Chapter 11. "A Knife in the Dark" (I)

What a night for the hobbits, what a day for me! Well, the night has ended up well for the hobbits because they took Strider's advice and did not go back to their rooms, which the Black Riders had raided during the night. At Crickhollow, as well, Fatty Bolger raised the alarm the moment he saw tha black figures that were creeping around the house. The Enemy is powerful but for the moment, our hobbits are safe. Strider is a good companion, alert day and night, watching over the hobbits while they sleep, as Frodo has the opportunity to see when he wakes up in the night. Sadly, they cannot start as early as he had planned because they have to get at least one pony to carry their equipment, and they cannot leave Bree as secretly has he intended to. Merry, on his part, sees the glass half full: they may not be able to leave early and secretly, but at least they have time to enjoy a good breakfast! 
Guided by Strider, they leave Bree and make for Weathertop Hill, enjoying walking through the paths the Ranger chooses, even if the reason for their journey is not a pleasing one. They have been walking the whole day with "no sing and ... no sound of any other living thing all that day: neither two-footed, except birds; nor four-footed except one fox and a few squirrels".

As for me, I had a very intense but great day, starting with a magnificent, inspiring lecture-performace by Filipino-Australian writer Melinda Bobbis (I have just found a photograph which I will add below with one of the quotes that I love most of the ones she included in her talk), followed by lunch with Merlinda, her husband and my good friends and colleagues and then followed by the European Researchers' Night at the Paseo del Salón. What a day! What a great day! And what a finale! Listening and dancing to the music of Befunkbob with Eugenia and Gülüm. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

"Fog on the Barrow-Downs" (II), Chapter 9. "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" & Chapter 10. "Strider"

Now Tolkien means business. I totally agree with my friend Carlos: if you make it to Bree, you cannot put the book down. I still remember the excitement at the change in the narrative pace the first time I read The Lord of the Rings; whenever I re-read it, I look forwart do arriving there.

But before that, the hobbits have to begin the last leg of their journey with Tom. They start the day having breakfast and receiving treasures that Tom has taken from the mound, not before putting a spell on them so that no Wight could try to take it. I love it particularly that Tom includes all sentiend beings in his incantation, provided they are kind, making the treasures "free to all finders, birds, beasts, Elves or Men, and all kindly creatures." As with Goldberry's song in the previous chapter, Tom's words have the power to conjure up images, and so, when he talks about the Men of Westernesse who forged the daggers he's given the hobbits, they "did not understand his words, but as he spoke they had a vision as it were of a great expanse of years behind them, like a vast shadowy plain over which there strode shapes of Men, tall and grim with bright swords, and last came one with a star on his brow. Then the vision faded, and they were bak in the sunlit word." Only when we go further into the narrative we'll realise that the hobbits are seeing not only the past, but also a moment in time yet to come. It is risky to say that they are seeing the future, but one can argue that they're seeing what is meant to be.

 While Tom rides with them, it is easy to share the hobbtis' feeling that nothing bad may happen to them; yet Tom cannot take the journey with them. Before leaving them, he expresses his hopes that the Riders won't follow them tonight and returns to Goldberry. They make for Bree where Sam expect to find some comfort at the sign of The Prancing Pony.

And we are finally in Bree and inside The Prancing Pony. These two episodes are certainly a tour de force in the narrative. The hobbits are in a completely alien territory, Barliman Butterbur may be a kind man, but he can do little to change the not-so-welcoming atmosphere. The hobbits feel watched... and they certainly are. Enter Strider who, according to Barliman, is not to be trusted: he's one of those Rangers, and he cannot keep his eye off the hobbits. I remember how I imagined Strider when I first read The Lord of the Rings: he had really long legs and he was not nearly as handsome as Viggo Mortensen. Hey! I'm not complaining! 

I don't know how many times the hobbits have been told to be careful, but they have not yet realised that they cannot be careful enough when carrying that treacherous Ring, which takes the first opportunity to slip into Frodo's finger while he's trying to divert everyone's attention from Merry and Pippin's careless conversation. That Strider knows that Mr Underhill is actually Mr Baggins causes uneasiness, but he seems to know what he's doing, and Gandalf's letter comes just in time to confirm the trust the hobbits are beginning to place on him. When Merry comes in bringing news of a Black Rider at the inn, Strider's presence becomes truly comforting. They have now gone to sleep.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king

Chapter 8. "Fog on the Barrow-Downs" (I)

It is incredible how the way you imagine the sound of a voice can change the moment your expectations are thwarted! In the morning, the hobbits left Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, changing the welcoming nature of their home by the hostility of the Barrow-downs. Falling asleep without intending to, engulfed by the fog, Frodo finds himself separated from Merry, Pippin and Sam. To his angry and afraid "Where are you?" a voice responds with a "Here!" which, for a nanosecond, we take to be one of the hobbits' until it is described as "deep and cold," a voice "that seemed to come out of the ground". Its next "I am waiting for you!" sounds ominous. Honestly, it still gives me the creeps. Immediately afterwards, Frodo is trapped by a Barrow-wight and soon has the opportunity to experience how true Gildor's words are: "Courage is found in unlikely places." Merry, Pippin and Sam are laid out as if for a Germanic burial, and a big hand approaches the hilt of the sword that rests on their necks. Frodo feels tempted to use the Ring to run away from a certain death; even if he he knows he would mourn the death of his friends, at least he would be alive! But the courage he was so eager to find was within him all the time: he stabs at the approaching hand and his voice finds the strength to sing the song that calls Tom Bombadil to their rescue, liberating them from the Barrow-wight. For the sleeping hobbits all has been a bad dream, but Frodo has had the opportunity to find his courage and loyalty put to the test and he has passed with flying colours. Now, Bombadil will be riding with them part of their way, and that is truly comforting.

Certainly, this first part of The Lord of the Rings is a bit episodic, but let us not forget that Tolkien himself admitted to being a bit lost as to where to go as he was writing this part.

 


As for me... still enjoying my morning walks down from the forest of the Alhambra ... 

... even if some of the people I come across refuse to pose for me.

Cherchez le chat!

"In the House of Tom Bombadil" (II)

It's Goldberry's washing day, so the blessed rain prevents the hobbits from setting out and we are truly happy to spend another day under Tom and Goldberry's roof. Tolkien once again celebrates the simple pleasures of life: good food, good company, and a roof that provides shelter; indeed, simple pleasures that sadly are not available to everyone.

There is so much hinted at but ultimately indecipherable about this couple. Tom is old, older than everything that exists and the stories he tell to the hobbits go back eons ago; Tom, indeed, seems to he predates every single thing and being. His narrative is that of the history of the earth and its inhabitants. I find it interesting that he follows a chronological order, focusing on time and the events that come and go with it, while Goldberry's song is connected to place, to space. Time and space: the same thing according to quantum physics. I really must quote this part from the text, truly evocative and so revealing concerning how words in a song can create mental pictures:

"After they had eaten, Goldberry sang many songs for them, songs that began merrily in the hills and fell softly down into silence; and in the silences they saw in their minds pools and waters wider than any they had known, and looking into them they saw the sky below them and the stars like jewels in the depths. "

Tom's words also reveal how little the hobbits know about the world, even within the people in their own Shire. Farmer Maggot is more important than they had imagined:  'There's earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open'. Knowledge coming not from books, but from experience, straight from the earth. Can we not read this as a celebration of matter?

We are also shocked to see that the Ring does not have any effect on Tom: he does not disappear when he wears it, and he can see Frodo when he uses it to check whether it is still his Ring. Can you imagine how much one could learn spending just a couple of evenings under Bombadil's roof? If only the hobbits could stay there, in that sheltering home, hiding the Ring forever from the clutches of the Enemy! But it cannot be. Tomorrow they will take to the road again. The quest goes on, but I want to stay here a little longer.


P.S. I have to teach a class in one minute, but I'll come back later, to post my morning encounter as I was going down the forest of the Alhambra. 
Here I am. While taking pictures of the forest...

... someone decided to cross my path.

Chapter 6. "The Old Forest" & Chapter 7. "In the House of Tom Bombadil" (I)

After the scare in the Old Forest, I am going to leave my dear hobbits sleeping peacefully in the house of Tom Bombadil. See you later.












Well, here goes the account of the day.
Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo have definitely left the Shire, entering the Old Forest and - to his relief - letting Fatty at Crickhollow in order to wait for Gandalf and keep up the illusion that Frodo is living there. Re-reading about the Hedge in the context of the too many borders that we continue building in order to keep away those we feel like a menace, I cannot help but remember the words that Gildor told the hobbits a couple of days ago: "The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out." It would be good for us to pay attention to Gildor. In the world in which we live, some of us have been fortunate enough not to have to leave our homeland in order to survive somewhere else. Others have not been so lucky and, desperate to have a chance to live, will jump any wall, no matter how dangerous. But the real thing is that those walls are illusory protection; no one is immune to the suffering, the pain existing in the world.

But I'm getting sidetracked. In this part of the journey, the hobbits are now beginning to taste the world outside their border. I particularly like the way nature behaves in the Old Forest, because Tolkien destroys any possible hint at pathetic fallacy and presents us a natural world that is agentive, trees that protect themselves from intruders, even if the hobbits have no intention of hurting them. The adjective that Merry uses to refer to the forest, to the trees, is queer, perfectly grasping nature's ultimate inscrutability. The trees may have grown distrustful after the great fire, but they already had their own personality before, irrespective of what humans or hobbits intended to do to them. Not only is other-than-human nature presented here as agentive, but also intentional; the trees appear to have both an individual and a collective consciousness, judging by Merry's words, who does not believe in the old stories of goblins and wolves, but, he admits, 

"the Forest is queer. Everything in it is very much more alive, more aware of what is going on, so to speak, than things are in the Shire. And the trees do not like strangers. They watch you. They are usually content merely to watch you, as long as daylight lasts, and don't do much. Occasionally the most unfriendly ones may drop a branch, or stick a root out, or grasp at you with a long trailer. But at night things can be most alarming, or so I am told. I have only once or twice been in here after dark, and then only near the hedge. I thought all trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind."

And so, they take the hobbits precisely to the place they were avoiding to go to, the Withywindle, and they almost succeed in getting rid of them - or at least give them a good scare. It is interesting how the hobbits' loss of agency is linguistically marked, by the progressive looseness in the construction of their sentences. Pippin does not even speak but falls forward on to his knees, while Frodo hears Merry saying "It's no good. ... Can't go another step without rest. Must have nap. It's cool under the willows. Less flies!" Later, Frodo stammers: 'Wait for me, Sam. ... Must bathe feet a minute." Sam is the only one who keeps alert and able to express himself in full sentences: 'There's more behind this than sun and warm air ... I don't like this great big tree. I don't trust it. Hark as it singing about sleep now! This won't do at all!' Maybe because of his closeness to the earth, Sam is the only one who can "read" the tree's intentions. He saves Frodo from drowning, but it will require the appearance of Tom Bombadil to save Merry and Pippin.

In Tom Bombadil we find the most enigmatic character in The Lord of the Rings. Who is he? According to Golberry, "He is," but what? Who?  I am not going to enter here into the debate concerning who is he or what Tom Bombadil stands for. I simply take Goldberry and Tom as two forces of nature, who have human form but are not human. Tom's songs are different from those of the hobbits and the Elves and, when entering his house and seeing Goldberry, we seem to be in a different world. Their food includes milk, cheese, butter, cream and honey, but no dead animals, which, at least to me, connects them strongly with vegetation and life, Life, LIFE. Nourishment without cruelty to other sentient beings. I do not want to leave this house; I think I could stay here forever, and I bet the hobbits would too. However, even in the peacefulness of Tom's house, of the three hobbits, only Sam can have a dreamless sleep; Frodo, Merry and Pippin wake up from their dreams. Yet, they are soon comforted back into sleep: 'Fear nothing! Have peace until the morning! Heed no nightly noises!' 'Nothing passes doors or windows save moonlight and starlight and the wind off the hilltop.'

Good night, good night. See you tomorrow, still in Tom Bombadil's house.

Chapter 4. "A Short Cut to Mushrooms" & Chapter 5. "A Conspiracy Unmasked"

Matthias's risotto with boletus and roasted peppers

Our road today has taken up two chapters, from the woods in which the Elves left the hobbits sleeping to Crickhollow, stopping on the way at Farmer Maggot's farm, much to Frodo's chagrin. Knowing that I was going to be reading about his famous mushrooms, I've been craving them since this morning, so Matthias has been kind enough to make a risotto with boletus, much better, undoubtedly, than the mushrooms with bacon that the hobbits have for supper, since no animal was harmed to cook ours. 



The Black Riders follow hard on the hobbits' heels; in fact, they almost crossed the one who had been asking Farmer Maggot about "Baggins". We know that they are servants of the Enemy because Gildor told Frodo so; their piercing cry may chill the air and the heart, but Farmer Maggot stands no nonsense and soon dismisses him. 

This illustration may be a bit juvenile, but I like the autumnal colours and, in any case, this part of The Lord of the Rings is still very juvenile in tone.

However, even the farmer sounds a bit afraid when, on the road to the Ferry, he hears the clip-clop of hooves that end up being those of Merry's pony. In this part of the narrative, any serious tension is soon over, the narrative strategies to build the plot are still very much those of The Hobbit, and there is a predominance of a mood of conviviality that takes the form of good food and drink, good company, songs, and warm baths.  

This is the life that Frodo is giving away, embracing instead an unknown road that will surely bring him too much suffering. As far as he knows, Sam will accompany him, but at Crickhollow, the conspiracy is unmasked and Merry and Pippin announce that they will join him, while Fatty will remain at Crickhollow, pretending for a time to be Frodo. Tolkien celebrates that kind of friendship in which those who partake of it know the others so well that they know how and what they're feeling even before they open their mouths. This is the type of company Gildor advised Frodo to take with him, and these are the friends he's taking without even asking. Frodo is grateful but afraid for his friends. Tonight he has the first of his visionary dreams: the smell of the sea, a white tower. 





Let me close the day by introducing you to Mía, whom you may know from another blog of mine (, since I take care of her when her human companions, my friends Nacho and Laura are away. She's grown a bit distrustful since returning from her two-year stay in Vienna, but I will gain her confidence again. 

"Three is Company" (III)

Still in the Shire, the hobbits are beginning to be aware that it may not be the safe place they thought it was. In this chapter, we already get glimpses of the wider world, but Tolkien does so timidly, as it should be, not hurrying the action, but allowing it to tiptoe into the narrative. On this occasion, darkness has taken the shape of the sniffing Black Rider, of whose identity the hobbits know absolutely nothing, even though instinct tells them to stay away from him. The Ring begins to show its power; Frodo has been carrying it for a little time and has not even worn it once, but the temptation to slip it on as the Rider approaches is already strong.


Light, on the other hand, saves the day with the appearance of the Elves, whose mere presence is enough to make the Black Rider hide away. The Elves bring not only light, but also song, food, merriment and, most importantly, hope. Yes, despite the hints that Gildor gives about the dangers behin, before, and at each side, the light that accompanies the Elves brightens the night and the heart of hobbits and readers alike.  'Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo may very well be the most beautiful greeting I know; I love the sound, I love the meaning: "a star shines on the hour of our meeting". Light, always the light, and the comfort that provides feeling that there is some higher power watching over us, as Gildor tells Frodo: "The Elves have their own labours and their own sorrows, and they are little concerned with the ways of hobbits, or of any other creatures upon earth. Our paths cross their seldom, by chance or purpose. In this meeting there may be more than chance; but the purpose is not clear to me, and I fear to say too much.'

Another great statement that proves to be truer the older one gets: 'Courage is found in unlikely places'. The hobbits are sleeping now, the Elves will be watching over; in the morning they will have left, but they'll also have left their light behind, and Sam will never find words to express what that meeting meant for him.
 

"Three is Company" (II)

The older I get, the more poignant I find this part. Frodo is saying goodbye to his home, to his cozy hobbit-hole, and Lobelia and Lotho do not even have the decency to wait until he's gone before they assert their ownership of the place. They, of course, don't know the perils awaiting Frodo - not even Frodo knows; the poignancy, for me, resides particularly in seeing Frodo say farewell to the comforts of him home to embark in a quest to destroy a very powerful and evil weapon.

Tolkien, however, also manages to bring home to the reader the thrill accompanying the beginning of a new adventure, of walking in the fresh air of the night, with a starry sky and mild weather. The hobbits are still in the heart of the Shire, where they can feel safe, but the odd voice asking about Frodo makes us as uneasy as it makes Frodo, happy that the stranger did not cross him.

In this chapter there is one of the most revealing instances of the fact that Tolkien was still working on a sequel for The Hobbit, having that same audience in mind: the lines that he devoted to sharing with us the fox's thoughts when seeing the hobbits sleeping. 

"A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
"'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it."

"Three is Company" (I)

Three weeks have passed and Gandalf advises Frodo to leave soon. Indeed, the hobbit is aware of the dangers of having the Ring close to those he loves, but changes and farewells are difficult, and he feels he will be readier to part in the autumn. Gandalf agrees and introduces for the first time the musical name of Rivendell as the place Frodo should aim for. The name already evokes a peaceful, magical place, where the Elves live, so that Sam will be really happy to go there. The plan is underway, Frodo announces that he will be moving and selling Bag End, but Gandalf has to leave in June and, although he promises to be back soon, summer goes, Frodo's - and Bilbo's - birthday arrives - also falling on a Thursday - and there is no sign of Gandalf. Have we lost our guide before the journey starts?

"The Shadow of the Past"

This is one of my favourite chapters, and I particularly like the atmosphere in which the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo unfolds. After Bilbo's departure, Frodo has not only to say goodbye to everybody after the party, but also to make sure that all of Bilbo's parting gifts reach their intended recipients. Bilbo has not died, but it is Frodo's task to act as executor of his will. Gandalf, intrigued about the Ring, comes and goes at irregular intervals until one day, when Frodo thought that he had already forgotten about the hobbits, the old wizard appears again, sharing with Frodo his suspicions - confirmed after it is thrown into the fire - concerning the Ring.

The atmosphere I imagine is perfectly captured in the illustration above, taken from Bashki's adaptation. The winds of change that Gandalf is talking about are terrifying, but the Shire is still a haven, the great menacing shadow that threatens to creep into its very heart contrasts with the obliviousness of the hobbits: Gandalf talks, mentioning names which will soon become familiar - Saruman, Mirkwood, the Dark Power, Aragorn, Gil-Galad, Isildur, Góllum -  while Sam cuts the lawn, until the world "Elves" catches his attention. With Frodo, we learn the story of the Ring and, with him, we realise that it has to be taken away and destroyed. Frodo, knowing the danger that jewel poses for his fellow hobbits decides that it has to be him who does so. Sam is punished for eavesdropping. His punishment? Accompany Frodo to Rivendell and see Elves!

And Gandalf, wise Gandalf, is also a main reason why this is one of my favourite chapters. I cannot but agree with him in feeling sorry for Sméagol/Gollum and the degradation - physical, emotional and spiritual - that he experiences after killing Deagol and getting the Ring. Frodo's rejection of the idea that Gollum can in any way be related to the hobbits - and idea which he deems "loathsome" and "abominable" - eloquently expresses how eager we all seem to be to detach ourselves from what we abhor; by "Othering" those we consider abominable it seems that we are free, clean from the evil we condemn in them.  Gandalf, however, not only feels sorry for Gollum, but he also keeps up hope that he can somehow be redeemed. His wisdom tells him to be prudent; he admits that he knows little, but all he knows is that action is required, and he feels that the forces of good may be on their side.

Some great quotes by Gandalf are found in this chapter. These are the first steps in the big lesson Frodo - and, with him, us readers - have to learn. He rebukes Frodo for lamenting that Bilbo had not killed Gollum when he had the chance: "It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need", and he reminds me whenever I get carried away by pain and anger and wish anyone the worst death that "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

After all these years, Gandalf is still my favourite character. His wisdom is the best guide, and the best lesson that I've learned is that one can never consider oneself free from temptation. That was, in fact, Boromir's flaw: to think that he was incorruptible. Gandalf is wiser and he proves so when he refuses to take care of the Ring: "The way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good." Maybe the key not to fall into temptation  is to admit that one can, indeed be tempted, identify the weak spots it can use, and act accordingly. The truly great and truly wise are also usually humble.

"A Long-Expected Party" (X)

The Big Day has arrived! Today is Thursday, September 22nd! It's almost seven in the morning, I am at Matthias's, everyone but Michi and myself is sleeping. I'm going to a birthday party!!!


The party has been great. I am not particularly one for noisy fireworks, but Gandalf's displays are really something. Bilbo has just vanished and I am sitting next to "One hundred and forty-four flabbergasted hobbits", but Frodo is in a different mood; he's just realised how much he's going to miss Bilbo.

Bilbo has left and Frodo has not had time to say good-bye. Much better that way, according to Gandalf. Bilbo preferred to slip off quietly. Now... the Ring. Gandalf mistrusts it. The best piece of advice: "I should not make use of it, if I were you. But keep it secret, and keep it safe." He's gone to bed and the morning of the 23rd has dawned. Still, I have to keep on reading, as I said in my first post, and cover 17 years in one day. But I'm going to make myself a nice cup of coffee, hoping not to wake Mani and Portos up (wishful thinking, I know...).

Of course it was wishful thinking. Portos was greeting me through the window as soon as I entered the kitchen. He doesn't like the measuring light of the camera, and even less the flash, though, so he left after the first photograph, came back, and left again after the second.



This reminds me of three years ago, when I was preparing new material for my new classes very early in the morning. I used to wake up at 5.30, went down for a coffee and Portos was already at the window. Princesse used to do the same, but not so early; when she did, it was because Portos had woken her up.  I miss her!


My birthday cake is on the kitchen table and, since the party has already ended, I think I can now safely post the picture which I took when I finished it yesterday. I also think I am allowed to have a bit for breakfast, but not alone. Birthday cakes are to be shared, so I'll wait till Matthias is up. 

It's a vegan version of the traditional Yogurt Cake recipe, using a soya yogurt and substituting the eggs for ripe bananas. You can find the recipe on my blog on "Vegaterranean cuisine" http://vegaterraneancorner.blogspot.com.es/2016/09/bilbo-bagginss-birthday-cake.html

Since today is the first day of autumn, I decided to add some seasonal decoration.  

Now Gandalf has left, the first chapter is over and I think it's time to wake Matthias up and have a bit of cake.

"A Long-Expected Party" (IX)

"Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday the eve of the Party. Anxiety was intense."



I wish it were true here, on this Wednesday. I miss some rainy weather, like last week's. But now, it's warm again, too warm, I would say.  I suppose it is the way the summer chooses to spend its last day of 2016.
I am anxious, too, but for different reasons. Today I have my day packed, with two M.A. Theses in the morning, office hours in the afternoon and class in the evening. Precisely tomorrow, when I have quite a bit of reading to do. I love "The Shadow of the Past" and, call me old-fashioned, but I like reading this part in the cozy atmosphere of a book. Tomorrow, however, I'll take up to my office my electronic version and read it there, since I'll be exhausted by the time I arrive home at around 22.00. I still want to celebrate Bilbo and Frodo's Birthday Party and welcome autumn with a vegan carrot cake, so I think it's time for me to start baking so that it's ready for tomorrow.

On a different order of things, today, we at the University and City of Granada had our very own party. This morning, at Granada Townhall, the European Researchers' Night 2016 has been officially presented, rocket and all!!!

"A Long-Expected Party" (VIII)

"The tents began to go up. There was a specially large pavilion, so big that the tree that grew in the field was right inside it, and stood proudly near one end, at the head of the chief table. Lanterns were hung on all its branches. More promising still (to the hobbits’ mind): an enormous open-air kitchen was erected in the north corner of the field. A draught of cooks, from every inn and eating-house for miles around, arrived to supplement the dwarves and other odd folk that were quartered at Bag End. Excitement rose to its height".

I love this picture, taken from Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf and Bilbo enjoying the preparations, knowing what this birthday party will mean for the hobbit. I love the lights: that of the sun which has set and the lanterns which will make up for its absence. It smells of autumn, which is almost there, as it is almost here. I am extremely tired, having arrived from Alicante in time to have something to eat and rest a bit before my first class of this semester. I, too, am excited.    It's always thrilling to begin a new academic year, meet new students, see again old ones who have decided to take the optional course English Language Literature and Other Artistic Discourses. Granada is more alive in September, with the arrival of students. How can anyone say that autumn is a sad season?

I was thinking that, if it was not today 13 years ago, it was very much around this time that I met for the first time Berlioz and Princesse. Before then, they were just Matthias's dogs, names to which I add added faces, bodies and personalities in my imagination. From that moment, they became part of my family. I miss them so much, but I love them even more.

"A Long-Expected Party" (VII)

By waiting patiently for the 22nd, I can really feel the expectation that the hobbits were experiencing. Today, new changes have taken place. In fact, this morning, hobbits have woken "to find the large field, south of Bilbo’s front door, covered with ropes and poles for tents and pavilions. A special entrance was cut into the bank leading to the road, and wide steps and a large white gate were built there. The three hobbit-families of Bagshot Row, adjoining the field, were intensely interested and generally envied. Old Gaffer Gamgee stopped even pretending to work in his garden".

And this is all the excitement that hobbits - and myself - are going to get for today. Tomorrow I'll read and write about the next paragraph and in two days time it will be Wednesday, the eve of the Party, with barely a line to comment on - concerning,  ahem, the weather. But then Thursday, the Big Day will finally arrive, we'll have a great party and will then compress 17 years in one reading.

As for my own life while re-reading The Lord of the Rings, I am writing this from my hotel room in Alicante, thankful for the technology that allows me to carry a digital copy of the book in my computer. Tomorrow, at home, I will go back to my paper copy but I was already carrying my computer and a thick PhD dissertation; adding extra weight was not an option I wanted to consider. By the way, I can now formally congratulate Dr. Lorraine Kerslake for an excellent dissertation on Ted Hughes's children's literature analysed from an ecocritical perspective. It was great to meet one of her supervisors - Silvia Caporale Bizzini - and to see again the other supervisor, Terry Gifford, and his wonderful wife, Jill, as well as sharing the board with José Antonio Álvarez Amorós and my dear Antonio Ballesteros González. I am tired, but moments like these, with people like them are some of the privileges of this job.

"A Long-Expected Party" (VI)

It's Sunday today.  I am travelling to Alicante, where I will be a member of the examination board of an excellent Ph.D. thesis on Ted Hughes's children's literature. Things are still hectic in Hobbiton and I don't think Bilbo will have much time to relax the Sunday before his 111 birthday, so I'll leave him writing invitations, preparing gifts and just getting excited - and a bit annoyed at some of his fellow hobbits - while undoubtedly finding the time to smoke a pipe with Gandalf.

Later, much later. In Alicante.
I was already in bed but I've just got up to write this. I need it. I've phoned Matthias when back in the hotel after dinner. When we're not spending the night together, I always ask for every single member of our furry family. Michi, he tells me, is crazy, playing with a ball he thought was lost. "¿Portos y Mani", I ask. "Están fuera". And then, a pang: "Oooh, ¿y mi Pinche?" "Princesse está dentro". She was spoilt and, being an old lady, we allowed her to spend most of the nights inside, particularly in winter. This is going to be the first winter without her company in the sofa. I was thinking a couple of days ago about the next season of The Walking Dead and, bang! Another punch in the stomach thinking that she won't be there, watching it with us.
The pain has caught me again, and I've cried. I've spoken to her, telling her how much I miss her, what I would give to feel her body, her big body, sleeping next to mine, with her sometimes taking most of my side of the bed. I was happy then. And then, I've started remembering, and the memories bring me comfort, although one of them was of the last time she hurt herself trying to jump into bed. I remember being asleep and listening her step going up the stairs (sometimes she would stop if Michi was in the vicinity, but at night he was locked in his room), coming to our bedroom, open the dor (yes! she opened doors!), come in, tip, tip, tip, tip, and jump into bed. Turn, turn, turn, found her place and, sleep time, very often with a sight.
And then, just in a flash, came her face in the morning, when Matthias got up and, if I was still in bed, she would remain there, but looking attentively at Matthias (wow, I see her profile so clearly). Matthias would tell her to stay put until it was time to go for a walk, but the moment he started going down the stairs, she left the bed and followed him. Her happy tail, leaving the bedroom, going down the stairs. God, I miss you, Princesse!

"A Long-Expected Party" (V)

"A notice appeared on the gate at Bag End: NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON PARTY BUSINESS. Even those who had, or pretended to have Party Business wre seldom allowed inside. Bilbo was busy: writing invitations ticking off answers, packing up presents, and making some private preparations of hiw ow. From the time of Gandalf's arrival, he remained hidden from view."

Busy, busy, busy, and not just Bilbo. Me too!!!

"A Long-Expected Party" (IV)

I had decided that today was going to be the day that Gandalf entered the narrative when I realised that I've made a mistake. Although it is true that this part of the text is not very precise concerning dates ("Days passed and The Day drew nearer. An odd-looking waggon laden with odd-looking packages rolled into Hobbiton one evening and toiled up the Hill to Bag End"), I should have read what I'm reading now almost a week ago, since Gandalf makes his entrance "At the end of the second week in September". This year, September started in the middle of the week, on a Thursday but, officially, the first week of September ended on Sunday 4th, so now we're almost ending the third week and Gandalf is running late. The dwarves have already been introduced, some of them remained at Bag End and now it's Gandalf's turn. He's waiting.

"At the end of the second week in September a cart came through Bywater from the direction of Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight. An old man was driving it alone." And then Gandalf is described. With a series of brushstrokes, Tolkien created an indelible image of the wizard in my mind when I first read the book, one that corresponded very much with the one Bakshi had envisioned for his 1978 film. From that moment on, I was hooked. Gandalf had grabbed my imagination and my journey had started. 

Tolkien hints at so much about Gandalf in over one paragraph. What about the mystery "His real business was far more difficult and dangerous but the Shire-folk knew nothing about it." Gandalf is much more than fireworks, and in his brief conversation with Bilbo at the end of page 37 we already sense that there's going to be much more to Bilbo's birthday party than hobbits expect.

More carts rolled up next day (sorry I'm not waiting till tomorrow since I'm already reading late) and invitations are beginning to pour out; in fact, they have been doing so all this week and acceptance cards have already being received. It's a busy period in Hobbiton, and an exciting one!

Fast-forward to 2016, it's not being a very exciting day (well, this is exciting, I looked up and it's 20.20!) I'm travelling on Sunday to Alicante for a Ph.D. viva and I'm making the final comments to the thesis. I'm tired, have had a new extractor hood installed today and I'm cleaning up the kitchen between readings. Not as exciting as Bilbo's Party, is it?

"A Long-Expected Party" (III)

Not many details are we given about what is going on in Hobbiton these days, only that all the preparations for the Big Day continue. Here, today, on this day of this Fourth Age, a month ago my Blusqui passed. I think he had fallen in love with Nati and wanted to go with her. Both are now with Misi and with Daphne, the little laurel tree. Till we meet again, all of us.

"A Long-Expected Party" (II)

"A day or two later a rumour (probably started by the knowledgeable Sam) was spread about that there were going to be fireworks - fireworks, what is more, such as had not been seen in the Shire for nigh on a century, not indeed since the Old took died."

I left two days passed so, the rumour has been spread today. I feel in in the air... Gandalf is coming!

My day has barely started but I'm feeling a bit strange. A year ago, as I had been doing in previous years, I had been campaigning against the barbaric festival of the Toro de la Vega. Rompesuelas's fate broke my heart once again, ever since I saw his face when it was announced that he would be the Toro de la Vega 2015. Ever since I got news of that tournament, September had stopped being one of my favourite months. This year, since the tournament has been abolished, I started enjoying it again. However, the tournament has just been changed, and Pelado, yesterday, had to put up with human stupidity. He was not physically tortured, but what about the mental stress that every animal undergoes in those conditions? Why is it that many humans seem to be able to have fun only when humilliating someone they perceive as their inferior? Watching the news yesterday and seeing people defending the old tournament, asking for it to return with pathetic arguments makes me feel ashamed to belong to his species. Pelado has died, anyway, even if not tortured with lances, as it used to be. He has ended up in the slaugherhouse, after being shot a tranquilising dart once he had taken refuge in the forest.

Pelado

 I know, this has nothing to do with The Lord of the Rings, but isn't this a journal of my life while reading it? So here you go.

BOOK I. Chapter I. "A Long-Expected Party" (I)

The opening paragraph is now so familiar that it now seems unreal that the first time I read this book it was not in English, but in Spanish.

The feeling, however, is the same: the anticipation, the cozy setting and, above all, the mystery surrounding Gandalf. From the very beginning it became a magnet and has remained my favourite character. I pictured him so easily in my mind that, even though now I have so many images of him, I can still recollect my original Gandalf. But I'm not there yet. I have just been listening to all the gossip surrounding Bilbo's and Frodo's background and I'm looking forward to the party. But I have to stop at "That very month was September, and as fine as you could ask."

Princesse, Blusqui. This entry is dedicated to you both.

New academic year, new project...

... as if I my plate was not full enough!
Still, this is something that I started doing and failed to complete five years ago (then, however there was no blog involved, just the reading). On this occasion, I want to succeed. Starting next 22nd September I will re-read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for the nth time and write a blog about the experience, only that I will be reading just the part of the story coinciding with the date on which I am reading it. (September 22nd this year falls on a Thursday, just as September 22nd in the book! Isn't that sweet?) One obvious exception has to be made, otherwise I would have to spend years waiting to go on reading: the time that separates Bilbo's Birthday party and departure from Frodo's leaving Bag End will have to be read in one single day, despite the 17 years covered in these chapters. Therefore, on 22nd September I will be reading... hold, on... As I'm writing this I am reconsidering... I can start right now! After all, September 22nd only dawns six pages into the first chapter. Before that, we have the gossip in Hobbiton, the preparations, Gandalf's arrival with fireworks, and no particular details concerning time are given, only that the month is September. We have temporal references such as "That very month was September," "A day or two later," "Days passed and the Day drew nearer," (but we don't know how many days), "The next day," "Before long," "One morning," and so on. The first precise temporal reference is found almost at the end of the 6th page (page 38 in my edition): "Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday the eve of the Party. Anxiety was intense." So I gather I will be reading only those three sentences on Wednesday, September 21st, 2016. I know from previous experience that this will not be the only case.

On the other hand, I will have to concentrate in one single day the rest of "A Long Expected Party", "The Shadow of the Past" and a few pages from "Three is company", until Frodo and the rest are ready to go on the 23rd. And sure enough, my September 22nd 2016 is packed! So I'll get up early to do my reading.

My reading spot, five years ago

 I don't know whether this is the case with everybody, but it certainly is true with me: re-watching a film, re-reading a book, listening again to a song which I haven't listened to for a long time, always brings me back to thinking about the person I was then and the person I am now, the people who were with me then and who are no longer here: little Wicca, Paps, Stöffel, Minus, Fanny, Johnny and Princesse. As I start my journey today, I remember how five years ago The Lord of the Rings accompanied me to Switzerland. I was attending the wedding of Fabienne, one of Matthias's nieces, Stöffel and Adi's eldest daughter. I was left alone with Luna, their cat, for a few hours and I read surrounded by the windows in the dining room, with their magnificent views on the countryside and feeling very much as if I were looking from Bilbo's windows. It was a happy evening.

The view

Luna

 I suppose I could have decided just to do the reading and not keep a blog, but this is also a way of making this experience public, sharing it with anyone who drops by. It makes me happy to start a new project and I definitely will start reading now. 


Today is a month since our lovely Princesse passed and a moon since Blusqui followed her. In the weeks before, as I took care of Princesse - Blusqui's passing was unexpected - parts of Annie Lennox's song "Into the West" kept on coming to my mind, to be more precise "What can you see on the horizon?". I took those seven words as an attack and shook my head off whenever they intruded, wanting to get rid of them, because I was not ready to say goodbye. I am never ready to say goodbye, so I will never say it, just "Till we meet again". After all, the song also says "You and I will meet again". So with this hope, I start my journey, already savouring the opening: "When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End ..."