The Tolkien Reader

The Tolkien Reader
by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Book Summary Information

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Brand: Random House
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1986-11-12
ISBN: 0345345061
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Del Rey

Book Reviews of The Tolkien Reader

Book Review: A collection of some of Tolkien's short works
Summary: 5 Stars

This book is a collection of either 4 or 5 shorter works, depending on how you count; Tolkien himself grouped "On Fairy Stories" and "Leaf by Niggle" together as "Tree and Leaf", but I think of them as being very different.

The 1986 edition in front of me was illustrated by Pauline Baynes. My understanding is that her work with Tolkien on "Farmer Giles of Ham" led him to recommend her to C.S. Lewis; the style of the pictures for that story resembles those she later created for "The Magician's Book" in Lewis' THE VOYAGES OF THE DAWN TREADER.

"The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" is part analysis of an epic poem, and part play based on the poem. I find this hardest to get into of all the pieces in the book.

"On Fairy Stories" A serious essay, starting with prettified Victorian fairy tales and tracing them back to their origins in more serious stories of Faerie and its inhabitants. Personally I would have paired this up with SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR rather than "Leaf by Niggle" in terms of subject matter.

"Leaf by Niggle" I acquired the book solely for this story; everything else was icing on the cake. Niggle, although he knows that he will someday have to go on a long journey with no return, finds the idea distasteful and avoids preparing for it; instead, he prefers to spend all the time he can painting, being 'the sort of painter who can paint leaves better than trees'. But when the time for his journey finds him completely unprepared, it turns out that neither his time working on leaves nor helping his disagreeable neighbour Parish has been wasted.

"Farmer Giles of Ham" is another of Tolkien's 'translations', but along the lines of THE LORD OF THE RINGS - that is, when discussing it he refers to it seriously as a translated history rather than an original story, to the point of identifying his source texts and criticizing some earlier scholar's carelessness about detail. (Tolkien and Lewis indulged in games like this often; see THE LAYS OF BELERIAND for examples of some of their letters analyzing the work of 'translators' on various poems of Tolkien's.) The hero of the story, Giles, starts out as an ordinary farmer who almost accidentally causes a giant to leave his village alone (the giant being hard of hearing, and not caring for what he took to be stinging insects). Unfortunately for Giles, being an official hero isn't always convenient when the professional knights inexplicably can't spare the time to chase *real* monsters, and the giant gave other people quite the wrong impression of his home. I happen to like Tolkien's sense of humor myself, so I enjoy this story, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea. The story's style also reminds me a bit of THE SWORD IN THE STONE, particularly in dealing with professional knights.

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book" is a collection of 16 poems; note that only the first two poems feature Bombadil. The preface identifies them as coming from THE RED BOOK (the 'historical' record from which THE LORD OF THE RINGS was 'translated'), and identifies the chararacters who wrote some of them. "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" and "The Stone Troll" also appear early in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, but there are more poems along similar lines such as "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon", "Perry-the-Winkle" (another troll-song), and "Oliphaunt". About a quarter of the poems have a more serious tone.

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Summary of The Tolkien Reader

Stories, poems, and commentaries by the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

FARMER GILES OF HAM
An imaginative history of the distant and marvelous past that introduces the rather unheroic Farmer Giles, whose efforts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon will delight readers everywhere.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL
A collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, that staunch friend of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.

TREE AND LEAF
Contains ?On Fairy-stories,? Professor Tolkien?s now-famous essay on the form of the fairy story and the treatment of fantasy.

. . . and other dazzling works, including an introduction by Peter S. Beagle

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