October 04, 2021

31. There Was So Much Math!

Listen Later

1 hour 6 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Nature of

Middle-earth. The newest official Tolkien book is anything but a cohesive

volume, instead being a collection of remaining unpublished writings from the

overall Tolkien archive about Middle-earth, written mostly in the late 1950s

and late 1960s, with a heavy focus on more philosophical and generally

foundational concepts and aspects of Tolkien’s creation. Edited by Carl

Hostetter with the full approval of Christopher Tolkien before the latter’s

passing, it’s at once detailed scholarship and the source of a variety of new

wrinkles and outright surprises concerning Middle-earth. What can be made of

the deep discussions of Elvish culture and life, and the literal differences

as a species from Men? How did Tolkien address the concept of Elvish

reincarnation in particular, and what exactly did that imply in terms of what

the Valar could do? What does it mean that Tolkien constantly chose to frame

everything from the point of view of referring to ‘scholars’ and authorities

rather than simply leaning into his own creative process? And how delightful

is it to learn that Númenor was the home of a legendary annual bear dance?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle.

Besides bears, we learn that Númenor has a lot of cliffs.

The California redwood parks are

among the best.

TheOneRing.net’s

summary of the Howard Shore semi-news/demi-rumor/whatever it might be.

Star Wars: Visions is a treat.

Red X by David Demchuk is the book Jared’s illustrated. Check it out!

The Nature of Middle-earth -- order away!

Vinyar Tengwar and the

E.L.F. info is there for you.

Kristine Larsen’s extensive

bibliography on her work on

Tolkien and astronomy is very well worth the investigation.

The Isaac Newton story Ned mentioned is a little more involved than

that—here’s a 2014 interview with an author who wrote about Newton’s papers in more detail.

Now if you’ve not seen Spirited

Away, we do highly recommend it.

The Notion Club

Papers is too

underdiscussed, really. It’s a very interesting, strange effort.

Flat-earth Catholics, well...we’ll just link

this.

(It’s not ‘pro-flat earth,’ rest assured.)

Neoplatonism! We understand if you’re already

asleep.

If you want a little more about the phenomenal

world…

The Magisterium is VERY

much a thing.

So let’s talk the Gnostics!

Enjoy some more about bear

dances in our world. As for Finnish bear

cults...

You can support By-The-Bywater and all of Megaphonic on

Patreon, and thank you if you do!

...more

View all episodes

View all episodes

Download on the App Store

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By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

4.8

2828 ratings

October 04, 2021

31. There Was So Much Math!

Listen Later

1 hour 6 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Nature of

Middle-earth. The newest official Tolkien book is anything but a cohesive

volume, instead being a collection of remaining unpublished writings from the

overall Tolkien archive about Middle-earth, written mostly in the late 1950s

and late 1960s, with a heavy focus on more philosophical and generally

foundational concepts and aspects of Tolkien’s creation. Edited by Carl

Hostetter with the full approval of Christopher Tolkien before the latter’s

passing, it’s at once detailed scholarship and the source of a variety of new

wrinkles and outright surprises concerning Middle-earth. What can be made of

the deep discussions of Elvish culture and life, and the literal differences

as a species from Men? How did Tolkien address the concept of Elvish

reincarnation in particular, and what exactly did that imply in terms of what

the Valar could do? What does it mean that Tolkien constantly chose to frame

everything from the point of view of referring to ‘scholars’ and authorities

rather than simply leaning into his own creative process? And how delightful

is it to learn that Númenor was the home of a legendary annual bear dance?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle.

Besides bears, we learn that Númenor has a lot of cliffs.

The California redwood parks are

among the best.

TheOneRing.net’s

summary of the Howard Shore semi-news/demi-rumor/whatever it might be.

Star Wars: Visions is a treat.

Red X by David Demchuk is the book Jared’s illustrated. Check it out!

The Nature of Middle-earth -- order away!

Vinyar Tengwar and the

E.L.F. info is there for you.

Kristine Larsen’s extensive

bibliography on her work on

Tolkien and astronomy is very well worth the investigation.

The Isaac Newton story Ned mentioned is a little more involved than

that—here’s a 2014 interview with an author who wrote about Newton’s papers in more detail.

Now if you’ve not seen Spirited

Away, we do highly recommend it.

The Notion Club

Papers is too

underdiscussed, really. It’s a very interesting, strange effort.

Flat-earth Catholics, well...we’ll just link

this.

(It’s not ‘pro-flat earth,’ rest assured.)

Neoplatonism! We understand if you’re already

asleep.

If you want a little more about the phenomenal

world…

The Magisterium is VERY

much a thing.

So let’s talk the Gnostics!

Enjoy some more about bear

dances in our world. As for Finnish bear

cults...

You can support By-The-Bywater and all of Megaphonic on

Patreon, and thank you if you do!

...more

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