"All my father's writings have appendices."
Written: Feb 23 '06 (Updated Sep 02 '08)
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Pros: The seven most accessible pieces of Tolkien's professional work.
Cons: It hasn't much to do directly with his popular fiction, so don't expect that.
The Bottom Line: In a past academic age lecturing was considered at least as important as publishing. Tolkien was prolific in this area, and here are the best examples.
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| panguitch's Full Review: The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays Book... |
The Review
I would always rather try to wring the juice out of a single sentence . . . than to . . . pot a poet in a paragraph. And I am afraid that what I would rather do is what I have usually done.
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays was compiled by Christopher Tolkien and first published in 1983. It fills a gap in the Tolkien canon, for while Tolkien’s major works of fiction have flooded the earth and treatments of Middle-earth and its (sub)creator abound, it can be difficult to find some of his minor works, and even more difficult to find his non-fiction.
His professional life is therefore unknown to most of his ravening fans. Those who can quote The Lord of the Rings line and verse are actually obsessing about the odd offshoot of a private hobby. Indeed, Tolkien suffered some embarrassment from colleagues who felt he had better things to do than make up languages for elves and tell stories about furry-footed demi-humans.
But despite the legendary degree to which his attention was consumed by his "secret vice," Tolkien achieved a fair regard during his tenure at Oxford, and Leeds before that. In fact, Tolkien proved influential in the planning and politics of the English curriculum, and syllabi he developed were in use long past his retirement. He also affected students, fostering excitement for his subject, something for which too many professors lack the skill or inclination. W. H. Auden once wrote to him, "I don’t think I have ever told you what an unforgettable experience it was for me as an undergraduate, hearing you recite Beowulf" (Carpenter, Tolkien: A Biography).
Tolkien published relatively little scholarly work by today’s standards. His edition, with E. V. Gordon, of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was an important publication, but most of his articles dwelt on technical matters of philology. The "essays" collected by his son Christopher in this volume are actually lectures, with one exception. These seven pieces dip down into technicalities, but on the whole are accessible to the inexpert reader. Though they do not directly treat his fiction, they do open to our view the professional side of Tolkien’s person. They shed great light on his thinking and in this sense are perhaps the best window to the mind that made Middle-earth.
Beowulf: The Monsters and Critics (1936)
A dragon is no idle fancy.
Perhaps Tolkien’s most famous lecture, this remains the most important single piece of Beowulf scholarship. Indeed, Tolkien deserves much credit for fostering serious appreciation of the literary qualities of this Old English poem, as opposed to its supposed historical value. Thus, if as a student you ever languished while covering Beowulf in some benighted overview of the history of English literature, you may place some blame at Tolkien’s feet. But most likely the cause of your pain was not the poem, but the teaching of it, and it is exactly this that Tolkien seeks to remedy.
His central thesis is that all the things considered important by most approaches to the poem are really peripheral to the matters of actual import, the things which lie at the center and around which most critics have skirted with distaste. The monsters, for example, are not embarrassments to a sophisticated reader, any more than the poet’s intention was to make a record of his times, though both these things are assumed by many critics. Rather, the monsters are rich in significance and central to the purpose of a poet who told not of his own era, but elegized an earlier one.
The poet’s eulogy focuses on the Northern "theory of courage," the "creed of undying will." The monsters are at the center of the poem because they are the victors. "Death is the theme," and the "heathen, noble, and hopeless" hero is redeemed (but not saved) by his "naked will and courage."
The structure of Beowulf, derided as halting, stumbling, and lacking proportion, is in fact a mirror to the Anglo-Saxon alliterative line, a juxtaposition "more like masonry than music." Even so the poem as a whole opposes Beowulf’s rise with his fall, in perfect harmony with the theme of man’s ultimately futile struggle against the darkness.
The Beowulf poem may itself seem ancient, "and yet its maker was telling of things already old and weighted with regret," of "sorrows . . . both poignant and remote." It is a beautiful poem, of vast importance to English literature, and Tolkien’s treatment is both delightful and essential reading for those familiar with it.
On Translating Beowulf (1940)
This is an age of potted criticism and pre-digested literary opinion.
Asked to write a preface to a new edition, Tolkien lambastes the dumbing down of Beowulf through prose and otherwise poor translations. Indeed he suggests the only use for the translation he is prefacing is as an "aid to study," whereas an actual reading of the poem would require the original text or at the very least a verse translation that attempts to reconstruct the poem’s art.
Tolkien dwells here on the particulars of Anglo-Saxon meter and alliteration, providing a useful overview of these elements in Beowulf. Equally interesting is his discussion of the translation of particular words, though this is most important for his defense of the poem’s elevated tone, a tone he urges be maintained in translations. Ironically it is for the tone of his language that Tolkien’s fiction is often criticized. Both in the case of Beowulf and in that of his own fiction, Tolkien’s espousal of "language familiar in meaning and yet freed from trivial associations" is argued here clearly and persuasively.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1953)
The mathematical perfection of the Pentangle.
This great medieval poem absorbed much of Tolkien’s attention. Modern critics adore it for its rich veins of symbolism, but Tolkien focuses on its primary symbol, depicted on Gawain’s shield, the pentangle. This representation of perfection, detailed so explicitly by the poet, reflects the twisting confluence of Gawain’s ideals, his Christian faith, his honor, and courtesy (or chivalry). This is the grand scheme of the poem, the tension between these forces that Gawain struggles with as he performs his quest for King Arthur.
As Tolkien shows, Gawain must ultimately attach a proper order of primacy to these ideals. Gawain resists the lady’s advances, according to his morals, but according to the medieval tradition of courtesy he must entertain them. Gawain’s ultimate failure is only on a lower level, the breaking of his word in the game he plays with Bertilak.
For the reader of Gawain Tolkien’s treatment of the temptations is illuminating. Tolkien brings Gawain to life, an exuberant knight given to overstatement. More importantly he shows how this important and exceedingly artful piece of medieval literature explores the question of which morals transcend custom and which are only social mores.
On Fairy-Stories (1939)
Fantasy is a natural human activity.
"I propose to speak about fairy-stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure." With these words Tolkien begins the most important defense of fantasy literature ever written. Moreover, as J. S. Ryan has said, "he has shown himself the best critic of his own major work [The Lord of the Rings, etc.]" (Ryan, "Folktale, Fairy Tale, and the Creation of a Story," in Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism).
An overview of Tolkien’s arguments I have related elsewhere (see my review of The Tolkien Reader, another publication containing this lecture). Suffice it to say they are sound, well-expressed, and particularly interesting for the light they shed on Tolkien’s life and creative efforts.
For example, speaking of his own childhood, Tolkien says "I desired dragons with a profound desire. . . . The world that contained even the imagination of Fafnir was richer and more beautiful." He argues against the notion that children like fairy-stories more than adults or that fairy-stories are more suited to children than adults:
"[As a child] I did not want to be quibbled into Science and cheated out of Faerie by people who seemed to assume that by some kind of original sin I should prefer fairy-tales, but according to some kind of new religion I ought to be induced to like science. . . . There is a part of man which is not ‘Nature’, and which therefore is not obliged to study it, and is, in fact, wholly unsatisfied by it."
English and Welsh (1955)
Welsh is of this soil, this island, the senior language of the men of Britain; and Welsh is beautiful.
The day after the publication of The Return of the King Tolkien delivered this lecture. It is the most philologically technical of the lectures collected here. In it Tolkien discusses his fondness for the Welsh language and several points of interest in the interchange between English and Welsh. For example he indicates that wealhstod, the Anglo-Saxon word for interpreter, implied a person who could speak Welsh. In a related point he suggests the English word for foreigner reveals "more linguistic curiosity and discrimination than the simple stupidity of the Greek barbaros." He also discusses the origins of the word ‘British’, and the role of governments in extinguishing linguistic diversity for the sake of efficiency.
Those not interested in such particulars may instead be piqued by his assertion that "Language is the prime differentiator of peoples—not of 'races', whatever that much-misused word may mean." Tolkien also felt the need to dispel romanticized stereotypes of Celts, a phenomenon that continues in the popular promulgation of Celtic imagery and 'culture.' "Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of the reason," he quips.
Tolkien waxes autobiographical, delineating the steps of his own conversion to the love of Welsh. First he learned Latin, which "seemed so normal." At the same time came French, for which Tolkien never held fondness. He was attracted by the "fluidity," "hardness," and "surface glitter" of Greek. "Spanish gave me strong pleasure. . . . Gothic was the first to take me by storm." Tolkien "tasted" many languages, but "of all save one among them the most overwhelming pleasure was provided by Finnish, and I have never quite got over it." That one was Welsh, and it inspired one of his invented elvish languages, Sindarin (Finnish inspiring the other, Quenya).
A Secret Vice (1931)
The making of language and mythology are related functions.
Here Tolkien discusses the art of inventing languages, the pastime out of which grew his major works of fiction. The material is of interest to two types: those who have indulged or been tempted by this "vice," and those interested in Tolkien’s own languages. Of the first there is a surprising number, and Tolkien is rightly held in honor among them. Of the second, key passages include Tolkien’s assertion that "perfect" construction of a language necessitates the concurrent construction of a history or mythology. Hence springs The Silmarillion, whence The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.
Included are examples of Tolkien’s languages, from the simple things of his childhood to excerpts from poems in elvish. Christopher has added several versions of these, for students of Quenya and Sindarin to compare.
Valedictory Address (1959)
As if I were some curious wizard.
At the end of his final term Tolkien delivered this farewell address. He takes the opportunity to lament the structure of education at Oxford, feeling that degrees were churned out with the bland uniformity of sausages. Any who have experienced higher education can identify with the sentiment.
In his modest fashion he touches on his contributions to the teaching of English. He outlines the division between the language and literature camps: "I have a hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature."
Tolkien did much to bridge this division, though today philology has largely been relegated to the Linguistics department. Still, he could not totally avoid the partisan spirit, and in response to perplexity expressed at his love of language says, "If you cannot learn [language], or find the stuff distasteful, then keep humbly quiet. You are a deaf man at a concert. Carry on with your biography of the composer, and do not bother about the noises that he makes!"
Recommendation
Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.
The primary concerns of Tolkien’s professional life are represented here. Beowulf. Gawain. Philology. His Oxford career. Also in evidence is the interaction between his profession and his private life. His invented languages. His philosophy regarding fairy-stories and justification for his fiction.
To be sure, knowing the texts he is analyzing is important to benefit from these lectures, as is rudimentary linguistic knowledge. But while each piece may be relevant and even profound in relation to its topic, the collection as a whole is to be most treasured for the insight it gives of this less appreciated but undeniably significant side of the great subcreator.
– Panguitch
My reviews of other Tolkieniana:
• The Two Towers (movie): http://www.epinions.com/content_84595936900
• The Return of the King (movie): http://www.epinions.com/content_122274745988
• The Tolkien Reader: http://www.epinions.com/content_83305205380
• Meditations on Middle-Earth: http://www.epinions.com/content_100388015748
• J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century: http://www.epinions.com/content_72574733956
• Tolkien: A Biography: http://www.epinions.com/content_220187037316
• Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism: http://www.epinions.com/content_226921975428
• The Children of Hurin: http://www.epinions.com/content_374810250884
See also:
• Medieval Epics: Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Nibelungenlied, The Poem of the Cid: http://www.epinions.com/content_81028615812
Recommended:
Yes
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