“Alas, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” (Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings)
We were reminded today, by our friend Mark Sommer, that today is C.S. Lewis’ 111th Birthday, and I thought it would be great to start with a quote from my most favorite movie movies of all time, those based on my favorite books written by Lewis’ friend J.R.R. Tolkien.
Lewis was born November 29, 1898. The date of his death is shared with that of John F. Kennedy. He was a professor at Oxford, where he became friends with Tolkien, and later taught at Cambridge. Tolkien is said to have based the Ents on Lewis – in particular: Treebeard!
Happy Birthday, C.S. Lewis!
Thanks to Mark Sommer for the reminder!
You’re certainly welcome!
I find this completely and utterly awesome! 🙂
He shares my birthday!! Happy B-Day Lewis!!
uhhh CS Lewis did not write lord of the rings.
The article is quite clear on that fact. 🙂
my mom has the same birthday as c.s. lewis!!! awesome!!!!!!
Yes, Paul is merely using the LOTR refrence as Lewis if her were still with us in the Shadowlands would be 111. Tolkien is the only author who came up with a truely memorable quote for such an occasion. On top of that the two of them were great friends and in a careful reading of their works one can see many parallels beween them as they influecned each other in many ways.
Big “non sequitur” for me. C.S. Lewis was an man in his own right, not some character out of Tolkien’s books (same for Tolkien). Fan-ship in general tends to muddle things into one and miss the point.
I mean, Lewis was neither a hobbit in Tolkien’s view nor in his own. I love the books too much to play around with silly, illogical observations like this.
With all due respect, I have no idea what you’re going on about. There’s nothing wrong with what I wrote, and I don’t really understand what it is you’re saying about my fandom vs. yours, as I too love the books. It was through that love that I learned that Tolkien based Treebeard on Lewis…
I think most of us are fans of both Tolkien and Lewis, and I don’t think Mr. Martin meant anything against Tolkien in any way. I think he merely thought of putting this quote alongside the post because quite frankly, the two go along very well.
Happy Birthday, C.S. Lewis!
I don’t see any problem with using this quote from ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. If I were an author, I imagine I would feel rather pleased if someone thought my work was worthy of quoting. For the record, my family and I say lines from the LOTR all the time! Why? Because we have such a great esteem for the books, the movies, and the man who put it all in motion. (Obiviously meaning Tolkien!)
Lionesslucy–Mine, too!
…Are you sure we don’t know each other?
wow that’s funny!! well idk anyone w/ my mom’s bday cept c.s. lewis! hehe 🙂
Paul, no, nothing wrong; I jsut thought it was kind of silly and out of character, and have a hunch the Inklings would have found it laughable, too… sorry for being cranky. The “eleventy-first” birthday was such an idiosyncratically hobbitous concept, that it seems to me rather out of place to apply it to Lewis or Dyson or their grandfathers or any other unrelated person. But like I say, that’s just my own cranky self…
Gotcha… well, when even the C.S. Lewis Foundation does the same thing, using “Eleventy-First” to describe the birthday, I think I’m in good company. Plus, I have a feeling that, were the Inklings still around today, they’d likely be either amused by it, or we’d likely have about 50 more books by them that we’re reading.
I’ve read Narnia a gazzelion of times! And Lord of the rings! Let’s celeabrate C.S. Lewis’ birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Funny, I was reading the fellowship of the ring the other day, actually I had just read the line spoken by Bilbo-‘I’m eleventy-one today!’
Freaky!
idk what all the fuss is about! people quote stuff from all over ALL THE TIME. paul used a very relevant quote from c.s. lewis’ good friend! i thought it was genius. nathan-no offense but i don’t understand why that bugs you.
Shouldn’t that be 111st?
If you’re saying Eleventy-First, then 111st. If you’re saying One-Hundred Eleventh, then 111th. So it’s really either or.