Lacking Natural Simplicity

Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings, by Lin Carter; Ballantine Books, first printing March, 1969. I think most of Carter's analysis has been superseded by later studies, but he had a few interesting things. I found his summary of the history of early fantasy interesting, in particular the chapters entitled Fantasy in the Classical Epic, Fantasy in the Chanson de Geste, and Fantasy in the Medieval Romance, and The Men Who Invented Fantasy. The chapter Postscript: After Tolkien also discussed a couple of books that I very much enjoyed during my childhood and of which I'd forgotten the author, Carol Kendall, and titles, The Gamage Cup (1959) and The Whisper of Glocken (1965), so I was overjoyed to find that.

Zatoichi no uta ga kikoeru, also known as The Blind Swordsman's Vengance, 1966. Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka, story by Kan Shimozawa, and scenario by Hajime Takaiwa. A little more introspective than is usual for Zatoichi. Good.