Why Tolkien Needed an Audience

“Why would a compulsive Elf-chronicler need encouragement?” asked Brandon Rhodes during his keynote talk at Pygotham 2014, a conference for those interested in the Python programming language.

Nancy Lebovitz drew attention to the video on her blog:

This is a remarkable lecture from a Python conference — it goes into some detail about the writing of The Hobbit and LOTR to talk about the importance of having a audience and the art of criticism, both of which apply to all sorts of writing, including computer programming.

Rhodes namechecks Dr. Diana Pavlac Glyer at 7:13, gladly acknowledging that his talk substantially comes from her book about the Inklings, The Company They Keep.

[Thanks to Bill Higgins for the story.]