR and as such tend to look firstly at the way in which it relates to the later book and how Tolkien's academic background comes through in the characters that he portrays, so I accept that I see the book as a tale for adults...or at least from an adult perspective. Do you think that a child's viewpoint would be useful here?

Since the book was intended as a children's book, it should be reviewed on that basis. If you have a lot of other stuff relating to the adult view, you should provide the children's view first, then the additional material. Have you got a tame book-literate child handy?

I have a three-legged cat, but he's into Harry Potter at the moment...

I was a child when I first read "THe Hobbit" but it was a while ago. You might be better enlisting the help of some children or some people who were children recently.

I have an interview with the guy who reviewed the book when he was a kid for his father, the publisher that produced the first edition. That might be interesting.

with the new films coming out last year, i reread The Hobbit and then the LotR. The Hobbit certainly comes over more '10-year-old plus' style than the 'adult' style of the main work.

Indeed IIRC, it originated as a tale to entertain JRRT's own kids, didn't it?

In any case, it definitely has something of the 'written for children' to it...

Often seems to have an element of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves to me...

hmm, i'm no longer the child in question, but i remember all too well the feeling of pride at reading what to my 9-10 year-old mind was quite definitely an 'adult' book. To the child it *is* an adult book. As an adult, i saw it very differently.

At the time, though, it was an important achievement for me, in reading terms. I was champing at the bit to get going on 'the big one' when i realised i could get through Bilbo's adventures on my own!

I think many young readers may see it as a reading 'rite of passage' in that way... or am i just projecting?

The Hobbit is certainly one of the better childrens' books in existence today...

B*****r... I was in the process of writing an entry on the Hobbit...

How about Rayner Unwins review of the Hobbit? He wrote it as a child and caused the book to be published by his father's company. I'm sure you can find the text of it somewhere.

Good entry

How is Elronds Man/Elf ancestry contradicted in "the later books"? As far as I recall (my own copies are about 400 kilometres from here), it's quite clear... (though there are some self-contradictions in Tolkiens combined works on Middle-Earth, especially in the Silmarillion)

Is Gollums Smeagol-past mentioned in the Hobbit? (I always get the books mixed up.) I think it's quite an important aspect of his personality.

Beorn is, indeed, Beorn. The word "berserk" actually means something like "bear-shirt" in ancient nordic


Cheers,
~Bistro

I can't believe the guide doesn't already have a Hobbit entry! So well done for getting one in.

It feels a wee bit unfinished somehow, but generally I like it.

Elrond is descended from a some elves, some men, and one minor goddess. The full story is in the Silmarillion (which I wouldn't mind writing an entry about). His "seemingly elven nature" is due to the fact that he chose to embrace his elven ancestry while his brother Elros chose to be a mortal man.

Excellent entry

It would definately benefit from being set in GuideML and having Headers and Subheaders. You could then also link to the various Tolkien websites. The Sub-editor will put it into GuideML anyway, but if you do it yourself it gives you more control over the final shape and content of your entry.

Does anyone else think it needs a conclusion? It ended rather precipitously for my liking.

I don't recall Elrond's ancestry being discussed too much in LOTR, but it's fully explained in The Silmarillion that he and his brother Elros were the children of Earendil (himself half-elven) and Elwing (fully elven), and that Elrond and Elros were given the choice - elf or man. Elrond became elf, Elros became man, and first King of Numenor

I believe the last quotation is a mis-quotation. In my Unwin Paperbacks edition (1981) it reads "Thief, thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it for ever!" (De-finite-ly not "forever".)

Proper names, names of creatures and quotations should be exactly as in the book.

Mostly, I like it very much. I first read the book as an adult, but people have always said I have the mind of a child.

D.