When I was an undergrad, I used Tolkein's edition (borrowed from the library's shelves) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when writing my undergrad thesis. I read the 14th c. poem over Christmas break in front of a smoky wood fire in a mountain cabin; the temperature outside was -20 degrees F, so I spent a lot of time in front of that fire. More than ten years later, I took the book from the library shelves, opened it, and it still smelled of wood smoke! And it wasn't my imagination. SGGK is a great poem--that no one had borrowed the book for over a decade says nothing about the poem. So what if they're dusty! Tim Romano ----- Original Message ----- From: <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2000 6:22 PM Subject: Re: Query > I'm 23 and have read the Cantos for about three years now and am finally at a > point where I can read it and really, I mean REALLY enjoy it. I mean I get > it. I tried working with notes but it's just too slow. It's true: they teach > you to read them. With the ABC, Kulch, and Essays/Prose, you pretty much get > all the extra detail explained without having to actually go out there and > dig up dusty Arnaut Daniel, Dante, and Confucious texts. Of course it's > difficult. But it's probably easier to get into them today. All the extra > text you'd might need is pretty easy to find today circa 2000. There's the > internet. There's four million books on Pound (though they tend to be > useless, they at least can give a foothold or two. > > But that's just me. Who knows. > > > -Erik Bader > >