The Monsters and the Critics
J. R. R. Tolkien
- The
- complete
- collection
- of
- Tolkien’s
- essays,
- including
- two
- on
- Beowulf,
- which
- span
- three
- decades
- beginning
- six
- years
- before
- The
- Hobbit
- to
- five
- years
- after
- The
- Lord
- of
- the
- Rings.The
- seven
- essays
- by
- J.R.R.
- Tolkien
- assembled
- in
- this
- edition
- were
- with
- one
- exception
- delivered
- as
- general
- lectures
- on
- particular
- occasions;
- and
- while
- they
- mostly
- arose
- out
- of
- Tolkien’s
- work
- in
- medieval
- literature,
- they
- are
- accessible
- to
- all.
- Two
- of
- them
- are
- concerned
- with
- Beowulf,
- including
- the
- well-known
- lecture
- whose
- title
- is
- taken
- for
- this
- book,
- and
- one
- with
- Sir
- Gawain
- and
- the
- Green
- Knight,
- given
- in
- the
- University
- of
- Glasgow
- in
- 1953.Also
- included
- in
- this
- volume
- is
- the
- lecture
- ‘English
- and
- Welsh’;
- the
- Valedictory
- Address
- to
- the
- University
- of
- Oxford
- in
- 1959;
- and
- a
- paper
- on
- Invented
- Languages
- delivered
- in
- 1931,
- with
- exemplification
- from
- poems
- in
- the
- Elvish
- tongues.
- Most
- famous
- of
- all
- is
- ‘On
- Fairy-Stories’,
- a
- discussion
- of
- the
- nature
- of
- fairy-tales
- and
- fantasy,
- which
- gives
- insight
- into
- Tolkien’s
- approach
- to
- the
- whole
- genre.The
- pieces
- in
- this
- collection
- cover
- a
- period
- of
- nearly
- thirty
- years,
- beginning
- six
- years
- before
- the
- publication
- of
- The
- Hobbit,
- with
- a
- unique
- ‘academic’
- lecture
- on
- his
- invention
- (calling
- it
- ‘A
- Secret
- Vice’)
- and
- concluding
- with
- his
- farewell
- to
- professorship,
- five
- years
- after
- the
- publication
- of
- The
- Lord
- of
- the Rings.
