As I mentioned in my last post, I started reading the The Hobbit again as part of my 101 in 1001 list. I am almost 100 pages in and absolutely LOVING it. Seriously, my lit. major and book worm alter egos are currently having a contest to see who can geek out more. So far it's pretty much a tie, but I'll keep you posted. Promise. But, the purpose of this post it NOT to reveal how much of a geek I am (if you're reading this you probably already know I am exponentially "geeky"), but rather to share with you part of the brief preface printed in my edition of The Hobbit. It was written by Peter S. Beagle in 1973 and I think he eloquently captures the reason those of us who love fantasy series get so wrapped up in fictional worlds filled with magic and make-believe. He writes:
...The impulse is being called reactionary now, but lovers of Middle-earth want to go there. I myself would like a shot.
For in the end it is Middle-earth and its dwellers that we love, not Tolkien's considerable gifts in showing is to us. I said once that the world he charts was there long before him, and I still believe it. He is a great enough magician to tap our most common nightmares, day-dreams and twilight fantasies, but he never invented them either: he found them a place to live, a green alternative to each day's madness here in a poisoned world. We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discovers -- thieves planting flags, murders carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams.
So here's to Tolkien, Rowling and all the other "colonizer's of dreams." Thank you for giving us an escape and revealing to us the worlds that have long existed in our minds and our hearts.
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