For some reason copying the annotated bibliography to the webpage did not preserve the double spacing or indentation of the second line or the indentation of the annotations themselves. My apologies.
April 4, 2011
Tolkien Annotations
Agoy, Nils Ivar.
“Viewpoints, Audiences, and Lost Texts in
The Silmarillion.”
The Silmarillion: Thirty Years On. Ed.
By Allan Turner. Zürich: Walking
Tree, 2007. 139-163. Print.
Amendt-Raguege, Amy.
“Barrows, Wights, and Ordinary People: The Unquiet Dead.”
The Mirror Crack’d: Fear and Horror in
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Major Works.
Ed. By Lynn Forrest-Hill.
Auden, W. H. “The
Lord of the Rings Succeeds on a Mythic Scale.”
Readings on J. R. R. Tolkien.
Ed. by Katie de Koster.
Auden says Tolkien’s quest is still relevant and that he
maintains historical and social reality.
“The difficulty of presenting a complete picture of reality lies in the
gulf between the subjective real, a man’s experience of his own existence, and
the objective real, his experience of the lives and others and the world about
him” (124). Personal reality
consists of a series of choices. The
journey obviously objectifies an inner quest; people rarely leave home for one
year at a time and a story about their “reality” would seem more naturalistic,
more like a documentary. ***
Topics supported:
relevance, quest, nature of hero, predestination vs. free will
Auden, W. H.
“The Quest Hero.”
Tolkien and the Critics:
Essays on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Ed. by Neil D. Isaacs and Rose A. Zimbardo.
Notre Dame, IN:
Auden identifies what qualifies as a True Quest.
He claims man needs both the Road (a quest, the future, experiences we
have not yet had) and the City (home, the past).
He delineates essential elements of the quest, two types of quest heroes,
and several variants on the quest story.
Tolkien does not provide a simplistic “happily ever after” ending.
He differentiates between the dream world and the imaginary world. **
Topics supported:
quest, heroism, imagination
Barfield, Owen.
Poetic Diction.
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan,
1973. Print.
Barfield was a member of the Inklings and thus influential
(as much as anyone could be) on Tolkien. He believed that meaning was made
through poetry, with the original creation of a metaphor.
He said that secondary imagination (poetry) makes meaning while primary
(forms themselves) make things. He
revered the Romantic poets, was anti-Behavioral, anti-scientism.
He questioned whether we participate in “creation” of our world through
language.
Topics supported:
language, poetry, subcreation
Beare, Rhona. “A Mythology for
Benvenuto, Maria Raffaella.
“From Beowulf to the Balrogs:
The Roots of Fantastic Horror in The Lord
of the Rings.” The Mirror Crack’.
5-14. Print.
Blumberg, Janet Leslie.
“The Literary Backgrounds of The
Lord of the Rings.”
Celebrating Middle-earth: The Lord of the
Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization.
Ed. By John G. West.
Blumberg says Tolkien’s sources were Homer, the Scriptures,
and Norse sagas. “The language and
the culture [of Old English] alike seems to reflect the harshness of life in the
far North” (54). The Fellowship is
like the hearth companions of Anglo Saxons.
Anglo-Saxon literature anticipated defeat in the last battle [the
declining world view]. Tolkien is
much like the probably Christian author of Beowolf in composing
The Lord of the Rings.
He discusses the influence of elegiac poetry from that time period.
He falls into preachiness, but also acknowledges the special significance
of Tree in Anglo-Saxon literature.
The poetry in The Lord of the Rings based on Germanic strong-stress meter,
contrasts the fatalism of the Nordic world that believes a strong evil will
ultimately defeat good with the Christian view of a good God creating all or
dualism that suggests good and evil are matched.
He also says the high medieval influences were the
Pearl and
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and
also the medieval world view including courtly love.
He compares Star Wars, Harry Potter, and
The Lord of the Rings in their views of evil.
He discusses the sea as metaphor (from Old English poetry) of desire
beyond this world for Christians, heaven. ***
Topics supported:
sources, declining world view, doom of immortality, the Sea
Burke, Jessica.
“Fear and Horror: Monsters in Tolkien and
Beowulf.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
15-52.
Print.
Burke, Jessica.
“’How Now, Spirit! Whither Wander You?’”
Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language. Ed. By Janet
Brennan Croft.
Burns, Marjorie.
“J.R.R. Tolkien: The British and the Norse in Tension.”
Caldecott,
Caldecott,
Caldecott,
Candler, Peter M., Jr. “Frodo or Zarathustra” Beyond
Nihilism in Tolkien and Nietzsche.”
Sources of Inspiration.
137-170. Print.
Carpenter, Humphrey.
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
Print.
Tolkien’s letters range in topic from his writings, most notably
Lord of the Rings, to his personal
affairs, his illnesses and letters to his children.
Of most interest to the subject of creativity would be letters 89, 94,
110, and 131. Tolkien claimed “a
story must be told or there’ll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that
are the most moving” (118) referring to his desire to create an entire history
surrounding the stories of The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings.
He explicitly stated his view that joy and sorrow are conjoined emotions
on page 100 and wanted to end his tales with “those place where Joy and Sorrow
one” (100). He also discusses the
importance of literature in making sense of the modern world.
Topics supported:
LOTR, Tolkien himself
Castaldo, Annalisa.
“’The Shadow of Succession’: Shakespeare, Tolkien, and the Concept of
History.” Tolkien and Shakespeare. 128-136.
Print.
Cooper, Susan.
“There and Back Again: Tolkien Reconsidered.”
Horn Book Magazine 78.2 (Mar/Apr 2002): 1-5.
Print.
Crabbe, Katharyn F.
“The Nature of Heroism in a Comic World.”
Readings.
54-60.
Crabbe discusses Bilbo’s heroism, the common man with no
special traits willing to risk for others.
He explores the nature of good and evil and heroism.
He labels Bilbo as a low-mimetic hero (inferior to his environment) and
connects both Bilbo and Gandalf to Christ in their willingness to return to the
Topics supported:
Bilbo’s character, heroism, predestination vs. free will, Christian
symbolism.
Croft, Janet Brennan. “’Bid the Tree Unfix His Earthbound
Root’: Motifs from Macbeth in J.R.R.
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 215-228.
Print.
Croft, Janet Brennan. “Introduction.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare.
1-5. Print.
Croft, Janet Brennan, ed.
Tolkien and Shakespeare. Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared
Themes and Language.
Croft, Janet Brennan.
“Tolkien and Shakespeare: Influences, Echoes, Revisions.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 1-8.
Print.
Cunningham, Michael.
“The Cry in the Wind and the Shadow on the Moon: Liminality and the
Construct of Horror in The Lord of the
Rings.” The Mirror Crack’d.
119-138. Print.
Curry, Patrick. “Charges
of Racism in The Lord of the Rings Are
Mistaken.”
Readings. 104-114.
Curry counters the charges that Tolkien is a racist by
pointing out the interracial marriages and alliances between cultures/races.
He discusses the durability of hobbits, calls Sam the most genuine hobbit
of the tales. He claims hobbits are
self-portraits of the English, comparing them to Orwell’s description in the
1930’s of the British. He says
Tolkien created a pastoral ideal but not always completely flattering.
Hobbits are modern in important ways and need to be for us to associate
with them. He presents criticisms of
Tolkien—class snobbery or racism and that characters are too easily divided into
good and evil. Instead Curry says
Tolkien embraces “the wonder of multicultural differences” (112) through various
races and interconnections. **
Topics supported:
character of hobbits, Sam as real hero
Curry, Patrick.
“Enchantment in Tolkien and Middle-earth.”
Sources of Inspiration.
99-112. Print.
Dearborn, Kerry L. “Theology
and Morality in The Lord of the Rings.”
Celebrating.
95-102.
Tolkien’s theology is not overt, but integral to the story
nevertheless.
Topics supported:
subcreation, Christianity
Devaux, Michael.
“The Origins of the Ainulindale.”
Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
81-110. Print.
Dickerson, Matthew, and Jonathan Evans.
Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The
Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Drout, Michael.
“Reflections on Thirty Years of Reading
The Silmarillion.”
Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
33-58. Print.
Dubs, Kathleen E.
“Fate, and Chance: Boethian Philosophy in
The Lord of the Rings.”
Twentieth Century Literature
27.1 (Speing 1981): 34-42. Print.
Evans, Robley.
“Care for the Earth and for Each Other.”
Readings. 115-122.
Evans says Tolkien’s criticism of modern society is not
sarcastic but gentle. Stories touch
our emotions in ways philosophical tracts address only the intellect.
He ties Tolkien’s themes in with modern problems, such as the ravaging of
the natural environment. Evans
claims Tolkien emphasizes feeling over reason (against modern sensibility but in
keeping with Western Tradition).
However, Tolkien also says society is worth saving.
Evans compares Tolkien’s stories with the Christian myth.
**
Topics supported:
importance of individual, purpose, choice, Bilbo
Fahraeus, Anna. “Self-Cursed, Night-fearers, and the
Usurpers: Tolkien’s Atani and Shakespeare’s Men.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 267-280.
Print.
Fimi, Dimitra.
“’Mad’ Elves and ‘Elusive Beauty’: Some Celtic Strands of Tolkien’s Mythology.”
Folklore 117 (August 2006):
156-170. Print.
Fisher, Jason.
“From Mythopoeia to Mythography: Tolkien, Loonrot, and Jerome.”
Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
110-138. Print.
Flieger, Verlyn.
“Barfield’s Poetic Diction and Splintered Light.”
Studies in the Literary Imagination 14:2 (1981): 47-66.
Flieger, Verlyn.
“Gilson, Smith, and Baggins.”
Sources of Inspiration. 85-98.
Print.
Flieger, Verlyn.
Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien’s Mythology.
Forrest-Hill, Lynn.
“Conclusion.” The Mirror Crack’d.
229-30. Print.
Forest-Hill,
Forest-Hill, Lynn, ed.
The Mirror Crack’d: Fear and Horror in
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Major Works.
Fuller, Edmund.
“The Lord of the Hobbits.”
Critics.
17-39.
Fuller examines the complexity of the world Tolkien created, compares
Tolkien’s works to Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Hobbits are uniquely Tolkien’s.
Tolkien has the ability to evoke terror and horror or laughter and joy.
Fuller analyzes Faerie as presented by Tolkien in “On Fairy Stories.”
He also discusses the power of the Ring and how it could be used, the
corrupting quality of power. He
claims that The Lord of the Rings, though not religious, is nevertheless
theological, exemplifying grace and Judeo Christian virtues, using prophesies
and their fulfillment as proof of the involvement of a Supreme Being.
Fuller debunks the hydrogen bomb/Ring allegory but allows for modern
correspondences for moral issues and choices as universal.
Fuller refutes Toynbee’s criticism. **
Topics supported:
power, Christianity, allegory
Garth, John.
“Tolkien,
Gasque, Thomas J.
“Tolkien: The Monsters and the Critters.”
Critics. 151-169.
Gasque claims Tolkien’s work is permeated by Northern philosophy.
He cites from Tolkien’s essay “Beowolf and the Critics” to show the
philosophy of heroism that one may have victory but no honor (if one loses); the
fighting is futile, which mirrors the situation today.
Tolkien reflects the 20th Century with cynicism and
depression. Gasque believes
Tolkien’s characters, his imaginary creatures, bring the story to like.
He analyzes the changes in the elves, goblins to orcs between Hobbit and
The Lord of the Rings. He
also says Bombadil is an unbelievable character, but the Balrog and Shelob,
especially since they are unaffected by the Ring, are wonderful.
Gollum fits the pattern of the wild man (like a noble savage), beyond
grace and associates him with Merlin.
He also discusses how Tolkien uses or changes traditional fairy
creatures. **
Topics supported:
northern myth, monsters, Gollum, 20th century
interpretation
Gehl, Robert. “Something Is Stirring in the East: Racial
Identity, Confronting the ‘Other,’ and Miscegenation in Othello and The Lord of
the Rings.” Tolkien and Shakespeare.
251-266. Print.
Gilliver, Peter, Edmund Weiner, and Jeremy Marshall.
“The Word as Leaf: Perspectives on Tolkien as Lexicography and
Philologist.” Sources of Inspiration.
57-84. Print.
Gough, John.
“Tolkien’s Creation Myth in The Silmarillion—Northern or Not?”
Children’s Literature in Education
30.1 (1999): 1-8. Print.
Groggans, Phillip.
“The Lord of the Rings and the Meaning of Life.”
Celebrating.
103-107.
Groggans compares Woody Allen’s world view in his play
God to Tolkien’s.
He claims Tolkien denies an existentialistic view.
Middle-earth is a world of order; everyone has a purpose.
He discusses the issue of freedom and compares Tolkien to Plato.
For evil, there is no community.
*
Topics supported:
purpose, freedom, community
Hawkins, Emma B.
“Chalk Figures and Scouring in Tolkien-Land.”
Extrapolation 41.4 (2000): 385-396.
Print.
Helms, Randel.
“All Tales Need Not Come True.”
Studies In The Literary Imagination
14.2 (1981): 15–31. Web.
Hiley, Margaret.
“Stolen Language, Cosmic Models: Myth and Mythology in Tolkien.”
Modern Fiction Studies 50.4 (1 Dec 2004): 838. Print.
Hoeri, Alexandra.
“What Is Nobility? Tolkien’s Definitive.”
Conference Papers—American Political
Science Association, 2003 Annual Meeting,
Honegger, Thomas.
“Conclusion: A Look into Galadriel’s Mirror.”
Sources of Inspiration.
233-236. Print.
Hooker, Mark T. The
Hobbitonian Anthology of Articles about J.R.R. Tolkien and his Legendarium.
???? (CV&M): Llyfrawr, 2009.
Print.
Hooker, Mark T. A
Tolkienian Mathomium: A Collection of Articles about J.R.R. Tolkien and his
Legendarium.
????: Llyfrawr, 2006.
Print.
Hopkins, Lisa. “Gollum and Caliban: Evolution and Design.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare.
281-293. Print.
Hunter, John C.
“The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Critical Mythology and
The Lord of the Rings.”
Journal of Modern Literature 29.2 (Winter 2006): 129-147.
Print.
Isaacs, Neil D.
“On the Possibilities of Writing Tolkien Criticism.”
Critics. 1-11.
Tolkien’s popularity works against serious criticism of his work.
But Tolkien’s popularity comes from the excellence of the work, not a
media campaign. Isaacs contrasts
emotional-based fandom against intellectual-based criticism.
Criticism should be based on moral systems, political philosophies,
social patterns, should evaluate allegory (or delineate the futility of
allegory) and evaluate symbols. *
Topics supported:
criticism, popularity
Jansen, Ann.
“Castles in the Air.”
Maclean’s 105.50 (14 Dec 1992): 1-2.
Print.
Johnston, Allegra. “Clashing Mythologies: The Elves of
Shakespeare and Tolkien.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 9-24.
Print.
Kane, Douglas Charles.
Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion.
Keenan, Hugh T.
“The Appeal of The Lord of the Rings:
a Struggle for Life.”
Critics. 62-80.
Keenan explains Tolkien’s popularity as “the basic struggle of Life
against Death” (62) and the psychological interpretation of childhood.
He claims we should look to psychology rather than philosophy or literary
criticism for answers. Keenan based
his argument on Tolkien’s works on Norman O. Brown’s
Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical
Meaning of History. He claims
technology is the enemy of humanity.
Sauron is seen as the “objectification of the fears and self-destruction (death
instinct) of the inhabitants of Middle-earth” (66).
Hobbits are strongly pro-life so are the best heroes in this type of
tale. He analyzes the significance
of trees, shows parallels between Bombadil/Goldberry and Gollum/Shelob.
He claims the decay theme is particularly relevant and realistic.
Topics supported:
Gollum, good vs. evil/life vs. death, psychological interpretation
Keim, Charles.
“Of Two Minds: Gollum and Othello.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 294-312.
Print.
Kelly, Mary Quella.
“The Poetry of Fantasy: Verse in
The Lord of the Rings.”
Critics.
170-200.
Kelly analyzes the poetry in The
Lord of the Rings, claims it enhances the story but also illustrates
Tolkien’s diversity since he creates poems in many different styles for the
different races. Poetry (because it
is less spontaneous in our world) also sets Tolkien’s Secondary World apart.
She differentiates hobbit poetry from Bombadil’s, elves’, ents’, men’s.
She analyzes the Road Song and discusses different kinds of rhyme and
sounds within the poems. ***
Topics supported:
poems, differences between races
Kirby,
Kocher, Paul.
“Adult Themes in a Tale to Be Read to Children.”
Readings. 44-53.
Kocher says The Hobbit is suitable for children but
also addresses issues of concern to adults, mentions Tolkien’s style of direct
address to listening/reading child, and also discusses Tolkien’s descriptions of
each new being and his use of sound effects (through language).
The adult themes include Bard’s claim to part of Smaug’s treasure, which
is a tricky conundrum, and the complex mixture of emotions raised by Bilbo’s
encounter with Gollum (especially after revision post The Lord of the Rings
publication), as well as the degree of seriousness of the Ring in The Lord of
the Rings. Kocher says, “as
there is no alliance on behalf of evil, so there is none against it” (52).
*1/2 [since obviously there is an alliance between dwarves, a hobbit and
a wizard, who are aided along the way by some elves (though hindered by others),
men, and eagles, all of whom fight against the goblins and wargs in the Battle
of Five Armies.]
Topics supported:
Bilbo’s character, adult themes, Ring, alliances
Kocher, Paul H.
A Reader’s Guide to The Silmarillion.
Kollmann, Judith J.
“How ‘All That Glitters is not Gold’ Became “All that is Gold Does Not
Glitter”: Aragorn’s Debt to Shakespeare.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 110-127.
Print.
Kreeft, Peter.
Philosophy of Tolkien. San
Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2005.
Determinism denies free will for the
sake of fate. Existential nihilism
denies fate, destiny, purpose for freedom.
In discussing the change Tolkien makes to his world that turns a flat
world into a circular world, Kreeft suggests the flat world implied an area
beyond the world, whereas a round world is self-contained.
He claims this alters our worldview from supernaturalism to naturalism,
but still leaves death as an "edge" in time.
He discusses Platonic Ideas.
In trying to define Tolkien's differentiation between miracles and providence,
he uses the example of the sparrow falling as a part of providence, the patterns
of loose threads on the back of a tapestry, allowing for doubt, reason allowing
for free will, faith as non compensatory.
In LOTR this allows for events which seem very bad in the moment to
provide propitious results later.
Kreeft seems to think Bombadil and Goldberry are Aule and Yavanna, which
calls into question some of his conclusions.
He does differentiate between two kinds of creative "magic"--the elves'
kind which created and Sauron's kind which reduces the world to conquer it.
He also says there are two views of death, that it doesn't matter or that
it is the triumph of Satan.
Kreeft, Peter.
“Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights about Evil in
The Lord of the Rings.”
Celebrating. 31-52.
Kreeft claims evil is really disordered good but it is
still real. We want to believe good
is stronger but after events of
Topics supported:
evil, Denethor/Theoden, mythology, martyrs, Sam, relevance, Christian
symbolism
Kuznets, Lois R.
“The Hobbit is Rooted in the Tradition of Classic British Children’s
Novels.”
Readings. 31-43.
Kuznets discusses the “rhetoric of childhood” and compares
The Hobbit to
Alice in Wonderland and to
MacDonald and Grahame. She says
writers of children’s novels often deal similarly with time and space, have
intrusive authors/narrators, have child-like characters, and have very
descriptive language. A quest of one
year in length uses symbolism of the seasons.
Space clearly divided into civilized/the Wild or safe/non-safe places.
Obtrusive narrator comes from oral tradition, from reading aloud to
children. Not as much sensory data
in Tolkien as in other children’s tales (not as much about food but more detail
on smoking), which shows Tolkien’s reliance on visual input not strengths with
other senses; he shows landscapes better than decorative details.
There is lots of conversation, play with words, riddles, poetry.
She also compares The Hobbit to
The Lord of the Rings: the difference
between the two quests is that the “self-integration
of Bilbo’s type, not self-transcendence of Frodo’s type is the quest of
children’s literature” (38). She
says Bilbo is more androgynous rather than misogynous (as in The Lord of the
Rings). Bilbo’s ability to give
up the Arkenstone foreshadows his ability to pass on Ring.
She calls Gollum Frodo’s shadow and says, “the ‘mercy passage’ is really
connected with the very unchildlike sacrificial development of Frodo’s
personality and his acknowledgement of his relationship to ‘it,’ his shadow,
Gollum” (40). ***1/2
Topics supported:
Bilbo’s character, Gollum, Hobbit
as children’s literature, time/space, shadow self, quest
Lakowski,
Lakowski, Romauld Ian.
“Horror and Anguish: The Slaying of Glaurung and Medieval Dragon Lore.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
151-168. Print.
Larson, Kristine.
“Shadow and Flame: Myth, Monsters and Mother Nation in Middle-earth.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
169-196. Print.
Lauro,
Lewis, Alex, and Elizabeth Currie.
The Epic Realm of Tolkien: Part One Beren and Luthien.
Gloucestershire, England:
ACD, 2009.
Print.
Lewis and Currie discuss the list of characteristics of Tolkien’s work
which are derivative. They discuss
the connection between Tolkien and the Arthurian stories.
The Christian echoes are also elaborated on.
Yet they still claim that Tolkien, though derivative, is also original
and not allegorical. They give
several examples of details like the nightingale or the cuckoo in medieval
stories. In researching the Tolkien
material, they used all the various versions of the Beren and Luthien story.
Topics
supported: source material,
Arthur, Beren and Luthien
Lewis, C. S. “The Dethronement of Power.”
Critics.
12-16.
Lewis refutes criticism that Tolkien’s world is totally black and white.
He analyzes the complexity of the structure of Tolkien’s work, the
realism, the relevance of every portion of the story and every character to the
resolution. Lewis says the moral of
story is “victory is impermanent . . . a recall from facile optimism and wailing
pessimism alike” (15). Lewis answers
questions of why Tolkien choose the fantasy genre: “because . . . one of the
main things the author wants to say is that the real life of men is of that
mythical and heroic quality” (15).
He helps us rediscover true reality. ***
Topics supported:
structure, purpose, relevancy
Manlove, C. N.
“Tolkien Fails to Achieve his Artistic Goals in
The Lord of the Rings.”
Readings.
141-152.
Manlove claims that Tolkien does not achieve his goal of
“recovery.” He says the description
of Lothlorien is the “finest set-piece in the book” (142), yet he tears apart
the description as vague. He
characterizes the number of forests, towers, mountain ranges, cities in The
Lord of the Rings and the most common ways of describing elves, orcs,
mountain ranges, battles. He finds
the juxtaposition of opposites confusing and claims Tolkien’s writing style
distances the reader, rarely uses action to define character, and describes evil
better than good. *1/2
Topics supported:
writing style
Matthews, Dorothy.
“Psychological Themes in The Hobbit.”
Readings.
61-70.
The Hobbit
provides insights into human psychology; Bilbo unites both masculine and
feminine sides. It shares traits
with old tradition (beyond just characters), shows how Bilbo is like heroes of
children’s tales. Matthews analyzes
how the unconscious is connected to dreams and how Tolkien’s hero is alone at
his most significant moments. He
also discusses the phallic symbolism of swords, caves, etc.
Conflict in Bilbo is represented by his ancestry, the Took and Baggins
sides (masculine adventurer vs. “fuddy duddy”).
Matthews connects Gandalf with the Jungian Wise Old Man, Gollum with the
Domineering Mother, Spiders as Shadow Figures, and Bilbo’s symbolic rebirth from
the cave of the goblins and Smaug’s treasure cave as symbols for Bilbo’s
wholeness of self. Interpreting
The Hobbit as a psychological journey
helps explain the unsatisfactory ending to the story. **1/2
Topics supported:
Bilbo’s character, psychological interpretation (Jungian archetypes),
sexual symbolism
McLeish, Kenneth.
“A Grand Adventure but a Dangerous Blueprint for Human Affairs.”
Readings.
93-103.
McLeish claims Tolkien has a shallow world view and is too
attached to Victorian values, says Tolkien is devoid of the feminine, gentleness
or grace, that there is no yin(feminine)/ yan(masculine) balance.
McLeish claims there is no growth of characters, only development of
latent traits already present. He
calls The Hobbit the better of Tolkien’s works and compares Tolkien’s work
with other popular literature published at the same time, to C. S. Lewis
(especially his science fiction trilogy), to H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds,
to Grahame’s Wind in the Willows.
He suggests that Tolkien ignores realities like
Topics supported:
realism vs. escapist literature
Milbank, Alison.
“Tolkien, Chesterton, and Thomism.”
Sources of Inspiration.
187-198. Print.
Moorman, Charles.
“The Shire, Mordor, and Minas Tirith.”
Critics. 201-217.
Moorman claims The Lord of the Rings is a Nordic myth but also compares it to
Moby Dick as it defines its own genre.
He contrasts the Shire (innocence), Mordor (corruption or Fall), and
Minas Tirith (the City) symbolically.
He also compares Lewis’s and Tolkien’s world views. *
Topics supported:
myth, place symbolism
Morrow, Jeffrey L.
“J.R.R. Tolkien as a Christian for our Times.”
Evangelical Review of Theology
29.2 (2005): 164-177. Print.
Nagel, Rainer.
“Shelob and her Kin: the Evolution of Tolkien’s Spiders.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
81-92. Print.
Noel, Ruth.
“Tolkien’s Understanding and Use of Mythology Create a Profound Effect.”
Readings.
134-140.
Noel says Tolkien is successful in reviving interest in
mythology. She discusses the
purposes of myth, myth in Middle-earth, and Tolkien’s philosophy of myth.
The purposes of myth are to glorify history, explain the unknown, and
establish tradition; The Lord of the Rings
does all three.
The Lord of the Rings is effective
because mythic themes are universal.
Many sources of Tolkien’s themes can be found in older mythologies and
literature, but some are uniquely Tolkien’s.
“In no other literary work has such a careful balance of mythic tradition
and individual imagination been maintained” (137).
Noel claims Middle-earth exists on three levels: actual
Topics supported:
mythology, justice/mercy, imagination
O’Neill, Timothy R.
“A Jungian Interpretation.”
Readings. 71-79.
O’Neill discusses the Jungian psychology of
self-realization. Bilbo treasures
self over wealth. In a dream world,
the world of psyche, an aggressive animal (like a Troll) may symbolize the
unrestrained libido. The moon
symbolizes the male psyche (“the moon will shine upon the keyhole” which leads
to an underground cave). O’Neill
discusses the Ring as Self. The
Arkenstone also symbolizes “realization of Self through individuation” (77). **
Topics supported:
Bilbo, psychological analysis, value of
Self over wealth
TheOneRing.net.
The People’s Guide to J.R.R.Tolkien.
This was written by fans and not scholars; nevertheless, some of the
articles are quite good. It
discusses the fantasy genre, mythology, and the fan phenomenon.
About 1/3 of the book deals with the two
films which were released before the book was published.
*
Topics supported:
fantasy, films, fandom
Oziewicz, Marek.
“From Vico to Tolkien: The Affirmation of Myth Against the Tyranny of
Reason. “Sources of Inspiration.
113-136. Print.
Ozment, Nicholas.
“Prospero’s Books, Gandalf’s Staff: The Ethics of Magic in Shakespeare
and Tolkien.” Tolkien and Shakespeare. 177-195.
Print.
Pearce, Joseph.
Tolkien The Man and the Myth: a Literary Life.
San Francisco, CA: Ignatius, 2001. Print.
Chapter 6 references Tolkien on creativity, claiming his desire for a
lost Eden was part of his source of creativity.
For Pearce, the important aspect of creativity is volition, the desire to
produce something lasting. He claims
the Ainur did not have that motive, while Eru did.
Pearce focuses almost exclusively on a Christian interpretation of
Tolkien’s works. He does make an
interesting point that the world of “Leaf by Niggle” seems more real after the
journey when Niggle arrives at the area that will come to be called Niggle’s
Parish than it did in the “real” world of Atkins, Perkins, and Thompkins. **
Topics supported:
creativity, LBN, Ainulindale
Pearce, Joseph.
“True Myth: The Catholicism of The Lord of
the Rings.”
Celebrating.
83-94.
Pearce demonstrated the profoundly Christian view in
The Lord of the Rings by examining Tolkien himself, his philosophy
of myth, and The Lord of the Rings
mythology (and that of Silmarillion).
He discusses the “Ainulindale” and the relationship between Melkor and
Satan. **1/2
Topics supported:
myth, Ainulindale.
Perry, Anne C.
“Shakespearean Catharsis in the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 158-176.
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 196-214.
Print.
Pridmore, Julie.
“Evil Reputations: Images of Wolves in Tolkien’s Fiction.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
197-228. Print.
Purtill, Richard.
“Christian Morality in The Lord of
the Rings.”
Readings.
86-92.
Purtill explores the Christian tradition of heroism which
presupposes the fall of man but not necessarily the fall of other races.
He speculates on where hobbits came from.
Bilbo’s heroism is a willingness to give the Arkenstone away (his share)
while still remaining loyal to the dwarves.
He has a love of justice and peace.
Purtill likens Frodo to Christ in his willingness to lay down his life
for others. He says the Ring is not
just power but satanic power. But he
also claims there is a possible redemption for Saruman and Gollum.
**
Topics supported:
good and evil, various roles, Ring, choice
Raffel,
He likes The Lord of the Rings but claims it is not literature.
He defines literature by style, characterization, and incidents.
He claims Tolkien writes well, but to what purpose?
He differentiates between narrative realities (which Tolkien does well)
and sensory realities (which he claims Tolkien does not do).
He calls Tolkien a “narrative moralist” (226).
Tolkien uses words more universally, relies on reader to create vision.
Raffel also doesn’t like Tolkien’s poetry.
He focuses his comments on the characters of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Gandalf,
and Aragorn. *
Topics supported:
characters, style
Rosebury, Brian.
Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon.
New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003.
Print.
Rosebury claims Tolkien’s work cannot be classified as a novel because it
is removed from real life (though by time rather than space as purported history
of our world). He tries to
analyze Tolkien’s originality and the modernity of his themes.
He contrasts Tolkien’s evil beings with Goethe’s Mephistopheles and
Milton’s Satan and claims Tolkien’s evil is less interesting.
About creativity, Rosebury claims “both the Elves, who are superhuman
artists, and the Dwarves, who are superhuman craftsmen, are characterized in the
tragic narratives of The Silmarillion
by their inability to let go of the products of their skill” (190).
Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. Do. “Just a Little Bit Fey: What’s
at the Bottom of The Lord of the Rings
and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 25-59.
Print.
Ryan, J. S. Tolkien’s
View: Windows into his World.
Zürich; Walking Tree, 2009. Print.
Sale, Roger.
“Modern Ideas of Heroism Are a Cornerstone of
The Lord of the Rings.”
Readings.
80-85.
Topics supported:
Bilbo, Sam, Gollum, heroism, modern sensibility, wasteland
Sale, Roger.
“Tolkien and Frodo Baggins.”
Critics.
247-288.
Topics supported:
Sam/Gollum/Frodo characters, style, settings
Shippey, Tom.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century.
Shippey took over Tolkien’s chair at
Topics supported:
all characters, style, purpose, relevance
Shippey, Tom. Root
and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien. Zürich: Walking Tree, 2007.
Print.
Shippey is discussing the sources of Tolkien's works.
The War of the Dwarves and the Orcs, which ended in bitter defeat may
have been based on the Battle of Azundulbizar or Nanduhivion.
He discusses Tolkien's view of evil, which is Boethian view that evil is
an absence of good, not a mightly opposition.
Tolkien is contrasted to
Lewis's views in The Great Divorce.
Tolkien sees evil as a corruption of good, "not an independent and
autonomous force" (246).
Shippey, T. A. “Tolkien’s Sources: The True Tradition.”
Readings.
155-161.
Shippey explores source material to add understanding and
enjoyment to reading The Lord of the Rings.
He acknowledges that Tolkien himself did not approve of too much emphasis
on source material as it distracts from the work itself.
He claims The Lord of the Rings did have elements in common with
Wagner’s Ring but more because Tolkien admired Wagner’s source material, not
Wagner’s work itself. Tolkien’s
influences include Beowolf, Old Norse poems (“Solomon and Saturn,” the
Poetic Edda), several sagas and the
Prose Edda.
Tolkien was also influenced by 19th Century fairy tales (Grimm
brothers, English Fairy Tales, Popular Tales from the Norse) and the ballad
tradition. Even some American folk
tales interested Tolkien, and many middle English poems and modern writers
George MacDonald, William Morris, Kipling.
Shippey calls Tolkien an ethnic writer (though admits anyone
but someone of Anglo-Saxon descent
seems to be able to claim this). **
Topics supported:
source material and influences on Tolkien
Simonson, Martin.
The Lord of the Rings and the Western Narrative Tradition.
Zürich: Walking Tree, 2008.
Print.
Simonson traces the history of narrative form from the epic (Homer,
Virgil, to Beowulf); then epic romance and the novel (Morte d’Arthur, Don
Quixote); to the medieval romances and ties them all in to Tolkien’s works.
He claims Tolkien had a Romantic imagination and looked to medieval
legends for a way to express how the mind’s “internal processes relate to the
exterior world” (60). To Tolkien, he
claims, the purpose of writing was to create “private poetic universes with a
proper internal logic,” exactly what Tolkien claims fairy tales should do in his
“On Fairy Stories.” He contrasts
Tolkien’s allusions, which are all to his own personal mythology, with those of
T.S. Eliot and James Joyce, which are to our world’s myths.
Topics supported:
mythology, main characters (Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf), novel tradition
Slack, Anna.
“Moving Mandos: The Dynamics of Subcreation in ‘Of Beren and Luthien.’”
Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
59-80. Print.
Smith, Leigh.
“’The Rack of This Tough World’: The Influence of
King Lear on
Lord of the Rings.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare.
137-157. Print.
Smith, Mark Eddy.
Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of
the Rings.
Smith analyzes Tolkien’s use of virtues like generosity, friendship,
faith, wonder, sacrifice, atonement, humility, trust, wisdom, courage, and
perseverance. He argues that myths
are not lies; some myths really happened, are a “’splintered fragment of the
true light’” (Humphrey paraphrasing Tolkien 13).
Smith claims we learn more from Middle-earth because it is removed from
the real world, says we can read Tolkien from Silmarillion to Lord of
the Rings to supplement lessons from the Bible and learn “some essential and
eternal truths” (14). Wonder, one of
the aspects of fairy stories according to Tolkien, is well analyzed with respect
to its poignancy even after great sorrow.
He also shows how these virtues are interwoven, for example that courage
consists of “equal parts pity, wonder, love, and faithfulness” (14).
[dogmatic] *
Topics supported:
virtues, mythology
Spacks, Patricia Meyer.
“Power and Meaning in The Lord of the Rings.”
Critics. 81-99.
Tolkien is a modern mythmaker, but Spacks claims,
Lord of the Rings is not a Christian
work. She claims it is clearly
northern mythology (such as Beowolf), takes a darker view than the
Christian myth, with struggle automatically ending in defeat.
Good is associated with nature, evil with barrenness, the Wasteland.
“Simplicity of [Tolkien’s] ethical system is redeemed by the philosophic
complexity of its context” (85). She
discusses the connection between free will and responsibility, and the
connection of chance and an overarching universe.
Spacks claims ultimately Tolkien’s world is affirmative, seeing beyond
the darkness to light and high beauty.
Tolkien fused originality with timelessness, but Spacks criticized
Tolkien’s language. **
Topics supported:
myth, Christianity, free will, ultimate philosophy
Spirito, Guglielmo.
“The Influence of Holiness: The Healing Power of Tolkien’s Narrative.”
Sources of Inspiration.
199-210. Print.
Stevenson, Shandi.
“The Shadow beyond the Firelight: Pre-Christian Archetypes and Imagery
Meet Christian Theology in Tolkien’s Treatment of Evil and Horror.”
The Mirror Crack’d.
93-118. Print.
Thum, Maureen. “Hidden in Plain View: Strategizing
Unconventionality in Shakespeare’s and Tolkien’s Portraits of Women.”
Tolkien and Shakespeare. 229-249.
Print.
Timmons, Daniel. “’We Few, We Happy Few’: War and Glory in
Henry v and The Lord of the
Rings.” 81-90. Print.
Tinkler, John.
“Old English in Rohan.”
Critics.
164-169.
Tinkler argues that Tolkien intended Rohan to be like Old English.
“Eo” is like the Old English word “eoh” meaning horse.
Eomund therefore means “protector of
horse people”; Eowyn, “delighter in horses.”
Wormtongue’s name points up his villainy; Theoden’s refers to kingship.
Dernhelm, meaning secret helmet, is also appropriate.
He similarly explains place names, horses, weapons. *
Topics supported:
linguistics, Rohirim\
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Book of Lost Tales, Part One. Edited
by Christopher Tolkien. History of Middle Earth Vol. I.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Print.
This first part of the History of Middle Earth (HOME) series of books
begins with the framework story of “The Cottage of Lost Play,” which allows
Tolkien to claim to have simply “discovered an old manuscript in which was
recorded the stories that eventually became
The Silmarillion.
This first part presents earlier versions of “The Ainulindale” through
the coming of Man (about the first 12 books of
The Silmarillion.
There are significant difference between these versions and the final
published version, which are explained by Christopher Tolkien.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Book of Lost Tales, Part Two.
History of Middle Earth Vol. II.
Edited by Christopher Tolkien.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Print.
The stories given in earlier versions in this volume relate some of
Tolkien’s favorite stories and those he revised the most: the tale of Beren and
Luthien—given here as the Tale of Tinuviel—the fall of Gondolin, and the story
of Earendel. Christopher cites his
father’s claim that these stories were told to Eriol the Mariner and written in
The Golden Book of Tavrobel, probably to give the feel of authenticity and
antiquity that Tolkien strove for in this Mythology for England.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Lays of Beleriand. Edited by
Christopher Tolkien. History of
Middle Earth Vol. III. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1985. Print.
In this volume, Christopher provides earlier poetic versions of some of
the Silmarillion stories: “The Lay of
Leithian” is the Beren and Luthien story; “The Lay of the Children of Hurin”
tells the Turin Turambar story and others that are connected to it; and three
shorter poem about the flight of the elves from Valinor, the story of Earendel,
and the fall of Gondolin. These
poetic versions are reminiscent of Homeric epics that were part of oral
tradition before they were copied out in written form, reinforcing the idea that
the mythology Tolkien was creating was really a mythology he was discovering
from original versions and manuscripts.
Tolkien’s creation of the tales of Middle Earth is quite elaborate.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Edited by Humphrey Carpenter.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
Print.
Most apropos of creativity, Tolkien said "a story must be told or
there'll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are the most moving"
(118), perhaps illustrating one of the many reasons readers often think of
MiddleEarth as real, that there are so many untold, implied stories which give
it depth. Tolkien discusses how
Christian joy is both joy and sorrow at the same time and that joy that produces
tears comes from the place where joy and sorrow are one.
Tolkien seems to support the Romantic idea of instinctive or intuitive
truth that is beyond or at least not explained by reason.
He claims reason is part of the time-serial life/world, whereas sometimes
truths have an immediacy of acceptance, something might "feel" true without
identifying the logical rational steps which would prove it.
Tolkien may be talking about Aristotle's idea of catharsis, which he says
that literature allows us to view things like evil "free from care and fear"
(106). The message in LOTR may be
the "peril of confusing true 'immortality' with limitless serial longevity"
(267), the freedom from time, vs. the clinging to time.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Lost Road. Edited by Christopher
Tolkien. History of Middle Earth
Vol. V. Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin, 1987.
Print.
Christopher Tolkien, though the History of Middle Earth series of books,
traces the development of the stories from
The Silmarillion. These books
are mostly valuable to scholars who wish to examine the revisions or development
of Tolkien’s work.
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One. .
History of Middle Earth Vol. X. Edited by Christopher Tolkien.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.
Print.
In volumes ten through twelve of The History of Middle Earth, Christopher
Tolkien traces earlier versions of the stories of the later
Silmarillion. Some of these stories
are hardly recognizable to those who first knew the stories through the
published Silmarillion.
Since it was Sauron who made the One Ring of
The Lord of the Rings, after Morgoth
was exiled by the Valar into the Void, this title is a little confusing to
Tolkien fans even. The explanation
given by Christopher Tolkien is that all of Arda was Morgoth’s Ring.
Tolkien, J. R. R. On
Fairy Stories. Edited by Verlyn
Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson.
New York:
HarperCollins, 2008. Print.
In their commentary on Tolkien's famous
essay, they point out that the definition of fantasy is two-fold for Tolkien:
"unreality" and subcreation, to include both the working of the imagination
(which occurs without tangible output) and the tangible result of that thinking,
the story, painting, or other actual work of art created through subcreation.
The discuss the fact that drama already requires secondary belief that
the actors represent characters/people.
This makes it harder for us to believe those actors are supernatural
(witches, fairies). They emphasize
that for Tolkien subcreation must have "the inner consistency of reality" (18).
Tolkien's statements about fantasy are not just about his creative
principles but were weighing in on the intellectual argument between Max Muller
and Andrew Lang (that fairy tales came from myths which were explanations of
natural phenomena, the sky, the sea, etc. or the philological view vs. the
anthropological view that myths were part of the "childhood" of human society.
Tolkien believed fantasy came from language and imagination combined but
that it needed to be based in the world of reality.
In contrasting imagination and fantasy, Tolkien sees imagination as a
higher form than fancy or fantasy.
We put names on the things of our imagination; "through naming things . . .
humankind comes to perceive and relate to its world" (113).
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Peoples of Middle Earth. Edited
by Christopher Tolkien. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Print.
In volumes ten through twelve of The History of Middle Earth, Christopher
Tolkien concentrates in this volume on the Prologue and the Appendixes of
The Lord of the Rings in their various
emendations. He also provides some
stories not found elsewhere, like the story of the wife of Finrod, Anaire.
Of most interest to Tolkien fans would probably be the unfinished sequel
to The Lord of the Rings, entitled “The New Shadow.”
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Return of the Shadow: The History of Lord of the Rings, Part One. Edited by
Christopher Tolkien. History of
Middle Earth Vol. VI. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Print.
In volumes six through nine of the History of Middle Earth series,
subtitled The History of the Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien provides
earlier phases of the story. This
book deals with the development of The
Fellowship of the Ring through the Mines of Moria episode.
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Sauron Defeated. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. History of Middle Earth Vol.
IX.
In volumes six through nine of the History of Middle Earth series,
subtitled The History of the Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien provides
earlier phases of the story. This
book deals with the end of The Lord of the
Rings and also The Norton Club Papers
because it deals with time travel to Numenor.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Shaping of MiddleEarth. Edited
by Christopher Tolkien. History of
Middle Earth Vol. IV. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1986.
Print.
Christopher Tolkien, though the History of Middle Earth series of books,
traces the development of the stories from
The Silmarillion. These books
are mostly valuable to scholars who wish to examine the revisions or development
of Tolkien’s work.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
Treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two. Edited
by Christopher Tolkien. History of
Middle Earth Vol. VII. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Print.
In volumes six through nine of the History of Middle Earth series,
subtitled The History of the Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien provides
earlier phases of the story. This
book deals with the end of The Fellowship
of the Ring through the meeting of King Theoden in
The Two Towers.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
War of the Jewel: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two.
Edited by Christopher Tolkien.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Print.
In volumes ten through twelve of The History of Middle Earth, Christopher
Tolkien traces earlier versions of the stories of the later
Silmarillion.
In this volume, Christopher Tolkien provides later versions, those
written after 1951, of some of the stories, most notably the Hurin stories.
Also some history of Ents is provided.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The
War of the Ring: The History of Lord of the Rings, Part Three.
Edited by Christopher Tolkien.
History of Middle Earth Vol. VIII.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.
Print.
In volumes six through nine of the History of Middle Earth series,
subtitled The History of the Lord of the Rings, Christopher Tolkien provides
earlier phases of the story. This
book deals with the Lord of the Rings story from Edoras to the Black Gate.
Turner, Allan.
“Preface.”
Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
i-iv. Print.
Turner, Allan, ed.
The Silmarillion: Thirty Years On.
Zürich: Walking Tree, 2007.
Print.
Van Beek, Walter E. A. “On Myth as Science Fiction.”
Current Anthropology 33.2 (Apr 1992): 214-216.
Print.
West, John.
“The Lord of the Rings as Defense of Western Civilization.”
From the “Celebrating Middle Earth” conference,
West claims that Tolkien’s
Lord of the Rings reflects several
themes that are prevalent within the Western literary tradition.
First, natural law suggests that there is a universal set of moral
principles rather than the existential view that each individual person develops
his own moral standards. Second, as
opposed to the ascending world view based on scientific discovery and
technological advancement, Tolkien believes in the declining world view of a
Golden Age in the past and a fall from grace.
Third, in the predestination vs. free will debate, Tolkien emphasizes the
importance of the freedom of choice. And fourth, that man is capable of
transcending his limitations. “We
should read The Lord of the Rings because it represents a remarkable defense of
Western Civilization” (15). ***
Topics
supported: declining world view,
morality
Whittingham, Elizabeth.
The Evolution of Tolkien’s mythology: A Study of the History of
Middle-earth.
Wiggins, Kayla McKinney.
“The Person of a Prince: Echoes of
Hamlet in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of
the Rings.” 91-109. Print.
Wilson, Edmund.
“The Lord of the Rings is Greatly Overrated.”
Readings. 128-133.
Topics supported:
nothing of value