I love Bilbo's hairy black stockings. posted by Mister_A at 2:09 PM on May 27, 2010
Those woodcuts are fucking great. But Bilbo with totally hairy legs is creepy. posted by Threeway Handshake at 2:10 PM on May 27, 2010
The weird thing is how instead of the baleful eye of Sauron they just have a picture of Stalin. posted by philip-random at 2:15 PM on May 27, 2010
I had that book! The Russian translation was a bit kiddie, which may explain why it hooked me at, like, age 7. posted by eugenen at 2:15 PM on May 27, 2010
The Hobbit, not the Lord of the Rings. Gollum sure looks weird. These drawings remind me of the little mole, actually, more than anything (example - it's Czech, I think).
Also, if anyone has a copy of that full Russian Hobbit with subtitles, I will pay money. Not lots, but some. posted by Think_Long at 2:21 PM on May 27, 2010
What was up with that creepy/stoned grinning Gandalf? posted by sotonohito at 2:21 PM on May 27, 2010
I had seen several of these, before, in The Annotated Hobbit edited by Douglas Anderson. It also contains illustrations from several other translations (as well as an abundance of genuinely interesting background material). posted by vertigo25 at 2:56 PM on May 27, 2010
Also, if anyone has a copy of that full Russian Hobbit with subtitles, I will pay money. Not lots, but some.
And here it is, all 64 minutes on YouKu.com, but without translation. I'll leave subs up to someone else. Go MetaFilter Detective Team! posted by filthy light thief at 2:57 PM on May 27, 2010 [6 favorites]
The illustrations are wonderful and English Russia is a wonderful blog. posted by Anything at 3:30 PM on May 27, 2010
Can you guess all of the characters depicted here? The hint, the one on the cover is Bilbo.
And there is the question again - can you tell who is who in those?
I am unfamiliar with the English Russia blog... does it usually assume its readers are quite dull children? posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:49 PM on May 27, 2010 [1 favorite]
Those are great. Sort of remind one of Mary Blair's work. Plus, I think it might be time to read the book again. How many times through will that make?
These make perfect sense, given that the Hobbit is a story of the political awakening of a self-satisfied member of the bourgeoisie. The revolutionary activist Gandalf clarifies for Bilbo the depth of his own political alienation. Bilbo's political awakening leads him to reject the values of his class-position and to identify with the plight of the proletarian dwarves. His initial attitude toward the ring is one of rank commodity fetishism, but his political awakening is complete when he recognizes its use-value, faces down Smaug, the arch-oligarch, and sets off a proletarian revolution in the Lonely Mountain. posted by felix betachat at 3:56 PM on May 27, 2010 [8 favorites]
What was up with that creepy/stoned grinning Gandalf?
I know it's stupid but everytime I see cyrillic writing I just can't help reading it as if it were latin...
Xobbns! posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:20 PM on May 27, 2010
I love, love, love it when an artist makes a map. The third image was great. posted by Ritchie at 4:25 PM on May 27, 2010
Love it. I'll never get enough of re-envisioned or obscure illustration sets. posted by Countess Elena at 4:26 PM on May 27, 2010
These are beautiful! I especially love the map, Gollum, Smaug attacking the city in flames, and the battle scene about 4/5ths of the way down, with all the arrows. The different tones, lights and environments conveyed with just black and white shows how masterful this illustrator is. Does anybody know who it is, and can we find their other work? I'd pay money for prints by this person. posted by Mizu at 4:59 PM on May 27, 2010
Love. Although I feel like the Gollum illustration accurately depicts my default spinal posture. (Except that I am totally prettier, kind of.) posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 5:04 PM on May 27, 2010
I don't know if we're having a contest for greatest post of the day or the week or whatever, but if we were, this would be a contender! posted by marxchivist at 7:11 PM on May 27, 2010
In Soviet Russia, ring wears you! posted by Halloween Jack at 8:06 PM on May 27, 2010
I had that book! The Russian translation was a bit kiddie, which may explain why it hooked me at, like, age 7.
I was just thinking the same thing! My Russian is super crummy, but I could read a good half of those pages, and I was wondering if the translation was a bit more geared toward young'uns than the original.
Also, I heart that Gollum. posted by Amanojaku at 9:25 PM on May 27, 2010
Fantastic post!
What was up with that creepy/stoned grinning Gandalf?
Indeed - his character design struck me straight away as looking like a cross between a stoned pimp and Guy Fawkes . . . posted by protorp at 11:00 PM on May 27, 2010
This is just super cool and I totally second the note on how awesome fictional cartography and now i'm not going to bed for another 20 minutes while I ogle these.
So thanks, I guess. posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:06 AM on May 28, 2010
For anyone wondering about the hairy legs, the Russian words for "foot" and "leg" are usually translated as the same word, so seeing that, the illustrator probably thought it meant his whole leg was hairy. Funny how that works. posted by cthuljew at 2:22 AM on May 28, 2010 [2 favorites]
Oh, and I was hoping to avoid this...the thread made it so far...
> In Soviet Russia, ring wears you!
How is this funny? There's no play on words at all. Can we please kill this meme? It wasn't funny 20 years ago, and it isn't funny now. posted by sidereal at 6:20 AM on May 28, 2010 [1 favorite]
Boy, I don't know, there's some kind of recent Russian version of the Hobbit in our library here (Baltimore County Public Library, Pikesville branch) and the illustrations are really hallucinatory, and mnoga awesome. I don't know the illustrator though. I'll try to look it up the next time I get there and bring the name back to this thread (probably be after Memorial Day though.) posted by newdaddy at 5:19 PM on May 28, 2010
posted by Mister_A at 2:09 PM on May 27, 2010