EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW • 人物專訪 2023 UMAGAZINE 28 • 澳大新語 49 There have been many adaptations of this classic work, from radio shows to the movie series directed by Peter Jackson, to the TV series on Amazon Prime. As Prof Groom points out, the most admirable thing about Tolkien’s novels lies in his fertile imagination. This imagination was able to conjure the boundless Middle-earth, which is a fantastical world inhabited by different species, each with their own languages, scripts, and customs, all crafted in astonishing detail. He adds, ‘The younger generation in the 21st century nowadays also have their own imagination and understanding of Middle-earth; they are breathing new life into Tolkien’s works through reinterpretation.’ More often than not, writers use existing places and peoples to tell their stories, with an ending already planned carefully in their minds. However, Tolkien did not follow this rule. As explained by Prof Groom, Middle-earth was originally not as detailed as it appeared later. Tolkien was constantly designing the characters and planning the history of Middle-earth as he was writing—he was thinking on his feet. It also explains why the stories are full of deliberate contradictions and ambiguities. ‘This reflects the reality,’ explains Prof Groom. ‘It is never possible to look at the world holistically. There is always something that goes against your understanding or aesthetics. Therefore, as you read about Middle-earth, you can also see how Tolkien explores this legendarium together with his readers. This is very bold creative writing,’ he adds. Having studied Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings for many years, Prof Groom’s book of literary criticism Twenty-First-Century Tolkien: What Middle-Earth Means To Us Today, published by the British publishing doctorate degrees. Well-read as he is, Prof Groom has a keen interest in biography. In particular, as a child he was fascinated by the biographies of those who were involved in the major conflicts in the 20th century. ‘As a literary genre, biography can be seen as an additional source of history. I read The Red Fighter Pilot: The Autobiography of the Red Baron when I was very young: The Fokker triplane he piloted was amazing,’ says Prof Groom. Prof Groom has been writing stories since he was seven. While his schoolmates’ compositions were generally one to two pages in length, Groom could easily write ten pages. Moreover, as he read, he thought about his relationship with the particular story or book. He would also write down inspirations he derived from reading. The more he wrote, the more he realised he was writing literary criticism. The literary works read by Prof Groom span many genres, from Shakespeare’s plays to the classic stories of Charles Dickens, from which Groom hopes to understand more about life. However, he is still enamoured of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. According to Prof Groom, most of Tolkien’s published stories were written during World War II between 1936 and 1949. The plots of many of his works depict wars between different ethnic groups, which would easily encourage people to associate the fictional stories with the real world. ‘What should we do in the face of a seemingly hopeless endgame? How do we find a balance between success and failure? I guess we are also exploring human nature when we try to answer these questions,’ says Prof Groom. Boldness in Creative Writing The Lord of the Rings has stood the test of time.
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