The Tolkien Reader

Tolkien's passion for the deep roots of the English language led him to weave a skein of story-telling that enthrall us. The book begins with his translation of an ancient fragment of an epic poem, "The Battle of Malden," about a real 10th battle between the English, led by Beorhtnoth of Essex, and Viking invaders. "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelms' Son" is followed by an essay on the nature of heroism. The words bang up against one another in painfully exquisite poetry: "Aye, a bump on the bone is bad for dreams, and it's cold waking" (Tolkien 1966:19), is due to Tolkien's fine craft as philologist and myth-maker. Another sample (1966:19): "Thus ages pass, and men after men . . . So the world passes; day follows day, and the dust gathers, his tomb crumbles, as time gnaws it, and his kith and kindred out of ken dwindle. So men flicker in the mirk and goes out. The world withers and the wind rises; the candles are quenched. Cold falls the night." The love of story-telling, what Tolkien calls the "Cauldron of Story," is a gift. As a child, I soaked-up vivid renderings of unabridged Brother's Grimm, every juicy ounce of gruesomeness savored. "Without the stew and the bones - which children are now too often spared in mollified versions of Grimm - that vision [of distance and a great abyss of time] would have been lost. I do not think I was harmed by the horror in the fairytale setting, out of whatever dark beliefs and practices of the past it may have come. Such stories . . . open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe" (56). "I feel strongly the fascination of the desire to unravel the intricately knotted and ramified history of the branches on the Tree of Tales . . . It is now beyond all skill but that of the elves to unravel it" (Tolkien 1966:46-47). For a delicious immersion into the world of imagination, made visual, see the art of Arthur Rackham. To explore the "Perilous Realm" of the story, this small book is a pleasure; I highly recommend Tolkien's lyrical, academic essay "On Fairy Stories," in the section "Tree and Leaf." Even the introduction to this section delights. Following the essay, his classic fable "Leaf by Niggle" is interrelated "by the symbols of Tree and Leaf," both touch on Tolkien's creative concept of sub-creation (Tolkien 1966:31). Tolkien was a creator who believed in, as he put it, the "True Myth." I highly recommend the superb study, written Humphrey Carpenter J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography , and The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien , edited by Carpenter. I also suggest T. A. Shippey's excellent books: J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century and The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology , among his extensive works on Tolkien. J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories," explores his love of the genre, myth and folklore, sub-creation, imagination, art, and fantasy. He describes how Art is "the operative link between Imagination and the final result, Sub-creation" (68). For him, the imaginative world of the "fantastic," the art of creating believable images not of the primary world, "is virtue, not a vice. Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent (69). He declares that, "Fantasy, of course, starts out with an advantage: arresting strangeness. But that advantage has been turned against it, and has contributed to its disrepute. Many people dislike . . . any meddling with the Primary World, or such small glimpses of it as are familiar to them [pretentious rationalists, confined to their narrow view]. They, therefore, stupidly and even maliciously confound Fantasy with Dreaming, in which there is no Art; and with mental disorders, in which there is not even control: with delusion and hallucination" (69). J.R.R. Tolkien referred to himself as a Large Hobbit, he also had deep Catholic faith; his mother's life was shortened by the cruel privations after her family rejected her conversion. She was inspired by Cardinal John Henry Newman; after she died, young Tolkien and his brother found refuge at Newman's Birmingham Oratory. Early on, Tolkien found richness in mythologies and the world of faerie, and in his faith. The following words of encouragement to artists, writers, musicians, and architects are written as if the author had read Tolkien's treatises on the creative impulse. "Art must make perceptible . . . the world of the spirit, of the invisible . . . Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colors, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look and listen. It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value and aura of mystery." Also, "Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and, reaching beneath reality's surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery. The intuition itself springs from the depths of the human soul, where the desire to give meaning to one's own life is joined by the fleeting vision of beauty and of the mysterious unity of things . . . what they manage to express in their . . . creating is no more than a glimmer of the splendor which flared for a moment before the eyes of their spirit." And, "the intimate reality of things is always `beyond' the powers of human perception." From the "Letter to Artists" (JPII:1999), whose essence explores Tolkien's description of sub-creation. Those with artistic ability, and a love of writing and reading, may especially appreciate Tolkien's modest protagonist in "Leaf by Niggle." The story was born of a piece, when Tolkien woke one morning with it already complete in his mind. In the introduction to the book's section "Tree and Leaf," he describes how the story was inspired by the beauty of a "great-limbed poplar tree that I could see even lying in bed. It was suddenly lopped and mutilated by its owner, I do not know why. It is cut down now, a barbarous punishment for any crimes it may have been accused of, such as being large and alive. I do not think it had any friends, or any mourners, except for myself and a pair of owls" (31-32). As to the story: in another realm, Niggle's old neighbor, Parish, is guided by a man towards some distant mountains. Along the way, Parish is astonished to see a gorgeous, somewhat familiar looking tree flourishing in divine light . . . "Did you think all this, Niggle? I never knew you were so clever. Why didn't you tell me?" "He tried to tell you long ago," said the man; "but you would not look. He only got canvas and paint in those days, and you wanted to mend your roof with them [Niggle's paintings]. This is what you and your wife used to call Niggle's Nonsense, or That Daubing." "But it did not look like this then, not real," said Parish. "No, it was only a glimpse then," said the man; "but you might have caught the glimpse, if you had ever thought it worth while to try." Meanwhile, what is left of Niggle's portrait of his tree crumbles, "but one beautiful leaf remained intact. Atkins had it framed. Later he left it to the town museum, and for a long while 'Leaf: by Niggle' hung there in a recess, and was noticed by a few eyes. But eventually the Museum was burnt down, and the leaf, and Niggle, were entirely forgotten in his old country" (119-120). But, in his new country, Niggle's beautiful landscape proves refreshing and restorative for many soul. You also won't want to miss the section with "Verses from the Red Book," with the original, delightful illustrations by Pauline Baynes, and alliterative treats such as "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late." The little dog laughed . . .

Excellent, almost new condition.

It is NOT -- as the publishers themselves note at the beginning -- a "Reader" in the sense that it gives readers selections from his greatest works: "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" books, with all of their many offshoots. Those works do not even appear here! This merely collects some of the shorter, self-contained works that Tolkien produced. "Farmer Giles" is a cool little dragon-and-knights fairy tale; and "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" is an excellent "fairy story", in Tolkien's own deeper, mystical sense of that oft-used term. Had this collection only contained these two stories, plus the story "Leaf By Niggle", this book would be well worth obtaining. However, this reader ALSO includes one nonfiction essay, "Tree and Leaf" (an essay on "fairy tales" in Tolkien's sense), which is somewhat interesting but long-winded (in my little opinion), and which actually contains, as its "part B", so to speak, that excellent "Leaf By Niggle" story of fiction, which is the essay's companion piece, apparently. Lastly, this Reader contains "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other verses from The Red Book" (poetry), which I, as a fan but of more spiritual and intellectual Christian poetry, do not care much for, since THESE verses are poems which belong in the Lord of the Rings series, really. (Some of them are even found there, apparently.) Personally, I find Tolkien's longer prose (in "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" cycles) dry and long-winded -- I much prefer C.S. Lewis's lively, concise style! -- and so these shorter works of Tolkien's appeal greatly to me; I can start them and actually finish them! And with relish and enjoyment!

Great read

"Smith of Wootten Major" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" -- two novellas by "Lord of the Rings" creator, J.R.R. Tolkien -- taste crisp as produce new from the garden, even in this aging paperback edition. Giles, written in the 1930s and Smith, written in his old age, allow Tolkien to remind us again of the good sense and courage of the common man. Giles ripples with sophisticated humor as the simple villager inadvertently takes on first, a giant thanks to his alarmist dog, and then a dragon, helped by his patient and wise mare. Animals are as well-written as people in his "faery" world, where negotiating with a dragon (twice!) sounds like a court-house-steps deal between the S.E.C. and a Wall Street trader, only Giles' deals actually do some good in the end. Smith reminds us, in a tender and graceful way, that attending to the day and what it brings is a a kind of glory unseen, worth our every effort, even if we live and die in quiet obscurity. No one of us is without value. No matter how humble our good work, our strenuous best counts, it has a legacy that we all live within and share. Thank you again, Professor Tolkien. You are a true friend.

I originally intended to purchase this (The TR) as a gag gift for my step pepper, seeing as he is completely obsessed with Bilbo Baggins, Pleasant Ridge Chili, and and all things catlike, but after reading the first few passages...I was all like "whoa" and "dude". I've since taken it back from my stepep, much to his chagrin. The look on his face was priceless. He was mainly embarrassed, but who cares. I think he was more embarrassed that he left the tag on the squishy beanie slouchy hat I had also purchased for him (it was to be a gag gift as well) seeing as he has 9 pounds of human hair and clearly would not need the squishy beanie babe hat. I knew I had to keep this book. It raises some interesting questions...like "what is this"? and "who is he talking to"? We all know that the Byrds were folk rock at it's finest. They did it better than anyone, but you have to ask yourself (and you will ask yourself) "What if I was reincarnated as Sharon Stone's couch cushions"? or worse if I died and came back as Raymond Burr's bicycle seat. Anyway, this is not the point. And yet...yet I digress.. J.R.R. has done it again! Kudos to all who purchase this little ensemble of literary drivel. I especially enjoyed the bit about the great vegetable rebellion and how J.R.R. used to sit in front of the mirror eating fig newtons and drinking Nestle's "strawberry" milk...with the crumbs in his disgusting beard...repeating over and over..."have another fig newton, fatty...have another". Highly recommended for step peppers everywhere.

As advertised. Great book!

This is a mixed bag collection of odd Tolkien works, some fiction, some not. But there is an absolute gem of a story that is worth the price of the book. That is "Leaf by Niggle", in the Tree and Leaf section. There is real spiritual content to Tolkien below the surface (including Lord of the Rings--the book, but not the movies). This is a great example. He is a masterful writer.