Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
And Bored of the Rings is the greatest book ever written. You heard it here, folks!
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Perhaps a remedial reading course? That quote from the Foreword referred to the original version of the National Lampoon's parody of Lord of the Rings. The version that was published? To quote what the Foreword had to say about that version:
The next day, handicapped by near-fatal hangovers and the loss of all our bodily hair (but that’s another story), we sat down at two supercharged, fuel-injected, 345-hp Smith Coronas and knocked off the opus you’re about to read before tiffin. (And we take tiffin pretty durn early in these parts, buckaroo.) The result, as you are about to see for yourself, was a book as readable as Linear A and of about the same literary value as an autographed gatefold of St. Simon Stylites.
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As for any inner meanings or ‘message,’ ” as Professor T. said in his foreword, there is none herein except that which you may read into it yourself. (Hint: What did P. T. Barnum say was “born every minute”?) Through this book, we hope, the reader may find deeper insights not only into the nature of literary piracy, but into his own character as well. (Hint: What is missing from this famous quotation? “A —— and his —— soon are ——.” You have three minutes. Ready, set, go!)—Foreword to
Bored of Rings
That version reached the New York Times best seller list, has been continuously available since it's original 1969 publication and has been translated in 11 or 12 languages. H. L. Mencken was right!
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No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly."—H. L. Mencken, a column in the Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Sept. 18, 1926