Laura has kindly sent notes which include Tim’s notes from last December at the end:
SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP
13th January 2024
Ian, Tim and Laura
These notes are to be read in conjunction with Laura’s notes dated 9th December 2023.
Chapter 21 Of Túrin Turambar
Laura has just treated herself to the Silmarillion audiobook read by Andy Serkis. She thinks his interpretation of the voices are very good – a little touch of Welsh for the Petty Dwarves although the Elf voices are a bit gruff. Glaurung is a really deep growl with spaces in between each word as if he’s trying to breathe through the smoke! Tim has also treated himself and remarked that Andy Serkis enunciates every proper noun really clearly.
Ian and Tim talked about Tintagel and similarities with Nargothrond eg the bridge, dragons’ heads.
Ian also talked about Elizabeth Wright with reference to Chris’ interest in Tolkien and his women. Professor and Mrs Wright were both philologists and were famous for hosting Yorkshire teas in Oxford. If you were invited, you were with the in crowd. There was further discussion about Edith being left at the Wrights’ door for tea by Tolkien while he went off to meet up with his friends. Ian reminded us that Tolkien was executor to the Wrights’ estate.
Túrin and the outlaws are apparently attacking anyone until after the incident with Beleg, following which they agree to attack only orcs. This agreement is promptly broken when one of the outlaws shoots a Petty Dwarf.
Túrin’s names add to his story although Gwindor tells him his names do not change his arrogant personality/doom. His management badge would have been long! Túrin would now like to be known as…….
There was a long debate about Glaurung’s appearance. (Google to be recommended for looking at lots of illustrations including Tolkien’s own.) Stand by.
“Does Glaurung have legs?”
In most artists’ work, he is shown with legs; where it isn’t clear, it’s because he’s up to his plimsoll line in fields, fire etc. In the book, he is described as crawling but also he “…..cast his forward part across the chasm, and began to draw his bulk after” which is how some snakes move.
Glaurung is also described as the Father of Dragons without any mention of female dragons. Presumably Smaug is a descendant as Glaurung is golden and Smaug is red-gold.
There was then a debate about whether or not the malign characters had their physical appearance formed by nature or nurture. Merry and Pippin grow taller after drinking the Ent draughts therefore changed by their environment although “magic” by the Ents should not be underestimated. Dwarves are always short in Tolkien’s work and our own culture, a word not just used of mythical beings (dwarfs of course in our world).
From the description of the Petty Dwarves circumstances, there is clearly a caste system in the race and they are seen as the lowest and, because of the genocide by the Elves, they will be extinct when Mîm and Ibun die. Laura felt it was odd of Tolkien that he used what appears to be a French word but Ian and Tim said it was a translation of Sindarin. A Sindarin dictionary simply shows the origins, Nogoth Niben, to mean Dwarf and petty!
There were Seven Fathers of the Dwarves. Does this mean that one of them was the ancestor of the Petty Dwarves? Mîm describes Túrin acting as a “Dwarf Lord of old”, thereby calling up memories of what the Petty Dwarves might have been like or that they worked alongside other Dwarves.
Finduilas falls in love with Túrin “against her will”. Laura wondered if she was being used as a pawn by the Valar to achieve their goals although Tim felt it was simply that she fell in love with him and she didn’t want to.
Glaurung addresses Túrin as “captain foolhardy” amongst other titles. As we have discovered, the roots of Tolkien’s own surname mean risk taker!
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Meeting 9/12/2023
Lynn, Eileen, Monique, Tim
(Laura and Ian absent)
Tim’s notes:
Lynn: Túrin born into a family that already knows grief and tragedy.
Elves more mythic
Men seem to be more in the English medieval Romantic tradition – adventure, heroes, etc. Anglo-Norman era onwards, Middle English.
Túrin renames himself every time something happens to him – non-human attributes.
Eileen: form of escapism. Weapons have characteristics.
Monique referred to a girondelle, a literary whimsy, a fantasy.
Lynn: Túrin ’s fatal flaw is his pride, his hubris. He overreacts, all or nothing attitude. His is the only way of seeing things. He has the support of many. His flaw is through the maternal line – Morwen won’t leave to come to Doriath, stubbornness in family.
Monique: Comparisons with Chanson de Roland
Lynn: Byronic hero – Túrin is like Manfred
Reference to Laura’s written comment about ofermod in the context of the Battle of Maldon – overreaching pride.
Tim: Túrin is self-destructive.
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Next time, 10th February, we’ll discuss Chapter 22 Of the Ruin of Doriath and perhaps start on Chapter 23 of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin although this chapter describes a key event and is fairly long, giving us a chance to contrast and compare the cousins, Túrin and Tuor.
Southfarthing Mathom 2012 