Gollum and Uriah Heep
Jeff Heinen
Dickens. *All* of Dickens. As Merton Professor of English Language and
Literature, I would assume he would command a fairly thorough knowledge of
the canons of English lit.
-Jeff
In article <439tg7$i...@tadpole.fc.hp.com>, m...@fc.hp.com (Mark Notess) wrote:
> No, not the rock band.
>
> I am reading Dickens' _David_Copperfield_ and am noticing some faint
> similarity between Uriah Heep and Gollum. Not only are both slimey, but
> Uriah actually stickses an extra sibilant on the end of one of his wordses
> (can't remember which word--I'll have to look it up). Anyone know whether
> Tolkien read _Copperfield_?
>
> As an exercise, how many Gollumish characters from elsewhere in pre-Tolkien
> (i.e., not Alexander's Gurgi) literature could we come up with?
>
> Mark
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| Jeff Heinen | |
| uhei...@mcl.ucsb.edu | "Necessitas non habet legem." |
| jhe...@aol.com | -St. Augustine |
| http://www.calpoly.edu/~jheinen | |
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Mark Notess
David Lewis
>
>As an exercise, how many Gollumish characters from elsewhere in
>pre-Tolkien (i.e., not Alexander's Gurgi) literature could we come up
>with?
>
>Mark
Two Cities, who talks to himself in a Gollumish manner.
Smeagolly yoursss... -David
Klaus Ole Kristiansen
>While not knowing for certain, I'd find it hard to believe he hadn't read
>Dickens. *All* of Dickens. As Merton Professor of English Language and
>Literature, I would assume he would command a fairly thorough knowledge of
>the canons of English lit.
I wouldn't be so sure. In Tolkien's time, the English departments at
English universities were sharply divided into two camps called lang.
and lit.
To the lang. people, Shakespeare and everything later was modern
literature, and of little interest to the student of English. To
the lit. people, everything up to and including Shakespeare was ancient
history, setting the background for the real English litterature
that followed, and not interesting in itself.
Tolkien was firmly in the lang. camp. That doesn't mean that he did
not read and enjoy modern litterature, but he would not have considered
reading all of Dickens relevant to his academic work.
Klaus O K
Derek McMillan
Uriah Heep also had horribly damp palms and a vicious streak a mile
wide.
However, Tolkien's field would not have included Dickens -
too "modern". I expect he had read the books but hardly as part
of his studies.
David Gorgen
>......
>I wouldn't be so sure. In Tolkien's time, the English departments at
>English universities were sharply divided into two camps called lang.
>and lit.
>
>To the lang. people, Shakespeare and everything later was modern
>literature, and of little interest to the student of English. To
>the lit. people, everything up to and including Shakespeare was ancient
>history, setting the background for the real English litterature
>that followed, and not interesting in itself.
It's amusing that, as you've presented it, both camps put Shakespeare
himself into the uninteresting category!
--
Dave Gorgen dgo...@sgi.com Silicon Graphics, Inc.
(415)390-3493 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd. M/S 02U-923
(415)390-4692 (Fax) Mountain View, CA 94043-1389
Mark Notess
resemblance to Wormtongue (angling for the daughter (or niece) of the man he
gradually destroying).
Mark