Inklings Festival Thoughts

 This is perhaps the third year I have attended an annual festival in my hometown that celebrates all things connected with the Inklings. I took notes during some of the talks and wanted to write them down here so that, if I ever feel the need, I can reference them again.

Talk 1: "Saving the Shire: Ascetic Renunciation and Love of Home in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings" by Richard Rohlin

Well, that's quite a long name. Rohlin is a philologist who talked about what "home" means according to Sir Roger Scruton (not sure who he was, but he passed away recently), but here I simply wish to record the interpretive insights Rohlin provided into Tolkien's most famous works. I weep inside when I hear a pro dive into the deeper significance of literary works because I never get this stuff myself.

- Beorn has a strong sense of his home; it is strong enough that he can name everything that is in his domain. Think of how well you have to know your house and yard not only to know everything it holds, but to know each individual item's name; that's the sort of knowledge I at least assume Rohlin was saying Beorn possessed.

- At the beginning of the book, Bilbo is presented as two halves of a person, not a whole person; this comes from the discussion of the "Took side" and the "Baggins side"

- Whenever Bilbo is feeling stressed or worried, Rohlin notes that he seems to crave eggs and bacon...this dish, or at least bacon, is mentioned something like six or seven times throughout the Hobbit

- Gollum's hunger and his love of certain creature comforts and home are an exaggeration of Bilbo's own sedentary tendencies

- When the dwarves start singing "Far over the Misty Mountains" in his house, Bilbo has a longing for exploring caves and fingering gold - this is a foreshadowing of events that literally happen later in the story (mind blown!)

- Thorin's statement about more of us valuing food and cheer and song over hoarded gold is a synopsis of the entire story of The Hobbit: we start off with Bilbo valuing food and cheer and song, and it ends with Smaug's hoarded gold.

- Rohlin points out that no one ever quotes the rest of Thorin's quote - about how, merry or not, he must leave this life now. This world is not our home, so making our houses areas of complete comfort for ourselves is not the ultimate end for us, nor is it the ultimate happiness even in this mortal life.

- It's not the gold in the story that is evil - it's hoarded gold or treasure that is bad. Bilbo doesn't come to a bad end because he doesn't hoard the Arkenstone - he hands it over to someone else

- In the LOTR, Frodo pretty much says he'd do anything to save his home, but perhaps implies the world isn't worth it to him to save it if the Shire isn't saved. (refer to his quote about knowing the Shire is behind, it's a steady place to stand, even if he can't put his feet there again, etc.)

- Frodo's quest from Lothlorien is a Lenten journey (maybe exactly 40 days?)

- March 25th is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, yes, but it is also the traditional date of Good Friday

Talk 2: "David Jones: History & Sacrament as Home" by Fr. Gabriel Rochelle

I wasn't quite as big a fan of this talk, but the main thing I took away from it is a cool Welsh word,  hiraeth, which means "a horizon that keeps receding" and means longing, yearning for a homeland (that can never be satisfied, by the way), a longing for the present which is not attainable, and/or the feeling exiles have.

Seminar 2: "The Art of Salting Pigs" by Anthony Jacobs

- Pork is most popular for curing, followed by beef, but any animal flesh can be cured

- Salt is used; it's drawn into the muscle, reduces water content in the meat

- Saltpeter is a thing; it increases preservative qualities, preserves the color and changes the texture of the meat (and maybe saltpeter has been used for a long time?)

- When cured meat is cooked it maintains the pink/red color (think corned beef)

- Some cured meats can be eaten as is after they've been cured (some hard sausages, etc.), but some you still definitely want to cook

- The muscle meat is cured more often than the organs

- Can cure the meat, or cure and then smoke it

- Keep cured meat in a cool, kind of humid place; if too dry, you might get something called "case hardening"

- If black mold is growing on the outside of the hard sausage, you should be concerned; if it's only white or green, that's apparently common (just make sure you don't eat the casing - you're not supposed to, anyway)

- A dry cure/dry salting is where you rub salt into the meat or just bury the meat in salt

- A wet curing is submerging the meat in brine, turning it every so often

- When you kill an animal, you have to cut and cure it either before or after rigor mortis; otherwise, the texture is off

Seminar 3: "'Gondolin' & Other Perfect Names: A Philologist's Analysis of How Tolkien Creates a Sense of Place" by Richard Rohlin

I liked this guy's presentations. Good speaker, and a Tolkien scholar (his words, not mine)

- People nowadays get into philology in one of two ways: Scandinavian death metal music or Tolkien (again, his words)

- Tolkien writes The LOTR from the viewpoint of the least knowledgeable character in the scene (often the Hobbits, sometimes Gimli, etc.); this lets us see Middle Earth with fresh eyes all the time (another mind blowing moment)