12 Aug, 2019
2019-8-12 2:26:52 PM UTC
12 Aug, 2019
2019-8-12 3:36:48 PM UTC
Stu wrote:
Thanks for the updates. All I could think was "Hey those Tolkien collectors and enthusiasts are all old people". Then I looked in the mirror....
Bah :(
My father is a Stamp Collector, and he tells me regularly that whenever he goes to a Stamp Fair or conference, everyone is really old, like himself, and he worries about the future of Stamp Collecting.
However, having just attended Tolkien 2019 last week, did I see the same issue for Tolkien fans and collectors? Absolutely not, Tom Shippey said at the event that he was wrong describing Tolkien in the 20th century as Author of the Century, he thinks that he is Author of the 21st Century as well.
12 Aug, 2019
2019-8-12 9:29:52 PM UTC
Trotter wrote:
Stu wrote:
Thanks for the updates. All I could think was "Hey those Tolkien collectors and enthusiasts are all old people". Then I looked in the mirror....
Bah :(
My father is a Stamp Collector, and he tells me regularly that whenever he goes to a Stamp Fair or conference, everyone is really old, like himself, and he worries about the future of Stamp Collecting.
However, having just attended Tolkien 2019 last week, did I see the same issue for Tolkien fans and collectors? Absolutely not, Tom Shippey said at the event that he was wrong describing Tolkien in the 20th century as Author of the Century, he thinks that he is Author of the 21st Century as well.
Stamp collecting is effectively dead. I don't think Tolkien will have (or has) any lack of younger fans, but I think it is reasonably obvious that society type events reflect an older demographic for the most part (based on all the pictures I have seen, we can clearly see that 40+ seems to be pretty common). Typically older people have the spare time and the money for this kind of thing.
I'm not sure we can say he is Author of the 21st century, given the 80 years we still have to run. I hope he ISN'T because it would be sad statement on the future of the human race if we couldn't find a single person to do better in the next 80 years!
14 Aug, 2019
2019-8-14 10:50:17 AM UTC
I collect stamps and I don’t think being in ones 30s counts as being old (I hope not anyway!), but indeed, it is mostly an old man’s hobby these days
14 Aug, 2019
2019-8-14 9:57:15 PM UTC
Eorl wrote:
I collect stamps and I don’t think being in ones 30s counts as being old (I hope not anyway!), but indeed, it is mostly an old man’s hobby these days
Yeah - My original point was intended to be a tongue in cheek observation, and old/young is obviously a matter of perspective. My point really was that it was really not a young crowd at that event. The photos are very much evidence of that. Put it this way, I'm nearly 50, and I *definitely* don't consider myself young ('cos I'm not), and I would have fitted in just fine.
16 Aug, 2019
2019-8-16 2:05:59 PM UTC
Thank you Tolkieniano, was waiting for this!
16 Aug, 2019
2019-8-16 4:19:50 PM UTC
Mr. Shippey was fantastic as always, it is a pleasure to listen to him speaking.
I hope Tolkieniano you will share a link with your speech about Tolkien's Library, would be really interested to hear it.
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