Tolkien's RING was a metaphor for the great Psychic Dangers of Philology. To put on the ring is to become invisible, i.e., to leave one's mundane personality behind; to enter the realm of the vicious dead old kings, who are always in there, GLARING at you. Who want to incorporate you into their bloody, world-dominating shenanigans. He knew, as a Catholic, that it was a peril to his soul to do so. He represented his fear of the psychic attraction to the Great-Father Flavored Underworld, with its promise of MASSIVE and UNDIFFERENTIATED power, in describing the effects and temptations of the ring, in LOTR. For me, it's different. I live, breathe, and swim in the world of philology, which has been allotted to me by Fate; it's the outer world -- streets, cars, people -- which seems like an unpleasant dream to me. H. P. Lovecraft was ecstatic to find he was growing deaf, as it meant he'd never have to interact with people ever again. Very bummed to find it was just an accumulation of ear-wax. ;( RELATABLE! For the last few months I've been living in Rome's after-glow, working on Spondanus's Latin crib of the Iliad. Now I'm switching to Japanese, but the other three languages are already there on the page, so my mind has to learn to switch rapidly between all four. Better ask, "How often do you think of the real world, on any given day?" Precisely twice. Walking to my work-place, and walking home. ---Sb |