Dr. Ransom in Malacandra

19 01 2010

The creature, which was still steaming and shaking itself on the back and had obviously not seen him, opened its mouth and began to make noises…

The creature was talking. It had a language…

A new world he had already seen—but a non-human language was a different matter…

The love of knowledge is a kind of madness…

And what might one not discover from the speech of a non-human race? The very form of language itself, the principle behind all possible languages, might fall into his hands. Unconsciously he raised himself on his elbow and stared at the black beast…

Out of The Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis





Revelation

21 09 2009

But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

-excerpt of Revelation by Robert Frost





Finished ‘The Hobbit’

20 02 2009

“Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!” said Bilbo.

“Of course!” said Gandalf. “And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!”

“Thank goodness!” said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.

- Chapter XIX, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Study of Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf

Maurice Sendak, b. 1928
[Study of Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf], 1967
for “The Hobbit”
Pen and ink on paper