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“As will be readily seen, much of the wording of [The Hobbit] remains, yet the tone is greatly altered.”
– John Rateliff
What if The Hobbit as we know it today had been told in a different way? On the last episode, we discovered that, around 1960, Tolkien did in fact undertake a significant revision of The Hobbit to reconcile discrepancies in both tone and detail between it and Lord of the Rings. On this week’s episode, we’ll take a look at the planned revisions for Chapter 1, from the iconic opening paragraph to new details that connect it to the larger history of Middle-earth.
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For more on this episode and The Tolkien Road podcast, please visit TolkienRoad.com or Facebook.com/TolkienRoad. Also, follow us on Twitter via @TolkienRoad.
One Response
I like the idea that perhaps Bilbo has re-framed the trauma of his experience as a fantasy that is appropriate for even children to read, but the 2nd version is written more soberly by Gandalf himself. Much like Tolkien may have distilled his experiences as fantasy in 1937. A more naive hobbit (younger Tolkien) wrote something less candid than a wizened Gandalf (older Tolkien.)