Phobias More Condition_treatment

reviews in brief 96 - "The Return of the son of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm"

JRR Tolkien (edited by Wu Ming 4), The return of the son of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm , Bompiani 2010 (95 pp., 9 €)

and I said no deny: Wu Ming are antipaticuzzi me, but it is undeniable that know how to write, and as agents provocateurs culture are almost always intelligent and insightful.
Then, I do not know if I told you, but I say it now: Tolkien consider a writer well above its many imitators, and it seems a shame to relegate nell'odiosissima category of "children's literature."
said: Wu Ming 4 had already dealt with this text an interesting book that I read and reviewed a few months ago. Now I re-publish, with a range of useful devices.
This is a story born on the sidelines of the "Battle of Maldon ," one of the most famous poems of the ancient Anglo-Saxon literature, focusing on the last heroic battle of the count Beorhtnoth senior British commander fell in a clash with the invading Vikings , il 10 agosto del 991.
In estrema sintesi: Beorhtnoth ha fermato i nemici in una strettoia, dove potrebbe facilmente tenerli inchiodati; ma tutto d'un tratto cambia idea e concede loro di passare per affrontarlo in campo aperto. Grave errore, perché gli avversari, in numero soverchiante, massacrano il conte e il suo esercito per poi dilagare rovinosamente in tutto il paese.
Tolkien compie una doppia operazione, filologica e meta-narrativa. Filologica, perché rilegge uno dei termini-chiave del poema, ofermod , con il quale l'antico poeta definisce il comportamento del conte. Tolkien ne rovescia completamente l'interpretazione: non semplicemente “orgoglio”, ma “orgoglio smisurato”, “temerarietà”. Meta-narrative, because to support his thesis he wrote a hypothetical continuation of the poem, in which two characters, and Tida Totta, get to the battlefield to bring back the headless corpse of the leader.
Both operations have the same end: a radical critique of the ideal heroic, based on the quest for personal glory at the expense of all other considerations. According to the interpretation of Tolkien, Beorhtnoth acted driven by ambition to win a glorious death, regardless of a higher duty, to defend the whole country and the people entrusted to him.
deemed necessary to consider how the epic Tolkien Nazi glorification of heroism superomistico.
The book also includes the original poem and a nice essay Tolkien expert Tom Shippey.