Movies: What did You Watch Last Night?

[Dad_Scaper]

Chas, I am quite familiar with the movies and with the books. I didn’t say they weren’t great.

Also, the LotR trilogy was written after World War Two, and related to it. You are correct he served in World War I.

[caps]

I don't think the LotR trilogy related to WW2...

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Chas, I am quite familiar with the movies and with the books. I didn’t say they weren’t great.

Also, the LotR trilogy was written after World War Two, and related to it. You are correct he served in World War I.

Interestingly, now that I look around the internet I see both interpretations. It's safe to say that both wars informed the book, based on his experience in WWI and his participation in the Battle of the Somnm. But it seems patently obvious that the tone of the books changed, from the Hobbit-ish Tom Bombadil and the first half of Fellowship, to the much darker tone that is what you see in the rest of the books and in the movies. Sources agree that he began it before World War II as a sequel to The Hobbit, and that he wrote it through the years of the war, sending pieces of it to his son Christopher, who was serving overseas (and very recently retired from managing his father's estate, including overseeing the rights to the material).

I don't think either war can be separated from the books. Certain elements refer to WWI, but it was begun as a sequel to The Hobbit, which was written after WWI as well, and looked like that book at its start. The darker tone of the books was surely a reflection of the world in flames.

I expect there is learned research on the subject, but as far as I can tell it can be read as connected to either World War.

[quozl]

He had quite a lot of influences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._...27s_influences

It's also his birthday today!

[Dad_Scaper]

Hey! Where's @Grishnakh ! It's his job to tell us that!

[japes]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Hey! Where's @Grishnakh ! It's his job to tell us that!

He actually did already this morning...here

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by chas

Tolkien's Trilogy not a Great Book? No deeper meaning? Color me incredulous. I trust you are judging from the books, and not the films...

(Well, to each his own. Seems a shame).

Yoda,

His war was WWI. He wrote part of his work the trenches as a young lieutenant. He recently 'guest starred' on DCs Legends of Tomorrow as such.

People have different ideas of what a Great Book is (distinct from great books). I attend a college that rests pretty much entirely on that distinction. Here, Great Books are written by Plato, Einstein, and Shakespeare. Not that it's any outside authority, but our instruction committee does allow graduating students to write their theses on books considered "off-program," on a case-by-case review. Tolkien has been allowed, cautiously. Do Androids Dream...? was not, but that was considered a political decision rather than a merit-based judgement. Frankenstein was allowed, but only after it had been rejected once. I expect Phillip K. Dick will be allowed within the next ten years.

Point being, great books aren't necessarily Great Books. Time and crowds have always made, and will continue to make that distinction, despite the protests of moments and individuals.

[quozl]

Is the Frankenstein the most recently admitted novel in the Great Book category?

(I mean recently written.)

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by quozl

Is the Frankenstein the most recently admitted novel in the Great Book category?

(I mean recently written.)

Not the most recent text, no- we read all the way through general relativity and quantum physics in our lab and math classes, so, for instance, we get to read Niels Bohr and Einstein's primary texts. We do Heidegger, Freud, and Joyce in our main seminar course.

So far as novels go, I think our most recently published is Huckleberry Finn, but whether it's the most recently admitted to the program is another question.

There's also a marked difference at the college between Program and Off-program works. Program works get read or listened to by everybody (we also study music), whereas Off-program texts can be addressed in preceptorials, which are selected yearly by professors (we call them tutors). Off-program preceptorials have included Picketty, for example.

Then there's the question of senior thesis topics, which can range even further, though they still have to be approved by a committee of professors. Frankenstein, Tolkien, and Kurosawa have all made their way into the loose college canon through this avenue, but they're not considered Program texts, because not everyone is required to read them. Of course, they could be selected for preceptorial works, thus becoming class material. We had one tutor try to organize a David Lynch preceptorial this year- it was initially accepted by the committee, but then rejected, since anything that is accepted for a preceptorial is also implicitly accepted as a topic for a senior thesis.

But the list is changing all the time, not just because of changes in public consciousness, but thanks to taste, the effect of time, and who happens to be sitting on the Instruction Committee. There's the added constraint that we only have four years to work with, so some texts and works get removed in favor of others.

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by japes

He actually did already this morning...here

Oh, I thought I hadn't seen it on today's posts. Thanks for posting!

SoA, I am fascinated by your posts about your curriculum. Thank you for sharing.

[Yodaking]

Anyone try to get Game of Thrones approved yet or must the series be complete before doing so?

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

People have different ideas of what a Great Book is (distinct from great books). I attend a college that rests pretty much entirely on that distinction. Here, Great Books are written by Plato, Einstein, and Shakespeare. Not that it's any outside authority, but our instruction committee does allow graduating students to write their theses on books considered "off-program," on a case-by-case review. Tolkien has been allowed, cautiously. Do Androids Dream...? was not, but that was considered a political decision rather than a merit-based judgement. Frankenstein was allowed, but only after it had been rejected once. I expect Phillip K. Dick will be allowed within the next ten years.

Frankenstein is an excellent choice.

I bet there's some description of what qualifies a work as a Great Book. Could I trouble you to find something like that, SoA, if it exists? Obviously there will be edge cases and, equally obviously, reasonable people will disagree about what should or should not be on the list. I don't want to debate that, but I am curious to see the description. And I suppose the list itself, if you can share those things. Maybe posted in the "Books" thread.