Tolkien Society Members

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Hey all,

I just received my most recent Amon Hen publication from the Tolkien Society, and so it made me wonder if anyone else on here was a member of the Tolkien Society. I find their publications to be mostly really interesting, and all the original artwork is great. The most recent edition of AH was all about Tom Bombadil, and considering he is my favorite character I was enthralled. Anyways, that is a longwinded way to ask if anyone else here is also a member of that organization.

Also, would it be in bad taste for me to post images/transcripts of articles I have found especially interesting in their publications?

 

[Ent]

Also, would it be in bad taste for me to post images/transcripts of articles I have found especially interesting in their publications?

1. Need to consider copyright issues... for both pics and articles. "It depends" whether such a thing can even be done. If they're only available to 'paying members' of any such site, then thare are likely restrictions.

2. I dappled with the Tolkien Society back in April '22, but quickly noted they were a bit 'stuffy,' opinionated, and (sadly) vitriolic at that time, just like all the other sites clamoring for their opinions to be the only accepted ones... regarding PJs stuff, RoP, and a host of other issues. So I eagerly put them into the 'unwanted and unneeded' category. As noted elsewhere, TTF is the only site I have remained on... and though it had its issues early on too, after I found it in June 22, it seemed it was a good (and the only) place to stay... especially since I could start by doing work on the Wiki, which aided quite a bit in my early learning about 'the deeper Tolkien' which I'd delayed for some 5 decades.

Whether we should publish stuff from them here, even if there are no copyright issues etc., I'll leave to the other Mods...

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Copyright info should appear somewhere in the publication, so check that first -- also their website.

 

[Olorgando]

I only went online at home in late 2013, and one of the firs things I did was become a member of the Tolkien Society UK. I had also considered its German equivalent "Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft" (founded 1997, while the UK one dates from 1969/70; the US version is the oldest), or even both, but decided on the UK original. I renewed my membership in 2014 for four years (the maximum possible), so I have the Amon Hens and Mallorns published in this time.
I found my first JRRT fan site, Council of Elrond, through a list of links to sites recommended by the Tolkien Society, joining CoE in late November.
While I enjoyed my membership in the TS, I quickly found out that CoE was more what I was looking for. Some of the contributors to TS - Charles Noad is or was a member, Shippey weighed in occasionally - were simpy in a class that sailed way over my head back then - and still would.
As I retired in Spring of 2017, attending say one of the yearly Oxonmoots or other events of the TS became a hypothetical possibility, but it stayed hypothetical. My wife is neither the JRRT nerd that I am, nor is she fluent in English, so such an event would have been a waste of time for her. But jetting off to England by myself for a few days was also not an option. By late 2017 I had also joined my second JRRT fan site, Arwen-Undomiel (by now moribund), on the recommendation of (among others) Halasían (as I did in 2019 here on TTF). All things considered, I let my membership in the TS expire in 2018.

 

[Olorgando]

I dappled with the Tolkien Society back in April '22, but quickly noted they were a bit 'stuffy,' opinionated, and (sadly) vitriolic at that time, just like all the other sites ...

There's a huge difference between the Tolkien Societies in the US, US, Germany and several other countries, and fan sites that basically appeared online around the time of PJ's films. The UK and US Tolkien Societies existed more than 30 years before PJ's first film, and up to then JRRT fandom was book fandom, period - pace Bakshi, the BBC & Co.
They are societies with a dues-paying membership. The regularly publish wood-pulp based booklets (Amon Hen, several times a year) and magazines (Mallorn, yearly), attracting contributions by practically all the luminaries whose books we own. They organize yearly events, have elected society officers who also meet yearly. Founding members (this is the case with the US society, too) exchanged letters, and had the occasion to meet personally, with JRRT. TS UK certainly kept contact with Christopher an Priscilla Tolkien over the decades.
If they come across as gate keepers - I wonder if they would reply to you "Of course we are! It's in our statutes! Next question." Not that I know the statutes ...
Part of the attitude might come from regular contact with - I'll saw the Tolkien family. With Christopher passing away in January 2020, and Priscilla in February 2022, maybe @LaurelinBearsFruit can tell us what sort of contact the TS UK continues to have with perhaps Baillie, grandsons Michael George and Simon, and the rest of of the third generation - or fourth: JRRT's three oldest great-grandchildren, that he still personally knew, were born in 1967 and 1969.

 

[Ent]

"Of course we are! It's in our statutes! Next question."

there is no excuse for obnoxiousness, viciousness, arrogance, inflated ego or rudeness.
Not for any reason. Not at any time.

 

[Olorgando]

there is no excuse for obnoxiousness, viciousness, arrogance, inflated ego or rudeness.
Not for any reason. Not at any time.

That's your opinion of their responses. If someone has decidedly greater experience in a field (all of us were (at best late) teenagers when they started out on serious study of JRRT's works - books) and tells you that you'e definitely off-base, then some obnoxious, ego-inflated freshman might consider his seasoned professor as arrogant. Nope, a look in the mirror is where the arrogance is to be found. Less than a handful of us on TTF could hold their own (myself and you definitely excluded) with the knowledge accumulated in TS UK in by now in over 50 years and several generations of members and high-end scholars.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Okay, everybody calm down!

 

[Ent]

and tells you that you'e definitely off-base,

You see... here's the difference.
I never have a problem being told I'm definitely off base. Such things are fantastic.
My problem is with the officious, arrogant folk who call other idiots, demean them, tell them to do such IMPORTANT and INTELLIGENT things as 'read teh books' (in other words, you worm, you're not worthy of my time), etc.

And I don't care who they are or what field they're in, or what they (think they) know... very few hold a candle to me with regard to kindness, desire, and abilty to help othres without offense.

The 'officious batch' of the world needs some serious education. Sadly, they live their lives, and most of them die, never seeing the truths of their shortcomings.

I didn't leave any forum due to a lack of knowledge of the subject(s) at hand. I left them all as they demonstrated a great ignorance I choose not to subject myself to.

 

[Ent]

Okay, everybody calm down!

All will be well, once we get Olorgando on the track of what is being dealt with, rather than what is being said.
Or...perhaps the car should be pulled over, as it's pointed down the wrong roadway at the moment.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

 

[Ent]

True. I shall go back to quietly hourning again, and seek to add more haste to the process.

 

[Olorgando]

. call other idiots, ...

I have a special "fondness" for statements originating west of the Atlantic that use the verb "call".
For whatever reason, "call" and "me" are used (taking things personally) when the statement being replied to points out a factual error in a statement - like "WW II in Europe started on 31 August 1939." A sample answer might be "Are you calling me a liar?!?"
No, I didn't, which you didn't notice, but I'm distinctly liable to refer you to a reliable history book, and shortly after call you an idiot.
There are too many idiots in the world, and my patience for them has been worn down to nil several years ago.
I suppose we differ fundamentally here.

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Holy cow, this really took off in a strange way haha. I have only been a member since July of last year and have found their publications of immense interest. I may or may not attend the next Oxenmoot (I have certainly been pondering it), but I have not personally noticed any particular arrogance or vitriol by the organization's authors/articles. I don't really have any interest in participating beyond that, so it seems pretty legit to me.