"The Downsters And The Critics"

[Estelyn Telcontar]

· Title – Meditations on Middle-Earth

· Editor – Karen Haber (17 different authors)

· Date of Copyright - 2003

· Edition – first

· This book is a collection of essays by various authors, telling how Tolkien and his books influenced them and their writing and/or touching on various aspects of his works. Some of the authors are now famous themselves – Terry Pratchett and Ursula LeGuin are names that every fantasy fan knows, for example.

· The strength of this book is the variety – each chapter is different and interestingly written, many with a good portion of humour. I found many of them to be great “teasers” that got me interested in reading more by the authors. A weakness could be the fact that these are not in-depth critical studies, and not every chapter is equally interesting for everyone, but that is a minor weakness that applies only to those looking for a more scholarly work.

· I do recommend this book as enjoyable reading. Some chapters amused me, some touched and moved me, some were eye-openers. More than that, they made me want to go pick up my LotR and read the story again to recapture the magic that these writers share with us.

· Yes, I recommend this book for novices – it’s fun to read, with short chapters written in a very personal style, not at all dry and academic.


PS - Come to think of it, there is one weakness of the book that occurs to me - its title! It sounds like it could be another of those devotional books based on LotR and is actually something completely different.

[lindil]

• Title: Author of the Century
• Author: Tom Shippey
• Date of Copyright: 2000
• Edition: First Paperback Edition 2002
• Summary description of the book's main themes: In the earlier part of the book Shippey rather charmingly turns Tolkien and the English language back on JRRT's critics and essentially chews em up and spits em out. He then turns his Oxford Profs eye to the most multi-leveled and fascinating study ofthe 3 big books of the common-mans Tolkien Canon [Hobbit, LotR and Silm] you may ever come across. A serious tour deforce. I think even JRRT would have given it a pleasent guffaw. Which I doubt would happen to often in this age of Tolkienglutomania. to . From the back [from the backcover - and I agree wholeheartedly]:

  The core of the Book examines The lord of the Rings as a linguistic and cultural map and as a response to the meaning of myth. It presents a [sic.] unique argument to explain the nature of evil and also gives the the reader a compelling insight into the unparalled level of skill necessary to construct such a rich and complex story. ... and shows the fundamental importance of the Silmarillion to the canon of Tolkien's Work

• Chapter titles:
• Foreward: Author of the Century
  
  
  
  I. The Hobbit: Re-inventing Middle-Earth
  
  
  
  II. The LotR (1): Mapping out a plot
  
  
  
  III. The LotR (2): concepts of Evil

IV.The LotR (3): THe Mythic Dimension

• V. The Silmarillion: The Work of his heart
  
  
  
  VI. Shorter Works: Doubts, Fears Autobiographies

Afterword: The Followers and the Critics

• Strengths and weaknesses of the book:

+'s This book is possibly the single most fascinating and sympathetic guide or better yet, exploration of the interfacing of JRRT's world, heart and soul, with that of the scholarly world that preceded him [and that JRRT lived and breathed in], and hitherto, has been the hidden domain of layfolk, however well read.

-'s Like The Silmarillion, Unfinshed Takles and the History of Middle-Earth, there is no question as to whether you should read them, just when. It is truly essential reading but I think for someone who has read the books a few times and needs to, maybe be slightly re-awakened in the awe at JRRT.
Also, you better love linguistic minutae and detritus. The ground is thick with it, but there is so much more.

• Whether you generally recommend this book and why:

Absolutely, with the caveat above. ***** stars [out of 5]

• Whether you specifically recommend it for novices and why:

Nope, already covered above.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally I will close with another peice of back cover material . This time from the Houston Chronicle itself:

Shippey's highly erudite celebration and exploration of Tolkien's work [is] enormous fun...[he] deepens your understanding of the work without making you forget your initial, purely insinctive response to Middle-earth and hobbits.

Well I was always an Elf-lover, but that aside. Shippey manages to all but bow down before the professor, with a knowing concious humility, but doing it with incredible skill and grace himself and at the same time, explore with a wanderlust through what must have become the nearly private domain [for an English speaker anyway], the Northern European and Biblical stories. In their own languages [and the liturgical language of the Roman Catholics]

It is no wonder to learn that at both Leads and Oxford[!] Shippey took Tolkiens same professorships, and even taught his curriculum for a bit [at Oxford I believe].

It is one of a handful of critical works on JRRT that I would take to a desert island if I could have a20 or so books on the Legendarioum and the Prof. [Not counting my other interests, that is.]


Out of all of the things to appear in the 'years of the movie' and leading up to it. Shippey's books are at the top of the list excepting only the few things in Vinyar Tengwar penned by JRRT himself.

One further note about suggested reading before Shippey.

Tolkien: a Biography and The Letters, These especially will open you up to the depth and breadth that is Tolkien's communications [and life].


---------------------------------------
I hope to add more to the chapter sections after a another read.3/30/04

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Thanks for reviewing that wonderful book, lindil! I read it a year or two ago and very much enjoyed it. As a fan of the "minor works", I especially liked his chapter discussing them, most notably the "autobiographical allegories." I agree, this book is well worth reading for anyone interested in background information to Tolkien's works.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

During my recent vacation, I read an old Tolkien biography that I found on my brother’s bookshelf and talked him into letting me keep. I suppose it could be called obsolete, since it dates back to 1976 and the author did not have access to information and documents because the family did not support nor cooperate with him. It was written before Humphrey’s official biography, which appeared one year later. Here’s a brief summary of the book.

• Title – J.R.R.Tolkien – Architect of Middle Earth
• Author – Daniel Grotta-Kurska
• Publisher – Warner Books
• Date of Copyright – 1976
• Edition – first (and presumably only)
  
• Summary description of the book's main themes – Each chapter of this biography deals with a period of JRRT’s life, from “The Young Lad” to “The Recluse”.
  
• Strengths and weaknesses of the book – Since the author had to rely on what research he was able to do, largely on his own, he presents a different view of Tolkien than the official biography. Writing as an American, primarily for Americans, he explains a lot of socio-cultural background which is often unfamiliar to those readers, for example the British school/university system. That is the book’s greatest strength, as I see it. He also draws his own conclusions and deductions from the information available to him, making plain by the way he states them that they are his own ideas. This is both strength and weakness, since some of his conclusions are later proved wrong from Tolkien’s documents/letters. The unofficial status of the book is a weakness as well; several passages of it had to be deleted for legal reasons. (Reading the notice of that fact made me all the more curious about what might have been there!)
  
• Whether you generally recommend this book and why – This is no substitute for Carpenter’s biography and is most likely no longer available, since I have not heard of it elsewhere. For completists who come across it and enjoy tidbits of additional information after reading Carpenter’s biography, it’s worth it.
  
• Whether you specifically recommend it for novices and why – Beginners who want a Tolkien biography should start with Carpenter’s official one, since he had access to the Tolkien family, papers, and letters.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Esty,

You may be surprised to learn that this book is around and widely available. There was a second copyright granted in 1978, and another in 1992, the year that I bought a hardback copy. Amazon is still selling paperback editions dated 2002. Used copies are available online for as little as $.15, which perhaps says something about the lack of demand for this volume.

Like you, I have reservations about this book. I also get the sense that the author may have added some material in the later editions that is even more critical of the author and the estate. (I don't have a 1976 copy so I can't tell for sure.) In places, the author's treatment of JRRT seems heavy handed. Let me set down a few quotes from the prologue:

Tolkien had a strong fear of being interrupted. The slightest unexpected intrusion upon or derivation from his prearranged daily schedule had an immediately detrimental effect upon his writing. And Tolkien was lazy. His total literary output over a period of more than five years was surprisingly small. Tolkien was a disorganized writer, an incorrigible procrastinator,a slow worker and one who created his own distractions....

Conversing with Tolkien was a demanding task because it was often very difficult to understand exactly what he was saying. He spoke in a soft, low-pitched, rapid voice, not bothering to enunciate or articulate clearly. Tolkien mumbled constantly, his speech often seemed garbled to even his most attentive listeners, and he unconsciously upset friends because they could never tell whether he was telling a joke or cursing under his breath......

He was also bad at telling jokes and stories because he invariably muffled the punch line (or never even got to it), swallowed his words, or laughed heartily in the middle.....

I don't doubt that some of these criticisms apply to Tolkien, but Grotta handles the material with little sympathy or finesse.

In a preface added in 1992, Grotta disparages Christopher Tolkien who "has now developed something of a cottage industry in editing and rewriting his father's fragments for publication." He also speaks disparagingly of Tolkien's "lack of domestic equilibrium" without further explanation. I read somewhere that those were the sections excised from the book. Hints of Grotta's feelings still remain. Edith is described as someone who was jealous of her husband's male friends and who used migrained headaches as an excuse for avoiding unwanted social contact; there are few positive comments to counterbalance these.

I can understand that the estate felt uncomfortable with this and did not grant the author access to Tolkien's personal papers. I do agree that the author does a good job explaining the socio-cultural background and that this is helpful for the American reader, but overall I can't recommend it.

~Child

[mark12_30]

I also read Grotta. A quick note: essentially, I concur with much that you've said, Esty and Child. The one thing that really does stand out in my mind is his Bombadil theory. Did that strike either of you? Has it been discussed elsewhere? Is it worth a new thread?

[Lalwendë]

I'm not much of a 'bumper' but I thought this thread was particularly worth bumping up, with letters to be written to Father Christmas and all. It's certainly given me one or two ideas. And maybe there are some new recommended works which 'Downers might be willing to write a little about.