Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

David Stockhoff · 16 Dec 2011, 17:05 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:05:51 -0500
Subject: (urth) Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?
In-Reply-To: <4EEB73F9.4040401 at gmail.com>
References: <SNT123-W45C045D189B23106D2A590CFA00 at phx.gbl>
	<4EEB71C9.9070302 at verizon.net> <4EEB73F9.4040401 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4EEB7A6F.7010402 at verizon.net>

On 12/16/2011 11:38 AM, Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:
> David Stockhoff wrote (16-12-2011 16:28):
>> Much of our Western myths, and as they are perpetuated today by 
>> Hollywood,
>> involve the brave and capable few who are besieged by the weak and 
>> cowardly
>> many. This has little basis in reality, of course, and it has always 
>> struck
>> me as a bit pathological. And so often the few are blond and big and the
>> many dark and small. So too with Tolkien.
>
> There are all too many unsympathetic characters among Elves and 
> Western Men, and the Dwarves aren't blond and big at all. Nor are the 
> hobbits.

Ah, but dwarves and hobbits are not Men. And their small size only 
emphasizes their great strength and/or bravery, which the orcs (who 
actually come in 2 sizes, Small and Large) lack. I didn't say it was 
simple.

The Elves, OTOH, are better than men---their untrusting view of Men was 
sometimes much like Europeans' view of Others, and rightly. There are 
even fewer of them and they are stronger, wiser, and better looking.

"Unsympathy" has zero to do with it. In fact, it's quite predictable 
that the only way the West can fall to the East is by betrayal, 
witchery, squabbling, greed, making deals with the devil, and being 
lazy. (See Third Reich, anti-Semitic propaganda of.) All these things 
happen, thanks especially to certain Men, which is what leads to 
adventure, war, rearguard actions, and glorious victories.
>
> Are the Dwarves jewish? I don't think so. I think Tolkien took known 
> races with known traits and built a world with them. The Elves are the 
> exception, as they have little to do with classic elves (though maybe 
> the classic elves are what Tolkien thought the Avari might have 
> evolved into).

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Tolkien basically took a few 
characters out of the Nibelunglied (and related works, as well as some 
children's/folk tales in the case of The Hobbit) and ran with them. I 
don't think there were many "races" in literature before him. He was 
kind of a bright counterpart to Lovecraft in this respect---Lovecraft 
also wrote of races of beings rather than, Oh, here's a little elf, and 
there's a mean dwarf.

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