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01-24-2003, 04:11 PM | #1 |
Blithe Spirit
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,779
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The Professor and the Student
Having just read and enjoyed the Letters thread, I remembered a lovely story I read a long time ago. It doesn't really belong with Letters though, so I thought I'd better start a seperate topic. Maybe it doesn't belong in the Books section at all, I don't know...
In the late Sixties, while Tolkien was still teaching at Oxford, he and a colleague were walking across the quad of the college, academic gowns flowing. Suddenly Tolkien stopped and started talking to a very long-haired, grubby-looking undergraduate. The colleague was surprised that the eminent academic should bother with such an unprepossessing specimen of student. "Harrumph," snorted the Professor. "You do realise the lad speaks fluent Elvish?" All Oxford undergraduates, while they are living in college, have their names inscribed on wooden name-plates at the foot of the corridor where they live. This particular student, apparently, had his done in Feanorian characters...I wonder what happened to him? [ January 24, 2003: Message edited by: Lalaith ]
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01-24-2003, 10:41 PM | #2 |
Wight
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Behind you, counting to 3
Posts: 234
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Never heard the story but I like it. I'm sure there are probably more like it since Tolkien taught for a while and he probably imparted a good bit of his own languages into his students.
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01-25-2003, 04:16 PM | #3 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: england
Posts: 805
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Wouldnt it have been wonderful to have been taught by tolkien? i bet his studants had no idea who he would become .
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01-25-2003, 04:35 PM | #4 |
Blithe Spirit
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,779
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It would indeed have been wonderful. But he was actually wellknown throughout a good deal of his academic career - the Hobbit was published in the 1930s and the LotR in the 1950s...
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01-25-2003, 05:49 PM | #5 |
Wight
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 102
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That's a really interesting story. Thanks for sharing. It would really have been interesting to have been taught by Tolkien. Obviously he had a very vivid imagination that has clearly inspired many people in terms of art, film, and writing.
There's a class offered at the University in the city where I live that is called "Selected Authors". It's offered every other semester and the last semester featured....JRR Tolkien! My brother's friend took the class and absolutely loved it. Are there classes like this where you guys live?
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