XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.inklings   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message    
   Paul S. Person  spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > On Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:56:34 GMT, Igenlode Wordsmith   
   >  wrote:   
   >>   
      
      
      
   >> What was the attempt -- mentioned here -- by Tolkien to rewrite   
   >> "The Hobbit" in the style of the Appendices to the Lord of the   
   >> Rings which he gave up after two chapters? I don't think I've   
   >> encountered that one.   
   >   
   > The second volume of /The History of The Hobbit/ presents it in   
   > full.   
   >   
   > IIRC, it is basically a rewrite of the first two chapters or so,   
   > with a different style. I don't recall the different style being   
   > that of the LOTR Appendices, but it has been a while since I read   
   > any of the relevant material.   
      
   Normally referred to as the '1960 Hobbit' it was, as Paul says, an   
   attempt to rewrite _The Hobbit_ to be more in the style of _The Lord   
   of the Rings_ -- the appendix Bratman thinks of may have been the   
   text now known as 'The Quest of Erebor' which was written to be an   
   appendix for LotR (Rateliff, in _The History of the Hobbit_ certainly   
   implies that this was an inspiration), but which was abandoned   
   because of the size, though a few hints did make it into the   
   published appendices (IIRC the hints are in the text on Durin's Folk   
   in appendix A). "The Quest of Erebor" can now be found in _The   
   Annotated Hobbit_ and in _Unfinished Tales_ (in, IIRC, slightly   
   different versions).   
      
   I cannot help but find Rateliff's criticism of the 1960 Hobbit to be   
   rather far from the mark -- I don't think that Bilbo is being made   
   considerably more foolish or bumbling than he is in the book as it is   
   now (nor do I think that this is true for 'The Quest of Erebor' --   
   anyone who stop to think about it ought to be able to get a good idea   
   of how Bilbo must have appeared to the Dwarves in Bag End, and   
   'fatuous' really only begins to describe it).  Rateliff seems very   
   determined to distance himself (and Tolkien) from the views of _The   
   Hobbit_ that are implied in 'The Quest of Erebor', in the 1960 Hobbit   
   and in some of Tolkien's published letters, but though Tolkien did   
   abandon the attempt to completely rewrite the book, I doubt that it   
   was because he became satisfied with it.   
      
   > The effort stopped when a publisher's reader, having read the   
   > material produced so far, said (more or less) that it was very   
   > nice, but it was not /The Hobbit/.   
      
   According to Rateliff, Christopher Tolkien says that the reader was   
   an unidentified female friend of Tolkien's.   
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer   
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded   
       gold, it would be a merrier world.   
    - Thorin Oakenshield, /The Hobbit/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)