Particularize Books During The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
Original Title: | The Monsters and the Critics: And Other Essays |
ISBN: | 026110263X (ISBN13: 9780261102637) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies (2003) |
J.R.R. Tolkien
Paperback | Pages: 240 pages Rating: 3.93 | 3928 Users | 111 Reviews
Explanation To Books The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
The seven ‘essays’ by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this new paperback 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.Describe About Books The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
Title | : | The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays |
Author | : | J.R.R. Tolkien |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 240 pages |
Published | : | May 2nd 2006 by HarperCollins (first published 1983) |
Categories | : | Fantasy. Writing. Essays. Criticism. Literary Criticism. Literature. Classics. Mythology |
Rating About Books The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
Ratings: 3.93 From 3928 Users | 111 ReviewsCrit About Books The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
It's a good thing that this is a book of essays because it's easy to read about one a day (although it's not a light read). The Monsters and the Critics is a collection of essay/lectures given by J. R. R. Tolkien. The essays are:Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics: I realised how rusty the 'literature' part of my brain was because this was difficult for me and it's not aimed at a scholarly audience!On Translating Beowulf: see comments aboveSir Gawain and the Green Knight: this was interestingI enjoyed the last three essays in this book much more than the first few. Tolkien's analyses and arguments for his value of Beowulf and Sir Gawain came off to me pedantic and overly intellectual. His passion was clear, but I didn't find the narrow topics interesting enough for a general readership. These essays would make sense as reading assignments in an English graduate-level course, but I couldn't get into them just for fun. The last few essays were much more interesting to me. I enjoyed
I wish had Professor Tolkien around to pick his brain, but this book is an adequate substitute, and, I think, indispensable for anyone who teaches Beowulf. Tolkien's titular essay is largely responsible for changing the attitude toward Beowulf in literary circles. The epic was considered important for what it could teach us of the Anglo-Saxons, but it was Tolkien who convinced the literati that it had literary merit, too. Highly recommended to fans of Beowulf.
The first time I read it, I swooned. Then I revisited it in grad school, and I swooned again. There is only one author I've ever read who would not only understand but also think to write the following: "And in the poem I think we may observe not confusion, a half-hearted or a muddled business, but a fusion that has occurred at a given point of contact between old and new, a product of thought and deep emotion."One of the most potent elements in that fusion is the Northern courage: the theory of
An extraordinary collection of Tolkien essays from the 1930s to 1950s. Make no mistake, these addresses were serious presentations to serious, and qualified audiences; which the casual reader is not.His essays on Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight changed my perception of those works. His essay on translating Beowulf adds to my appreciation of the challenges of both translators and readers of translated texts. His On Fairy tales I have lauded elsewhere, was it appears also in The
Tolkien is brilliantly insightful on a level that few achieve. His knowledge of language and literature shines in these essays. The five star rating is for a literary scholar. For a fan only of Tolkien's fiction, this may or may not be interesting. But for anyone interested in Anglo Saxon or medieval lit, or in linguistic distinctions, this book is a treasure. Essays include an analysis of Beowulf as a poem, Gawain, the process of creating languages, and drawing distinctions within the
5 Stars because I'm biased on anything Tolkien. :) I skipped the Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight essays because I haven't read the stories yet and I want to read them before I read Tolkien analyze them.On Fairy Stories is an excellent essay that I enjoyed thoroughly. The Valedictory Address was a bit tricky to follow but maybe when I read more about what Tolkien did when he was working at University it will make more sense. 5 Stars because it's Tolkien and he writes very well.
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