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Alveric
Menegroth
Apr 20, 1:37pm
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typographic anomaly of Bilbo's speech
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Here's an odd question maybe.
In Fellowship chapter 1, Bilbo's farewell speech is entirely in italics. When the gathered hobbits speak ('Hear! Hear!' etc) it's in quotation marks, and not italicized. But when Bilbo speaks here it's not quoted and it's in italics. He doesn't 'speak' that way elsewhere, and I can't think of anywhere else where a character's entire speech is in italics.
Any idea why?
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DGHCaretaker
Nargothrond
Apr 20, 3:54pm
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There is generous usage of italics throughout the book. You specify speech, but the answer more likely lies in the pattern of usage and not a speech in particular. We can probably discount all poetry in the analysis because that use is obvious. There's a passage of italicized speech shortly before the one you mention, by the Gaffer, beginning with "Elves and Dragons! [unitalicized "I says to him."] Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you..."
There's more usage of italicized dialogue in the "Strider" chapter, for example.
These are perhaps past tense quotes said in the present first person.
(This post was edited by DGHCaretaker on Apr 20, 3:55pm)
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squire
Gondolin
Apr 20, 5:59pm
Post #3 of 6
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It is an interesting point of usage
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As noted, Bilbo's speech is not the only place where Tolkien italicizes a quoted line of speech rather than placing it between apostrophes. But it's a relatively rare device.
Reading the Long-Expected Party speech, I see that Bilbo's formal remarks, in italics, are interspersed with an ongoing commentary by the narrator about the crowd's reception of and reactions to the remarks - all within any given paragraph. To have used quotation marks would have broken these paragraphs wide open, and lost the comic effect of the in-real-time commentary, I think.
This reasoning is supported by a look at the earliest drafts of the speech, in the very beginning of History of Middle-earth Vol. 6, 'The Return of the Shadow'. The 'First Version' as published by C. Tolkien does indeed use single apostrophes as quotation marks for Bilbo's words, interspersed with unquoted commentary, within the paragraphs. And it's quite tricky to read!
Sure enough, even though Tolkien was working in manuscript not a printed text, he must have seen the problem, because a few pages later we have the 'Second Version' and lo and behold, Bilbo's remarks are italicized without quote marks - I imagine in manuscript they were underlined, of course. And the paragraphs of Bilbo-vs.-his-listeners are much easier for the eye to read.
And Tolkien liked it and stuck with it, and that's what we still have for this particular form of his story-telling.
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Unfortunately my longtime internet service provider abandoned its hosting operations last year. I no longer have any online materials to share with the TORn community.
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uncle Iorlas
Nargothrond
Apr 20, 9:22pm
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I always just took it to represent the sound of his far-off raised voice. Our point of view throughout the Party is that of the guests, not Bilbo’s own.
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Ettelewen
Nargothrond
Apr 21, 11:43pm
Post #5 of 6
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I've felt the italicized speech is to give the effect of the listener as an observer in the group, probably not close to Bilbo but farther away, so that we're not as intimately involved.
My take. An interesting point in Tolkien's writing.
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uncle Iorlas
Nargothrond
Apr 22, 2:37pm
Post #6 of 6
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You know, thinking of the end of the scene
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it occurs to me that one could argue the point of view character here is Frodo. Maybe not, though, Frodo would presumably be seated at Bilbo’s own table.
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