I've been trying to locate an article or essay I read years ago. It was,
or at least it began as, a pseudo-analysis of "The Hobbit", satirizing the
popular 1960s custom of overanalyzing the deep psychological "significance" of
every element in stories. Exempli gratia, from memory: when
Bilbo wistfully remembers "frying bacon and eggs", and then gropes for his pipe
and tobacco, that's interpreted as a wish to return to infancy, to the Freudian
stage of "oral gratification". The Freudian significance of his sword is
of course made much of, not to mention his wearing it "inside his breeches"
("Of course! And where else?" quips the author).
The author obviously takes this interpretive motif exactly as seriously as it
deserves to be taken, i.e., not at all. My question is, does anyone
recognize this essay or article? Who wrote it, and where was it
published?
Help!
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Cactus Wren, in the deserts of Far Harad
"Strength is not like standing bravely, not afraid and laughing at bad things. No, strength is standing up, trembling inside and staying on your feet when you feel you must collapse and cry." -- Sylvia Stevens
(Am I the only person who wants to scoop up Sean Bean's voice and lick it off a spoon like chocolate sauce?)
