The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays

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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. Best Read Kindle ePUB The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays Author J.R.R. Tolkien – kino-fada.fr Tolkien was a pretty devastatingly smart guy, who didn t only create a world and languages of his own, but was a serious and intelligent scholar who knew many languages, modern and archaic, and had a wide interest in different literatures and mythologies This volume contains seven of his academic essays for a modern academic, the volume of his work however influential and inspiring would be insufficient, with the pressure to publish all the time Good thing he isn t a contemporary academ To...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 ...Prior to the delivery and publication of these lectures in 1936 the poem of Beowulf was mined by scholars looking to find information on Germanic antiquities, some for nationalistic reasons and others out of a genuine interest in the past, but few explored the poem for its own literary merits Major publications on the poem included works by Axel Olrik and R.W Chambers, while both books made vast explorations into the origin of the legends and comparisons between Scandinavian material, neither Prior to the delivery and publication of these lectures in 1936 the poem of Beowulf was mined by scholars looking to find information on Germanic antiquities, some for nationalistic reasons and others out of a genuine interest in the past, but few explored the poem for its own literary merits Major p...The title essay still going for best title of a critical essay together with On Translating Beowulf capture that poem, at least if you are a romantic like me Gloriously written and elegiac in mood, these may rob your heart, and perhaps you can cheat, read them instead of Beowulf and yet understand.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 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 courage, which is the great contribution of early Northern literature This is not a military judgement I am not asserting that, if the Trojans could have employed a Northern king and his companions, they would have driven Agamemnon and Achilles into the sea,decisively than the Greek hexameter routs the alliterative line though it is not improbable No, really, who else would compare the Trojan War to Gr...The title essay is approaching 90 years old and remains both readable and important In a few pages Tolkien elucidates a few principles which are still incompletely grasped.First, that the art and acts of our ancestors were not crude, quaint and haphazard Second, that a thing be it poetry or a tree should be taken for what it is, and respected by exploring what it is without preconceptions Let a thing stand on it s own a bit before rushing to prop it up.Third, upon those themes he guides The title essay is approaching 90 years old and remains both readable and important In a few pages Tolkien elucidates a few principles which are still incompletely grasped.First, that the art and acts of our ancestors were not crude, quaint and haphazard Second, that a thing be it poetry or a tree should be taken for what it is, and respected by exploring what it is without preconceptions Let a thing stand on it s own a bit before rushing to prop it up.Third, upon those themes he guides the reader through an exercise in literary criticism What I found interesting when I first read the title essay some 25 years ago, is it s connection to another book on my list Mark As Story The critical perspective and techniques that Rhoads and Michie bring to Mark are very similar to what Tolkien was espousing almost 50 years previously If all you know about Tolkien is that he wrote some quaint books that they made movies out of I would stron...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 Tolkie 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 elsewh...5 stars but only for people interested in either Beowulf, Tolkien, or Bilbo if you read it in his voice, this essay is quite endearing.review to be postedIt 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 interesting 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 bec...

The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
  • English
  • 24 August 2017
  • Paperback
  • 240 pages
  • 026110263X
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays