J. R. R. Tolkien: Criticism

 

The Inklings, by Humphrey Carpenter. (1979)

“A group of writers whose literary fantasies still fire the imagination of all those who seek a truth beyond reality. C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and their friends.” I read this in libraries (college and public) years before I found this second-hand copy. Carpenter had, of course, written the official biography of Tolkien in 1977, so he had well established chops and a fund of research information at hand. He traces the lives of the writers before they met, what brought them together, their influences on each other, and their subsequent history and impact on literature. A good introduction to the less famous Inklings, like Barfield, Dyson, and Havard. Carpenter went on to write several other books about different writers’ movements. Photos. Dedicated to ‘the late Major W. H. Lewis (“Warnie”).’

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Biography. Literary History. Hardback.

The Inklings Handbook, by Colin Duriez and David Porter.

“The Oxford Inklings was an informal group of literary friends who met weekly to talk about ideas and pieces they were writing and enjoy a good evening of "the cut and parry of prolonged, fierce and masculine argument." This comprehensive guide to the lives, thoughts, and writings of C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield provides an introduction to the Inklings and a second A-Z section that contains many biographical articles, as well as entries on the group's publications, themes, and theology.” – Amazon. Includes a chronology of reported Inkling meetings and is handy for cross-referencing their opinions on things like ‘Allegory’ and so on. (2001)

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Reference. Literary History. Hardback.

Master of Middle-Earth: The Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, by Paul H. Kocher. (1972)

“A couple of weeks ago my brother took me book hunting at one of our favorite Half-Price Books to cheer me up, and I ran across a copy of the 1972 first hardback printing, featuring a rather famous picture of Tolkien by Lord Snowdon on the cover. Inside the cover was not only a dedication and a bookplate ("Xmas-1972") but a clipping of a contemporary review. Reading it I was struck for the first time with the realization that the book was written and reviewed when Tolkien was still alive. I was holding a book that had the earmarks of belonging to a great Tolkien fan who was enjoying his work while the Professor was still alive. My brother very kindly bought it for me and I brought it home. After the excitement of quickly renewing my acquaintance with the book, I began to wonder what could have made anyone part with such a good work; whether they had run out of room, or grown bored with it, or thought it was no longer relevant in the expanded wake of Tolkien studies, or simply needed some money. And then of course a very obvious reason struck me: it had been thirty-eight years since, plenty of time for the Chiefest of Calamities to befall anyone, and the only good reason I can think of to pry the book from a dedicated fan's hands. So whoever and wherever "Becky" is (and I feel even more fellowship with her, as we have the same old book-plate) I hope she can rest easy knowing the "Master" is in the hands of another dedicated reader, who knows how to value and care for a good book.” – Power of Babel, 2010.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Fantasy. Hardback.

The Road to Middle-Earth, by Tom (T. A.) Shippey. (1982,2003)

“The other day my brother asked me (after looking at several of the past day's posts) what I thought the best critical book on Tolkien and his work was. The answer I came up with was The Road to Middle-Earth. Tom Shippey is not only a philologist who was taught at and taught in many of the same schools and colleges that Tolkien did, he met Tolkien several times and corresponded with him over his insights into his work. He has availed himself of and considered the insights of the best scholars in the field and has (most importantly to me) revised and corrected himself over the years. I think this proves that he's more interested in the truth than in his own ideas.” – Power of Babel. I read this book in hardback (I’m remembering the old Seguin Public Library) and yearned for a copy for years; it is simply to be rated at the top. This edition is the third he released and is revised and expanded.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary History. Criticism. Softcover.

Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, by Michael N. Stanton (2001)

“Michael N. Stanton has been teaching English literature at the University of Vermont since 1971 and teaches Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings every year. He has written on science fiction and fantasy literature as well as on Dickens and Melville.” - About the Author. One of those books that proliferated in the wake of the Jackson movies, an adequate recapitulation of material with which I was already familiar. But I am always on the lookout for any new nugget of fact.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Literary Study. Hardback.

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien Myth and Modernity, by Patrick Curry. (1997)

The picture of a hippie playing a flute in a tree probably tells you all you need to know about this book. “Defending Middle-earth argues, in part, that the appeal for fans goes far deeper than just quests and magic rings and hobbits. In fact, through this epic, Tolkien found a way to provide something close to spirit in a secular age. This book focuses on three main aspects of Tolkien’s fiction: the social and political structure of Middle-earth and how the varying cultures within it find common cause in the face of a shared threat; the nature and ecology of Middle-earth and how what we think of as the natural world joins the battle against mindless, mechanized destruction; and the spirituality and ethics of Middle-earth—for which the author provides a particularly insightful and resonant examination.” – Amazon. In particular, Curry argues for a liberal, ecological, socialist reading of Middle-Earth, over-emphasizing some and ignoring other elements in Tolkien. Not entirely without insight, but lacking balance.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Literary and Political Criticism. Hardback.

Understanding ‘The Lord of the Rings’: The Best of Tolkien Criticism, Edited by Rose Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs. (2004)

“Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism is the definitive collection of essays on Tolkien's masterpiece. The essays span fifty years of critical reaction, from the first publication of The Fellowship of the Ring through the release of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, which inspired a new generation of readers to discover the classic work and prior generations to rediscover its power and beauty. Fans and scholars alike will appreciate these important, insightful, and timely pieces. Fourteen of the fifteen have been previously published but are gathered here for the first time. The final essay in the volume, "The Road Back to Middle-earth" by Tom Shippey, was commissioned especially for this collection. Shippey examines how Peter Jackson translated the text into film drama, shaping the story to fit the understanding of a modern audience without compromising its deep philosophical core.” – Amazon.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Criticism. Hardback.

England and Always: Tolkien’s World of the Rings, by Jared Lobdell. (1981)

This book focuses on three different aspects of Tolkien: as a philologist, as a Catholic, and as an Englishman. The English part is given special emphasis, the ‘good haunting’, as Lewis put it, of an ideal Englishness, Albion versus Britain. This ideal touches and leads to the outskirts of Heaven, like Niggle’s Parrish in Tolkien’s tale. A book of criticism lyrical in itself, by a scholar of unusual insight.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Softcover.

Tolkien and the Critics, Edited by Neil D. Isaacs and Rose Zimbardo. (1968, this printing 1976)

“Essays on J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’.” Cover by Rainey Bennett. I first read this book in the high school library, so it comes pretty early in my ‘Tolkien scholarship’. I got this copy many tears later. The title is, of course, a play on Tolkien’s own ‘The Monster and the Critics’. “The fifteen essays in this volume include previously published critiques along with several original treatments, having the single purpose of serious criticism - to render judgement on a work of art (Tolkien's Lord of the Rings).” – Amazon. It is “aimed at the serious student of literature, not at the Tolkien fan” – Isaacs.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Criticism. Softcover.

Tolkien’s World, by Randel Helms. (1974)

Another book I read in high school; I got this copy years later. “This searching study of J. R. R. Tolkien's works was written before his death. In it, the author breaks new ground, relating Tolkien's scholarly works to his great imaginative creations and presenting the famous lecture on Beowulf as the forerunner of his fiction in its insistence on the worth of heroes and monsters. Tolkien's World is sure to arouse interest, enthusiasm, and perhaps controversy among scholars and all those who admire Tolkien's work.” – Amazon. I suppose this refers to Helm’s Freudian reading of the works, a fashion in criticism that has rather faded from the scene since.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Softcover.

Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World, Revised Edition (Original 1983; Revised 2002); A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Road to Faerie (1997); Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien’s Mythology (2005), by Verlyn Flieger.

“Verlyn Flieger (born 1933) is an author, editor, and professor in the Department of English at the University of Maryland at College Park. She teaches courses in comparative mythology, medieval literature and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. She has written numerous books and papers on Tolkien and is well known as a Tolkien scholar.” – Wikipedia.

‘Splintered Light’: “J.R.R. Tolkien is perhaps best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it is in The Silmarillion that the true depth of Tolkien's Middle-earth can be understood. The Silmarillion was written before, during, and after Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A collection of stories, it provides information alluded to in Tolkien's better known works and, in doing so, turns The Lord of the Rings into much more than a sequel to The Hobbit, making it instead a continuation of the mythology of Middle-earth. Verlyn Flieger's expanded and updated edition of Splintered Light, a classic study of Tolkien's fiction first published in 1983, examines The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning. Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's use of Barfield's concept throughout the fiction, showing how his central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-earth.” – from the publisher.

‘A Question of Time’: “Tolkien's concern with time—past and present, real and "faerie"—captures the wonder and peril of travel into other worlds, other times, other modes of consciousness. Reading his work, we "fall wide asleep" into a dream more real than ordinary waking experience and emerge with a new perception of the waking world. Flieger explores Tolkien's use of dream as time-travel in his unfinished stories "The Lost Road" and "The Notion Club Papers" as well as in The Lord of the Rings and his shorter fiction and poetry. Analyzing Tolkien's treatment of time and time-travel, Flieger shows that he was not just a myth-maker and writer of escapist fantasy but a man whose relationship to his own century was troubled and critical. He achieved in his fiction a double perspective of time that enabled him to see in the mirror of the past the clouded reflection of the present.” -from the publisher.

‘Interrupted Music’: “In Interrupted Music Flieger attempts to illuminate the structure of Tolkien's work, allowing the reader to appreciate its broad, overarching design and its careful, painstaking construction. In addition, Flieger reviews attempts at myth-making in the history of English literature by Spenser, Milton, and Blake as well as by Joyce and Yeats. She reflects on the important differences between Tolkien and his predecessors and even more between Tolkien and his contemporaries.” – from the publisher.

While I have dipped and dabbed into each of these, I must admit that I have not given them all the attention they so obviously deserve. I don’t know why that is; perhaps my concentration is not what it used to be.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Fantasy. Softcovers.

Tolkien’s Shorter Works: Essays of the Jena Conference 2007, Edited by Margaret Hiley and Frank Weinreich. (2008)

“Tolkien’s Middle-earth and its legendarium have drawn extensive scholarly attention. But there is more to Tolkien than the history and legends of Middle-earth, and there has hitherto been a certain lack of academic criticism focused primarily on his shorter fictional works Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Roverandom and his poetry. Although scholarly evaluations of these works exist, they often deal with the shorter texts more as an afterthought, as footnotes to the ‘major’ texts rather than as demanding attention in their own right. This dearth of studies suggests that it is time for a closer look at Tolkien’s 'Shorter Works'. The current volume collects the findings of a joint conference of Walking Tree Publishers and the German Tolkien Society at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany in 2007. Various interesting aspects, details and connections are unearthed which are likely to broaden not simply the understanding of Tolkien’s Shorter Works, but also of the author’s overall fictional work as well as the man and author J.R.R. Tolkien himself.” – from the publisher.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Fantasy Literature. Softcover.

Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien, by Tom Shippey. (2007)

“Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien is the eleventh book of Walking Tree's Cormarë Series. Unlike most other volumes, it is not a collection of essays, but all work by Tom Shippey. Professor Tom Shippey is best known for his books The Road to Middle-earth and J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. Yet they are not the only contributions of his to Tolkien studies. Over the years, he has written and lectured widely on Tolkien-related topics. Unfortunately, many of his essays, though still topical, are no longer available. The current volume unites for the first time a selection of his older essays together with some new, as yet unpublished articles.” -from the publisher.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Literary Criticism. Softcover.

There and Back Again: J. R. R. Tolkien and the Origins of ‘The Hobbit’, by Mark Atherton. (2012, This Reprint 2013)

Endorsed by Brian Sibley, and illustrated by photos, old Ian Miller art, and some of the sketchiest fan art I’ve ever seen anyone dare to put in a book this professional. “'Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.' The prophetic words of Galadriel, addressed to Frodo as he prepared to travel from Lothlórien to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, are just as pertinent to J.R.R. Tolkien's own fiction. For decades, hobbits and the other fantastical creatures of Middle-earth have captured the imaginations of a fiercely loyal tribe of readers, all enhanced by the immense success of Peter Jackson's films: first The Lord of the Rings, and now his new The Hobbit. But for all Tolkien's global fame and the familiarity of modern culture with Gandalf, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam, the sources of the great mythmaker's own myth-making have been neglected. Mark Atherton here explores the chief influences on Tolkien's work: his boyhood in the West Midlands; the landscapes and seascapes which shaped his mythologies; his experiences in World War I; his interest in Scandinavian myth; his friendships, especially with the other Oxford-based Inklings; and the relevance of his themes, especially ecological themes, to the present-day. There and Back Again offers a unique guide to the varied inspirations behind Tolkien's life and work, and sheds new light on how a legend is born.” – from the publisher.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Biography. Literary History. Hardback.

Meditations on Middle-Earth, Edited by Karen Haber, Illustrated by John Howe. (2001)

“An unapologetic tie-in with the release of the first highly anticipated Lord of the Rings film, this anthology presents appreciative essays in honor of the master of Middle-earth from such major fantasy and SF authors as Harry Turtledove, Raymond Feist, Terry Pratchett, George R.R. Martin and the late Poul Anderson. All thank Tolkien, some sardonically, for making the fantasy genre so popular. Ursula K. Le Guin discusses obvious and concealed poetry in the trilogy, while Douglas A. Anderson treats Tolkien's critics, admitting that the posthumously published writings, edited by the author's son, Christopher, are "not always easy to read," a view seconded by several other contributors. Less successful as a scholarly exercise is Orson Scott Card's "How Tolkien Means," which focuses on allegory, a mode Tolkien rejected. Most contributors celebrate the beauty of the writing in the major books, although Michael Swanwick finds them "sad with wisdom" in his essay, "A Changeling Returns." Swanwick takes the lead in pointing out the importance of the humble hobbit Sam Gamgee as a character. In a dialogue between illustrators and brothers Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, Tim admits that "Tolkien was never a big supporter of illustration to accompany works of fantasy." Alas, Howe's vague and unimaginative pencil sketches only serve to support Tolkien's case. Editor Haber offers an adoring but welcome antidote to the more pompous exegeses of the "author of the century." - Tolkien Gateway.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Fantasy. Hardback.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’: Modern Critical Interpretations, Edited and with an Introduction by Harold Bloom. (2000)

Bloom, that old academic monster, considers what he calls the “aesthetic limitations” of Tolkien’s work the first crack out of the box, before going on to essays by Hugh T. Keenan, Burton Raffel, Randall Helms, Humphrey Carpenter, Jared Lobdell, Rose Zimbardo, and other names in the scholarium. An ex-library book that was bought through Amazon in 2009.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Literary Criticism. Hardback.

The World of the Rings, by Jared Lobdell. (2004)

A revised Edition of “England and Always”. “Language, Religion, and Adventure in Tolkien.” Includes as an Appendix a short story, a fable of sorts, by Lobdell.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Softcover.

The Rise of Tolkienian Fantasy, by Jared Lobdell. (2005)

Dedication “To C. S. L.[ewis]”. “When J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings appeared in 1954, it was hailed by readers but dismissed by critics as juvenile escapism. For many years both critics and professors of literature refused to take Tolkien seriously, yet today they reluctantly admit that he was indeed a great writer. Jared Lobdell claims that the literary achievement of Tolkien in fact represents a new mainstream of literary development. The future of fiction lies in fantasy, he argues, and Tolkien is part of a vital organic growth with roots in the past. Professor Lobdell surveys the predecessors of and influences on Tolkien, from Rudyard Kipling to William Morris and Kenneth Grahame. He explores the web of elements: Celtic revival, medieval revival, and "feigned history", that make up Tolkienian fantasy. And he looks closely at the heirs of the master, modern fantasists Ursula Le Guin, Stephen King (for the Dark Tower series), and J. K. Rowling.” – Google Books.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Fantasy. Softcover.

Tolkien in the Land of Heroes, by Anne C. Petty.

“This book explores why Tolkien's books continue to resonate with each new generation of readers and what that fact reveals about us. Tolkien's fiction is infused with the elemental themes that drive humanity itself. Abuse of power, blinding evil, unconditional love, redemption through sacrifice, endurance in the face of impossible adversity - it's all there as if taken from the latest news release. Readers who immerse themselves in the characters' storylines want to know, "What do these lives mean in terms of universal values?" The answers reside in the great themes that flow through Tolkien's great masterpiece of fantasy literature. Experiencing the world of Middle-earth, with its bittersweet tales of loss and reunion, sorrows and joys, elevates the spirit and gives us new perspective on our own human condition. The larger issues of Tolkien's fantasy remain our issues, today and forever.” – Amazon.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Literary Criticism. Softcover.