Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth

Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth is a collection of scholarly essays edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter on the 12 volumes of The History of Middle-earth, relating to J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction and compiled and edited by his son, Christopher. It was published by Greenwood Press in 2000. That series comprises a substantial part of "Tolkien's legendarium", the body of Tolkien's mythopoeic writing that forms the background to his The Lord of the Rings and which Christopher Tolkien summarized in his construction of The Silmarillion.

Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth
Book cover
AuthorVerlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter, editors
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHistory of Middle-earth
GenreTolkien studies
PublisherGreenwood Press
Publication date
2000
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeHardcover
ISBN978-0-313-30530-6
OCLC41315400
823/.912 21
LC ClassPR6039.O32 H5727 2000

It includes a bibliography of works by Christopher Tolkien compiled by Douglas A. Anderson.

Tolkien's Legendarium won the 2002 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies.[1]

Contents

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The history
The languages
The cauldron and the cook
Appendix

Reception

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John S. Ryan, reviewing the book for VII, called it a "luminous companion" to the 12 volumes of The History of Middle-earth, and "clearly indispensable".[2] Ryan stated that it "pays a much merited tribute"[2] to Christopher Tolkien's six decades or more of work on his father's writings, indeed from his childhood as one of the original audience for The Hobbit. Ryan describes the 14 essays as "carefully argued", noting among other things Bratman's description of the 4 styles Tolkien used in the Legendarium as "Annalistic, Antique, Appendical, and Philosophical".[2]

The Tolkien scholar Douglas C. Kane, while welcoming the 2021 book The Nature of Middle-earth, writes that Hostetter "appears to overstep his role as editor" by presenting the materials according to his personal point of view. In particular, Kane states that Hostetter wrongly applies Tolkien's remark that The Lord of the Rings was fundamentally religious and Catholic to the whole of the legendarium.[3] Kane calls this contrary to Christopher Tolkien's editorial practice, and "a blatant statement of intent". Kane quotes Verlyn Flieger's remark that Tolkien's work reflects the two sides of his nature; the work can be seen both "as Catholic [and] not Christian."[3]

The Tolkien Society called Charles Noad's essay "a critically important document" on the interpretation of The Silmarillion.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Mythopoeic Awards - 2002". Mythopoeic Society. 29 July 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Ryan, John Sprott (2001). "Review of Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth by Verlyn Flieger, Karl F. Hostetter". VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center. 18: 109–111. JSTOR 45296793.
  3. ^ a b Kane, Douglas C. (2021). "The Nature of Middle-earth (2021) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Carl F. Hostetter". Journal of Tolkien Research. 13 (1). article 5.
  4. ^ "Obituary: Charles Noad". The Tolkien Society. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
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