The Tolkien Reader

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The Tolkien Reader
Tolkien reader.jpg
Cover of the first edition
Author J. R. R. Tolkien
IllustratorPauline Baynes [1]
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fantasy short stories, play, essay, poetry
Publisher Ballantine Books
Publication date
September 1966 [2]
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pagesxvi, 24, 112, 79, 64 pp (contents separately paginated)
ISBN 0-345-34506-1 (reprint)
OCLC 49979134
Preceded by Tree and Leaf  
Followed by The Road Goes Ever On  

The Tolkien Reader is an anthology of works by J. R. R. Tolkien. It includes a variety of short stories, poems, a play and some non-fiction. It compiles material previously published as three separate shorter books ( Tree and Leaf, Farmer Giles of Ham, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ), together with one additional piece and introductory material. It was published in 1966 by Ballantine Books in the USA. [3]

Contents

Most of these works appeared in journals, magazines, or books years before the publication of The Tolkien Reader. The earliest published pieces are the poems "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" and "The Hoard", both of which were first published in 1923. [4] They were reprinted together with a variety of other poems in the book The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962, and the entire book was included in The Tolkien Reader in 1966. [5] The section titled Tree and Leaf is also a reprint. It was published as a book bearing the same name in 1964, and consists of material initially published in the 1940s. [6] The book Farmer Giles of Ham was published in 1949, and unlike The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Tree and Leaf, it did not merge previously published material, although unpublished versions of the story had existed since the 1920s. [7] "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" was first printed in an academic journal in 1953. [8]

The "Publisher's Note" and "Tolkien's Magic Ring" are the only works in the book which Tolkien did not write. They are also the only parts of the book which were written in the same year that The Tolkien Reader was published. [5]

Context

J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the works contained within The Tolkien Reader in different contexts and for different purposes. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil began as a single poem, inspired by a Dutch doll belonging to Tolkien's son, Michael. Tolkien wrote the poem as a form of entertainment for his children, but by 1934 it had been published in The Oxford Magazine. [9]  In October 1961, Tolkien's aunt Jane Neave encouraged him to put together a small book which would have "Tom Bombadil at the heart of it." [10] Tolkien took her advice and a year later Allen & Unwin published The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. [10] It contains both older works, such as "Oliphaunt" (1927), and works written specifically for the book, such as "Tom Bombadil Goes Boating" (1962). [11] The collection has connections to Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings . There are a few points in the trilogy where the main characters recite or sing the poems in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Frodo sings “The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late,” during his stay at The Prancing Pony in Bree, and Samwise recites “Oliphaunt” during a battle. [12] The title character of the poems, Tom Bombadil, appears on several occasions in the series, one time being when he rescues Frodo from the Barrow-wights in The Fellowship of the Ring . [13]

Farmer Giles of Ham, a tale about a “semilegendary England,” grew out of Tolkien's curiosity about the etymology of place-names, particularly the name “Worminghall.” Like The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, it was originally a story which he told to his children, but which was later published. [7] The year of publication was 1949, the same year that Tolkien finished The Lord of the Rings. It is generally considered to be a light, comical read in which Tolkien “laughs good-humoredly at much that is taken most seriously by his epic.” [12]  Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon in Oxford at the time, and scholars assert that Tolkien wrote Farmer Giles of Ham as a mockery of the discipline of philology, which was his area of expertise. [14]

Other works, such as “On Fairy Stories” and “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son” were contributions to academia. Tolkien was a professor of English Language and Literature, [15] and “On Fairy Stories” was initially a lecture, delivered in 1939 at the University of St. Andrews. [16]  “Leaf by Niggle,” first published in 1945, [6] is a short story that Tolkien wrote to accompany “On Fairy Stories,” and which some have described as an autobiographical allegory. [17]

“The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son” was a submission for the English Association's Essays and Studies for 1953, which Tolkien wrote while he was teaching at the University of Oxford sometime before 1945. [18] [19]

Peter S. Beagle's five-part introduction "Tolkien's Magic Ring" serves as an accompaniment to works in The Tolkien Reader. Beagle was familiar with Tolkien's writing, having previously collaborated with Chris Conkling on a screenplay for The Lord of the Rings. [20] In "Tolkien's Magic Ring", which was first published in Holiday Magazine in 1966, Beagle gives the reader a short summary of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. [21]

Contents

TitlePublication DatePublication LocationContentType
"Publisher's Note" 1966The Tolkien Reader by Ballantine Publishing Group An overview of the contents of The Tolkien Reader. A short description is provided for each of the works contained within the book. [22] Overview
"Tolkien's Magic Ring" 1966Holiday Magazine by Curtis Publishing Co. An introduction to the world of J. R. R. Tolkien by Peter S. Beagle. It provides short descriptions of J. R. R. Tolkien's books The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. [21] [23] Introduction
“The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son” 1953Essays and Studies for 1953 by the English Association I. “The Death of Beorhtnoth”: the events of “Beorhtnoth’s Death” are outlined. Following this is an analysis of the Battle of Maldon, which was fought between the English and the Danes in 991. [24]

II. “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son”: Torhthelm, a poet, and Tídwald, a farmer, go to the battlefield to retrieve the body of their slain master, Beorhtnoth. The men search through the bodies until they have found Beorhtnoth, whereafter they put the corpse on a wagon and travel to Ely. As they approach the abbey of Ely, they hear the monks singing a dirge. [25] [26]

III. “Ofermod”: the concept of heroism is discussed and critiqued. [26] [27]

Essay

Play

Essay

Tree and Leaf 1964Tree and Leaf by George Allen Unwin Ltd. "On Fairy-Stories": Tolkien discusses the definition, origin and purpose of fairy stories. [28]

"Leaf by Niggle": a painter named Niggle paints an elaborate picture of a tree. Duties and a journey eventually force Niggle to abandon his painting. A small fragment of the picture - depicting a single leaf - ends up in a museum. Niggle travels to the country of the Tree and Forest, the place which he had painted from afar. [29]

Essay

Short story

Farmer Giles of Ham 1949Farmer Giles of Ham by George Allen Unwin Ltd. Ægidius Ahenobarbus Julius Agricola de Hammo, known colloquially as Farmer Giles of Ham, wakes up to find that a giant has killed his cow. Giles manages to drive the giant away but is later forced to take action again when a dragon attacks the kingdom. Giles manages to build an alliance with the dragon and win his hoard of gold. In the end he builds his own “Little Kingdom”, which he rules over. [7] Short story
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil 1962The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by George Allen Unwin Ltd. Sixteen poems including "Errantry", "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late", "Fastitocalon", and "The Sea-Bell", with a frame story preface that pretends Tolkien found the poems. [30] Poetry

Critical reception

The English earl Beorhtnoth, who fought in the Battle of Maldon. He is the titular character of Tolkien's essay and play "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son." Byrhtnoth statue.jpg
The English earl Beorhtnoth, who fought in the Battle of Maldon. He is the titular character of Tolkien's essay and play "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son."

"On Fairy-Stories" has received both praise and criticism from scholars. Tom Shippey describes the essay as “Tolkien’s least successful if most discussed piece of argumentative prose” and as coming “perilously close to whimsy”. [31] J. Reilly proposes that the essay can be used as a guide for understanding Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings. He makes the case that “the genre and the meaning of the trilogy are to be found in his essay on fairy stories.” [32] Another scholar, Tanya Caroline Wood, calls attention to the similarities between Tolkien's “Of Fairy-Stories” and Sir Philip Sidney's Defense of Poesy . She qualifies both writers as “Renaissance Men,” based on her observation that both of their works demonstrate elements of Renaissance philosophy. [33]

“The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son” has also received scholarly attention. Shippey praises the work, arguing that Tolkien's interpretation of The Battle of Maldon is one of the few to correctly identify the poem's main message. [34]

In his essay “J.R.R. Tolkien and the True Hero”, George Clark writes about how works like “Homecoming” demonstrate Tolkien's fascination with Anglo-Saxon literature. He points out what he believes to be an incongruence between Tolkien's Catholic faith and his obsession with narratives that have “no explicitly Christian references”. [35]

Adaptations

Radio adaptations of Farmer Giles of Ham and Leaf by Niggle were included in the BBC Radio 5 series Tales from a Perilous Realm. The recording was released in 1993. [36] These two works have also been made into theatrical dramatisations in Sweden and the Netherlands. [37]

In 2016, The Puppet State Theatre Company premiered a theatrical rendition of Leaf by Niggle, [38] and they have performed the play several times since. [39] [40]  

Editions

Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, released a second edition of The Tolkien Reader in 1986. [41] [42]

Similar collections

Among similar collections of Tolkien's minor works are Poems and Stories (Allen & Unwin 1980, illustrated by Pauline Baynes) and Tales from the Perilous Realm (HarperCollins 1997, without illustrations; revised edition illustrated by Alan Lee, 2008).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf by Niggle</span> Short story by J. R. R. Tolkien

"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1938–39 and first published in the Dublin Review in January 1945. It was reprinted in Tolkien's book Tree and Leaf, and in several later collections. Contrary to Tolkien's claim that he despised allegory in any form, the story is an allegory of Tolkien's own creative process, and, to an extent, of his own life, following the structure of Dante's Purgatorio. It also expresses his philosophy of divine creation and human sub-creation. The story came to him in a dream.

Goldberry is a character from the works of the author J. R. R. Tolkien. She first appeared in print in a 1934 poem, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, where she appears as the wife of Tom Bombadil. Also known as the "River-woman's daughter", she is described as a beautiful, youthful woman with golden hair. She is best known from her appearance as a supporting character in Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1954 and 1955.

<i>Smith of Wootton Major</i> 1967 novella by J. R. R. Tolkien

Smith of Wootton Major, first published in 1967, is a novella by J. R. R. Tolkien. It tells the tale of a Great Cake, baked for the once in twenty-four year Feast of Good Children. The Master Cook, Nokes, hides some trinkets in the cake for the children to find; one is a star he found in an old spice box. A boy, Smith, swallows the star. On his tenth birthday the star appears on his forehead, and he starts to roam the Land of Faery. After twenty-four years the Feast comes around again, and Smith surrenders the star to Alf, the new Master Cook. Alf bakes the star into a new Great Cake for another child to find.

<i>Tree and Leaf</i> 1964 book by J. R. R. Tolkien

Tree and Leaf is a small book published in 1964, containing two works by J. R. R. Tolkien:

<i>The Adventures of Tom Bombadil</i> 1962 poetry collection by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a 1962 collection of poetry by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book contains 16 poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, a character encountered by Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well. The book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium.

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Old Forest was a daunting and ancient woodland just beyond the eastern borders of the Shire. Its first and main appearance in print was in the chapter of the 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring titled "The Old Forest". The hobbits of the Shire found the forest hostile and dangerous; the nearest, the Bucklanders, planted a great hedge to border the forest and cleared a strip of land next to it. A malign tree-spirit, Old Man Willow, grew beside the River Withywindle in the centre of the forest, controlling most of it.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe. It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.

"Errantry" is a three-page poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in The Oxford Magazine in 1933. It was included in revised and extended form in Tolkien's 1962 collection of short poems, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Donald Swann set the poem to music in his 1967 song cycle, The Road Goes Ever On.

"Mythopoeia" is a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien. The word mythopoeia means myth-making, and has been used in English since at least 1846.

<i>The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelms Son</i> 1953 J. R. R. Tolkien poem

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son is a work by J. R. R. Tolkien originally published in 1953 in volume 6 of the scholarly journal Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, and later republished in 1966 in The Tolkien Reader; it is also included in the most recent edition of Tree and Leaf. It is a work of historical fiction, inspired by the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. It is written in the form of an alliterative poem, but is also a play, being mainly a dialogue between two characters in the aftermath of the Battle of Maldon. The work was accompanied by two essays, also by Tolkien, one before and one after the main work. The work, as published, was thus presented as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. R. R. Tolkien bibliography</span> Comprehensive list of books written by the author

This is a list of all the published works of the English writer and philologist J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien's works were published before and after his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Man Willow</span> Evil character in Tolkiens fiction

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy The Lord of the Rings, Old Man Willow is a malign tree-spirit of great age in Tom Bombadil's Old Forest, appearing physically as a large willow tree beside the River Withywindle, but spreading his influence throughout the forest. He is the first hostile character encountered by the Hobbits after they leave the Shire.

"Fastitocalon" is a medieval-style poem by J. R. R. Tolkien about a gigantic sea turtle. The setting is explicitly Middle-earth. The poem is included in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

<i>The Fellowship of the Ring</i> 1954 part of novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The action takes place in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. The book was first published on 29 July 1954 in the United Kingdom. The volume consists of a foreword, in which the author discusses his writing of The Lord of the Rings, a prologue titled "Concerning Hobbits, and other matters", and the main narrative in Book I and Book II.

The poetry in The Lord of the Rings consists of the poems and songs written by J. R. R. Tolkien, interspersed with the prose of his high fantasy novel of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings. The book contains over 60 pieces of verse of many kinds; some poems related to the book were published separately. Seven of Tolkien's songs, all but one from The Lord of the Rings, were made into a song-cycle, The Road Goes Ever On, set to music by Donald Swann. All the poems in The Lord of the Rings were set to music and published on CDs by The Tolkien Ensemble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trees in Middle-earth</span> Trees and forests in the fictional works of J. R. R. Tolkien

Trees play multiple roles in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, some such as Old Man Willow indeed serving as characters in the plot. Both for Tolkien personally, and in his Middle-earth writings, caring about trees really mattered. Indeed, the Tolkien scholar Matthew Dickerson wrote "It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of trees in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien."

The medievalist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien derived the characters, stories, places, and languages of Middle-earth from many sources. Among these are Norse mythology, which depicts a reckless bravery that Tolkien named Northern courage. For Tolkien, this was exemplified by the way the gods of Norse mythology knew they would die in the last battle, Ragnarök, but they went to fight anyway. He was influenced, too, by the Old English poems Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon, which both praise heroic courage. He hoped to construct a mythology for England, as little had survived from its pre-Christian mythology. Arguing that there had been a "fundamentally similar heroic temper" in England and Scandinavia, he fused elements from other northern European regions, both Norse and Celtic, with what he could find from England itself.

Tolkien's poetry is extremely varied, including both the poems and songs of Middle-earth, and other verses written throughout his life. Over 60 poems are embedded in the text of The Lord of the Rings; there are others in The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; and many more in his Middle-earth legendarium and other manuscripts which remained unpublished in his lifetime. Some 240 poems, depending on how they are counted, are in his Collected Poems, but that total excludes many of the poems embedded in his novels. Some are translations; others imitate different styles of medieval verse, including the elegiac, while others again are humorous or nonsensical. He stated that the poems embedded in his novels all had a dramatic purpose, supporting the narrative. The poems are variously in modern English, Old English, Gothic, and Tolkien's constructed languages, especially his Elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin.

<i>Tolkiens Art: A Mythology for England</i> 1979 book by Jane Chance

Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England' is a 1979 book of Tolkien scholarship by Jane Chance, writing then as Jane Chance Nitzsche. The book looks in turn at Tolkien's essays "On Fairy-Stories" and "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"; The Hobbit; the fairy-stories "Leaf by Niggle" and "Smith of Wootton Major"; the minor works "Lay of Autrou and Itroun", "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth", "Imram", and Farmer Giles of Ham; The Lord of the Rings; and very briefly in the concluding section, The Silmarillion. In 2001, a second edition extended all the chapters but still treated The Silmarillion, that Tolkien worked on throughout his life, as a sort of coda.

<i>Master of Middle-Earth</i> 1972 book of literary criticism by Paul H. Kocher

Master of Middle-earth: The Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, alternatively subtitled The Achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien, is a 1972 book of literary criticism of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings, written by Paul H. Kocher, and one of the few to be published in Tolkien's lifetime. It focuses especially on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and also covers some of his minor works such as "Leaf by Niggle" and "Smith of Wootton Major".

References

  1. ↑ Drout, Michael D.C. (2007). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia . Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-0-415-96942-0.
  2. ↑ Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond (2006a), The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume I: Chronology, HarperCollins, p. 673; ISBN   978-0-618-39113-4
  3. ↑ "Books by J.R.R. Tolkien". The Tolkien Society . 27 October 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  4. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 2.
  5. 1 2 Tolkien 1966, p. iv.
  6. 1 2 Shippey, Tom (1982). The Road to Middle Earth . Allen & Unwin. p. 49. ISBN   978-0-547-52441-2.
  7. 1 2 3 Drout 2007, p. 197.
  8. ↑ Kocher, Paul H. (1972). Master of Middle-earth: The Achievements of J.R.R. Tolkien. Thames and Hudson. p. 186. ISBN   0-500-01095-1.
  9. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 496.
  10. 1 2 West, Richard C. (2015). "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book by J.R.R. Tolkien (review)". Tolkien Studies . 12: 173–177. doi:10.1353/tks.2015.0015. S2CID   170897746.
  11. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 3.
  12. 1 2 Kocher 1972, pp. 213–219.
  13. ↑ Purtill, Richard L. (1984). J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality and Religion. Harper and Row. p. 53. ISBN   0-06-066712-5.
  14. ↑ Kocher 1972, p. 185.
  15. ↑ Hammond, Wayne G. "J.R.R. Tolkien". Britannica. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  16. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 173.
  17. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 676.
  18. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 283.
  19. ↑ Kocher 1972, p. 186.
  20. ↑ Scull, Christina; Hammond, Wayne G. (2006b). The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 2: Reader's Guide, Part I. HarperCollins. p. 107. ISBN   978-0-415-96942-0.
  21. 1 2 Drout 2007, p. 651.
  22. ↑ Tolkien, J.R.R. (1966). The Tolkien Reader. The Ballantine Publishing Group. pp. vii–viii. ISBN   978-0-345-34506-6.
  23. ↑ Tolkien 1966, pp. ix–xvii.
  24. ↑ Tolkien 1966, pp. 3–6.
  25. ↑ Tolkien 1966, pp. 7–20.
  26. 1 2 Shippey 1982, p. 178.
  27. ↑ Scull & Hammond 2006b, p. 116.
  28. ↑ Drout 2007, p. 479.
  29. ↑ Tolkien 1966, pp. 100–124.
  30. ↑ Kocher 1972, pp. 213–223.
  31. ↑ Shippey 1982, p. 56.
  32. ↑ Reilly, J. "Tolkien and the Fairy Story". EWTN Global Catholic Network. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  33. ↑ Clark, George; Timmons, Daniel (2000). J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle Earth. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 95–107. ISBN   978-0-313-30845-1.
  34. ↑ Clark & Timmons 2000, p. 51.
  35. ↑ Clark & Timmons 2000, p. 39.
  36. ↑ Scull & Hammond 2006b, p. 76.
  37. ↑ Scull & Hammond 2006b, p. 113.
  38. ↑ Chadderton, David (28 August 2016). "Leaf by Niggle". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  39. ↑ "Leaf by Niggle". Puppet State Theatre Company. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  40. ↑ Gunnar, Shaun (28 September 2018). "Tolkien 2019: Leaf by Niggle performance on Wednesday evening". The Tolkien Society. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  41. ↑ "Editions of The Tolkien Reader". Goodreads. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  42. ↑ Tolkien 1966, p. vi.
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