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Title: J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy) by George Clark, Daniel Timmons ISBN: 0-313-30845-4 Publisher: Greenwood Press Pub. Date: 30 September, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $85.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Best collection of Tolkien articles yet published
Comment: For a long time, Tolkien scholarship has had an uneven character. This isn't the time or place to explain why or give examples, but the appearance of this book, along with the recently published _Tolkien's Legendarium_, suggests that things may be changing and for the better. This collection of a dozen essays, all written by top-notch Tolkien scholars, possesses the highest degree of intellectual rigor and operates within a genuinely scholarly framework of interpretation. (You won't find any fan fluff here!)
The essays may be loosely divided into three main sections. The first comprises essays on the poetics and sources of Tolkien's fiction. The standouts here are Sullivan's "Tolkien the Bard", which suggests and that Tolkien's style may be best understood as an application of oral poetry and orally told story to written medium, and "The Dragon-Lore of Middle-Earth", which takes a close look at what Tolkien took from medieval (and specifically Norse) dragon stories and how he specifically adapted the material to his own purpose. The articles on Tolkien's verse and on his use of _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_is also quite insightful.
The second section tends to be 'comparative' and places Tolkien and his work in juxtaposition with other authors. The most intriguing article here is one that compares Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" with the Sir Philip Sydney's "In Defence of Poetry". What is so exciting about this is not so much the comparison of Tolkien's 'story theory' with that of Sydney, but the analysis of how, for Tolkien, creative writing-- and indeed the very act of subcreation itself-- is gendered masculine. Other articles touch on Tolkie and Lewis, _The Hobbit_ and _King Solomons Mines_, and Tolkien and Milton.
The third and final section is a more eclectic hodgepodge of articles on different subjects, ranging from Tolkien's legacy (and in particular, the ways in which female fantasy-writers have adopted, adapted, and responded to the overwhelming and masculine "shadow of the Ring"), to the elegeic quality of Tolkien's fiction and its concernw ith loss, to the nature of evil, to Tolkien's literary treatment of trees. Of all of these, the last, written by Verlyn Flieger is the most illuminating and advances the most excitin argument. Flieger carefully notes that the representation of trees and forests in _Lord of the Rings_ is *not* so universally favorable and sympathetic. By juxtaposing the Old Forest (and Old Man Willow) with Fangorn Forest (and the Ents), Flieger shows that this issue is more complex, ambiguous, and filled with internal tensions than has generally been assumed. It is, perhaps, the most important essay in this collection-- and may represent Flieger's finest work yet as a Tolkien scholar.
This is an academic book, published by a smaller press, so it's got a hefty pricetag on it-- but it's an outstanding collection of new Tolkien scholarship and I unqualifiedly recommend it to any serious Tolkien scholars. Those with an aversion to scholarly inquiry (a la _Tolkien's Legendarium_) and who prefer more fannish modes of discourse(e. g._Visualizing Middle-Earth_), however, might want to give this a pass.
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Title: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter ISBN: 0618056998 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: June, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World by Verlyn Flieger ISBN: 0873387449 Publisher: Kent State University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolken Created a New Mythology by T. A. Shippey, Tom A. Shippey ISBN: 0618257608 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: J.R.R. Tolkien Companion (Two Volume Box Set) by Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull ISBN: 0618391134 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $70.00 |
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Title: Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth by John Garth ISBN: 0618331298 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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