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Scholarly visit to Tolkien's world

By STEPHANIE HAYES
Published September 28, 2006

TAMPA - J.R.R. Tolkien invented a fantastical world of elves, dwarves and Hobbits. He wielded the pen behind some of the most popular stories in history.

But as Tom Shippey recalled, the author had a soft spot for sport.

"Tolkien was quite interested to hear me talk about the rugby scores," said Shippey, who played rugby at the same school where Tolkien once did.

Shippey, 63, a renowned Tolkien scholar and consultant on the Lord of the Rings film series, spoke Wednesday to Unversity of South Florida professor Rick Wilber's Mass Communications and Society class.

Shippey told how Tolkien wrote stories on the back of his students' exams, and that it's possible to date much of his work by flipping to the back side where students dated their papers.

Students peppered Shippey with questions. And then one student wrapped up the session with a big, college-style wham.

Did Tolkien or C.S. Lewis do anything to "enhance their creativity?"

Shippey chuckled.

"They drank a lot," he said. "By American standards, they were just incurable binge drinkers."

Shippey wrote and edited several books including The Road to Middle-earth and JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century.

Shippey said he thinks Tolkien would appreciate the films' success.

"All his life, people were telling him, 'This is no good, you're not getting anywhere, you're flogging a dead horse.' And actually seeing it be a massive, total all-encompassing world success, he would have thought 'ha ha ha.' "

[Last modified September 28, 2006, 01:10:57]