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Los monstruos y los críticos y otros ensayos
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.
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.
284 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
136 people are currently reading
6452 people want to read
About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
767 books77k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
March 19, 2024
Questi sono i saggi inclusi in questa raccolta:
-Beowulf: mostri e critici
-Tradurre Beowulf
-Sir Gawain e il cavaliere Verde
-Sulle fiabe
-Inglese e gallese
-Un vizio segreto
-Discorso di commiato all'Università di Oxford
Ogni volta che mi approccio ad un lavoro di Tolkien so che ne uscirò arricchito. Nutro un profondo rispetto e lo reputo il Creatore di mondi per eccellenza, un autore che ha dedicato una vita intera alla stesura del suo mondo secondario.
Con "Il medioevo e il fantastico" siamo di fronte ad una raccolta di saggi, alcuni come "sulle fiabe" affrontano il tema del fantastico e la sua più ampia visione all'interno del mondo letterario, fornendo punti di vista e consigli che reputo fondamentali e che tutti dovrebbero leggere, sia amanti sia detrattori del genere.
Tuttavia di questi saggi ho apprezzato solo alcune parti e non la loro interezza perché in alcuni di essi Tolkien tende a scendere in ambiente tecnico rivolto ad un pubblico di esperti o di chi possa ritenere interessante soffermarsi sulla scelta o l'etimologia dei vocaboli nell'opera di traduzione.
Così saggi come "Tradurre il Beowulf" e "inglese e gallese" risultano ai miei occhi di poco interesse, pieni di elenchi e spiegazioni tecniche.
Notevolissimo il saggio "sulle fiabe" e le idee personali sparse del professore di Oxford. L'ho letto principalmente per questo.
In definitiva è stata una piacevole lettura per approfondire e comprendere sempre di più il mastodontico e certosino lavoro dietro le sue opere.
--------------------------------------
These are the essays included in this collection:
-Beowulf: monsters and critics
-Translate Beowulf
-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
-On fairy tales
-English and Welsh
-A secret vice
- Valedictory speech at Oxford University
Every time I approach one of Tolkien's works I know I will come away enriched. I have deep respect and consider him the Creator of worlds par excellence, an author who has dedicated an entire life to the writing of his secondary world.
With "The Middle Ages and the Fantastic" we are faced with a collection of essays, some like "on fairy tales" address the theme of the fantastic and its broader vision within the literary world, providing points of view and advice that I consider fundamental and that everyone should read, both lovers and detractors of the genre.
However, I only appreciated some parts of these essays and not their entirety because in some of them Tolkien tends to descend into a technical environment aimed at an audience of experts or those who may find it interesting to focus on the choice or etymology of the words in the work Of
translation. So essays like "Translating Beowulf" and "English and Welsh" are of little interest to me, full of lists and technical explanations.
The Oxford professor's essay "on fairy tales" and his scattered personal ideas are very noteworthy. I read it
mainly for this reason. Ultimately it was a pleasant read to deepen and understand more and more the mammoth and painstaking work behind his works.
-Beowulf: mostri e critici
-Tradurre Beowulf
-Sir Gawain e il cavaliere Verde
-Sulle fiabe
-Inglese e gallese
-Un vizio segreto
-Discorso di commiato all'Università di Oxford
Ogni volta che mi approccio ad un lavoro di Tolkien so che ne uscirò arricchito. Nutro un profondo rispetto e lo reputo il Creatore di mondi per eccellenza, un autore che ha dedicato una vita intera alla stesura del suo mondo secondario.
Con "Il medioevo e il fantastico" siamo di fronte ad una raccolta di saggi, alcuni come "sulle fiabe" affrontano il tema del fantastico e la sua più ampia visione all'interno del mondo letterario, fornendo punti di vista e consigli che reputo fondamentali e che tutti dovrebbero leggere, sia amanti sia detrattori del genere.
Tuttavia di questi saggi ho apprezzato solo alcune parti e non la loro interezza perché in alcuni di essi Tolkien tende a scendere in ambiente tecnico rivolto ad un pubblico di esperti o di chi possa ritenere interessante soffermarsi sulla scelta o l'etimologia dei vocaboli nell'opera di traduzione.
Così saggi come "Tradurre il Beowulf" e "inglese e gallese" risultano ai miei occhi di poco interesse, pieni di elenchi e spiegazioni tecniche.
Notevolissimo il saggio "sulle fiabe" e le idee personali sparse del professore di Oxford. L'ho letto principalmente per questo.
In definitiva è stata una piacevole lettura per approfondire e comprendere sempre di più il mastodontico e certosino lavoro dietro le sue opere.
--------------------------------------
These are the essays included in this collection:
-Beowulf: monsters and critics
-Translate Beowulf
-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
-On fairy tales
-English and Welsh
-A secret vice
- Valedictory speech at Oxford University
Every time I approach one of Tolkien's works I know I will come away enriched. I have deep respect and consider him the Creator of worlds par excellence, an author who has dedicated an entire life to the writing of his secondary world.
With "The Middle Ages and the Fantastic" we are faced with a collection of essays, some like "on fairy tales" address the theme of the fantastic and its broader vision within the literary world, providing points of view and advice that I consider fundamental and that everyone should read, both lovers and detractors of the genre.
However, I only appreciated some parts of these essays and not their entirety because in some of them Tolkien tends to descend into a technical environment aimed at an audience of experts or those who may find it interesting to focus on the choice or etymology of the words in the work Of
translation. So essays like "Translating Beowulf" and "English and Welsh" are of little interest to me, full of lists and technical explanations.
The Oxford professor's essay "on fairy tales" and his scattered personal ideas are very noteworthy. I read it
mainly for this reason. Ultimately it was a pleasant read to deepen and understand more and more the mammoth and painstaking work behind his works.
October 24, 2011
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 academic: his careful editing and long thought is what made his lectures and essays so accessible.
This volume includes two essays on Beowulf: his very famous one, from which the title of this volume derives, and the one he wrote as an introduction to Clark Hall's translation. The first one is, of course, one of the first points of call for anyone studying Beowulf, and rightfully so. The volume also contains an essay on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, his famous essay 'On Fairy Stories', an essay on 'English and Welsh', an essay about the invention of languages, and his valedictory address, given when he left Oxford. All of them are well worth reading. They're not dry at all, but warm and passionate as Tolkien was warm and passionate, and of course, intelligent. I wish I could have heard him lecture (although, some people who went to his lectures could say that too, given his reputation of being a mumbler).
This volume includes two essays on Beowulf: his very famous one, from which the title of this volume derives, and the one he wrote as an introduction to Clark Hall's translation. The first one is, of course, one of the first points of call for anyone studying Beowulf, and rightfully so. The volume also contains an essay on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, his famous essay 'On Fairy Stories', an essay on 'English and Welsh', an essay about the invention of languages, and his valedictory address, given when he left Oxford. All of them are well worth reading. They're not dry at all, but warm and passionate as Tolkien was warm and passionate, and of course, intelligent. I wish I could have heard him lecture (although, some people who went to his lectures could say that too, given his reputation of being a mumbler).
April 16, 2013
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 attempted any analysis of the poems poetic value. In defence of probably the greatest Beowulf scholar ever, Frederich Klaeber in his major edition of the poem did include three sections in the introduction to the text that focused on the literary aspects of the poem.
In this groundbreaking lecture, Tolkien criticised scholars who ignored the fantastical episodes like the dragon fight, the encounters between Grendal and his mother and also skipped over the poetic value of the poem, in favour of looking for sources on the Germanic past. Instead Tolkien called for scholars to explore the poem for its own literary value. The whole essay seems to foretell the direction that Germanic studies would take in the aftermath of World War Two.
The challenge laid down by Tolkien was immediately taken up by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur in his Art of Beowulf. This was followed by numerous publications that analysed the literary merits of beowulf, most notably three volumes by Edward Irving. The whole trend reached a stunning high point in Fred C. Robinson's Beowulf and the Appositive Style in the 1980s.
With the birth of the Neo Traditionalist school in recent years, the search for parallel material, combined with Tolkien's call for literary analysis, seems to have made a comeback. With publications from Theodore M. Anderson, Helen Damico, Andy Orchard, Richard North and Christine Ruaer, Beowulf studies seem to be heading in interesting directions once more.
While I'm not a huge reader of modern fantasy literature and have only had one quick read of Tolkien's fantasy novels, mainly out of a strange curiosity and people constantly asking me irritating questions involving medieval studies and Tolkien's novels. This leads me to wonder if we should be reading Beowulf and other medieval literary works in the same way that someone would read a modern fantasy work like Lord of The Rings or a Harry Potter novel? Did the audience that listened to the poem in say the Tenth century hear this poem in the same way that we read the Hobbit or watch Star Wars?
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 attempted any analysis of the poems poetic value. In defence of probably the greatest Beowulf scholar ever, Frederich Klaeber in his major edition of the poem did include three sections in the introduction to the text that focused on the literary aspects of the poem.
In this groundbreaking lecture, Tolkien criticised scholars who ignored the fantastical episodes like the dragon fight, the encounters between Grendal and his mother and also skipped over the poetic value of the poem, in favour of looking for sources on the Germanic past. Instead Tolkien called for scholars to explore the poem for its own literary value. The whole essay seems to foretell the direction that Germanic studies would take in the aftermath of World War Two.
The challenge laid down by Tolkien was immediately taken up by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur in his Art of Beowulf. This was followed by numerous publications that analysed the literary merits of beowulf, most notably three volumes by Edward Irving. The whole trend reached a stunning high point in Fred C. Robinson's Beowulf and the Appositive Style in the 1980s.
With the birth of the Neo Traditionalist school in recent years, the search for parallel material, combined with Tolkien's call for literary analysis, seems to have made a comeback. With publications from Theodore M. Anderson, Helen Damico, Andy Orchard, Richard North and Christine Ruaer, Beowulf studies seem to be heading in interesting directions once more.
While I'm not a huge reader of modern fantasy literature and have only had one quick read of Tolkien's fantasy novels, mainly out of a strange curiosity and people constantly asking me irritating questions involving medieval studies and Tolkien's novels. This leads me to wonder if we should be reading Beowulf and other medieval literary works in the same way that someone would read a modern fantasy work like Lord of The Rings or a Harry Potter novel? Did the audience that listened to the poem in say the Tenth century hear this poem in the same way that we read the Hobbit or watch Star Wars?
July 5, 2008
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.
July 6, 2023
Ya sabéis que Tolkien me gusta mucho y que con sus ensayos aprendo también bastante. Además, como están enfocados con las cosas que estudio en mi carrera la verdad es que es una lectura muy enriquecedora (si vierais la de post-it que pongo y lo subrayado que está...).
Voy a hablaros un poquito de cada ensayo, siete en total en este ejemplar, porque son variados:
"Beowulf: los monstruos y los críticos" (1) y "Sobre la traducción de Beowulf" (2): como podéis deducir, trata la obra de Beowulf, las críticas que ha tenido, cómo se estudiaba en ma actualidad de Tolkien y cómo abordar una burna traducción. Sí, me ha dejado con muchas ganas de leer la obra en sí.
"Sir Gawain y el Caballero Verde" (3): uno de los integrantes de la mesa artúrica. De este ensayo mr gustó mucho el tema de los principios caballerescos, el ser educado y el honor, ¿cuál se debe priorizar en una situación comprometida?
"Sobre los cuentos de hadas" (4): ya leí este ensayo en otra obra de Tolkien ("Cuentos desde el reino peligroso") y me gustó mucho. Sobre todo el tema de Cuentos infantiles vs Cuentos de hadas y cómo se entremezclan (y que los cuentos no son para niños sólo).
"El inglés y el galés" (5): aquí me di cuenta de que mis estudios me ayudaban mucho para entender el ensayo en profundidad, por ciertos tecnicismos.
"Un vicio secreto" (6): la creación de idiomas. Aquí también aprendes mucho biográficamente sobre Tolkien. Muy interesante.
"Discurso de despedida a la Universidad de Oxford" (7): son el toque irónico característico del autor, aborda uno de sus temas académicos (lengua = lenguaje = literatura) y la verdad es que tiene mucho sentido una vez que lees el ensayo.
Lo he disfrutado mucho :).
Voy a hablaros un poquito de cada ensayo, siete en total en este ejemplar, porque son variados:
"Beowulf: los monstruos y los críticos" (1) y "Sobre la traducción de Beowulf" (2): como podéis deducir, trata la obra de Beowulf, las críticas que ha tenido, cómo se estudiaba en ma actualidad de Tolkien y cómo abordar una burna traducción. Sí, me ha dejado con muchas ganas de leer la obra en sí.
"Sir Gawain y el Caballero Verde" (3): uno de los integrantes de la mesa artúrica. De este ensayo mr gustó mucho el tema de los principios caballerescos, el ser educado y el honor, ¿cuál se debe priorizar en una situación comprometida?
"Sobre los cuentos de hadas" (4): ya leí este ensayo en otra obra de Tolkien ("Cuentos desde el reino peligroso") y me gustó mucho. Sobre todo el tema de Cuentos infantiles vs Cuentos de hadas y cómo se entremezclan (y que los cuentos no son para niños sólo).
"El inglés y el galés" (5): aquí me di cuenta de que mis estudios me ayudaban mucho para entender el ensayo en profundidad, por ciertos tecnicismos.
"Un vicio secreto" (6): la creación de idiomas. Aquí también aprendes mucho biográficamente sobre Tolkien. Muy interesante.
"Discurso de despedida a la Universidad de Oxford" (7): son el toque irónico característico del autor, aborda uno de sus temas académicos (lengua = lenguaje = literatura) y la verdad es que tiene mucho sentido una vez que lees el ensayo.
Lo he disfrutado mucho :).
April 25, 2018
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.
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.
May 12, 2014
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.
March 11, 2009
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 strongly recommend exploring these essays. His thought and his philosophy ranged much, much more widely than the fantasy of the Lord of the Rings and his academic love of philology.
A final thought ... Tolkien disliked allegory. It was too easy, too insulting to the intelligence of the reader in his mind.
Writing being an intimate task, and that being the case. Given the scope of these essays and what they expose ... it's worth considering how -- biographically metaphorical -- the Lord of the Rings may be. It may have taken a work of that magnitude to express the scope of that quiet man's spirit and thought.
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 strongly recommend exploring these essays. His thought and his philosophy ranged much, much more widely than the fantasy of the Lord of the Rings and his academic love of philology.
A final thought ... Tolkien disliked allegory. It was too easy, too insulting to the intelligence of the reader in his mind.
Writing being an intimate task, and that being the case. Given the scope of these essays and what they expose ... it's worth considering how -- biographically metaphorical -- the Lord of the Rings may be. It may have taken a work of that magnitude to express the scope of that quiet man's spirit and thought.
October 29, 2013
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 Reader. The essays on English and Welsh and A Secret Vice were enjoyable and informative, though the latter and the closing Valedictory Address strike me as filler.
A very good, if difficult read.
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 Reader. The essays on English and Welsh and A Secret Vice were enjoyable and informative, though the latter and the closing Valedictory Address strike me as filler.
A very good, if difficult read.
July 6, 2014
I already loved LOTR, and this book made me love that series even more. My favorite essay out of the collection was "On Fairy Stories." Whether you're a writer or a reader, it's definitely worth investing some time into. You'll walk away from it with a new appreciation for the significance of stories in our lives.
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June 4, 2018Já zásadně odborné knihy nehodnotím, ale kdybych hvězdičkovala nebo bodovala, tak si Netvoři a kritikové zaslouží vysoké hodnocení. Přednášky profesora Tolkiena o Beowulfovi a Gawainovi mi vyloženě bodly. :)
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March 10, 2024
χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 58 δευτερόλεπτα
Δεν μου αρέσει να επαναλαμβάνομαι για αυτό θα το πω όσο πιο σύντομα
γίνεται.
Ο Τόλκιν επειδή δεν έκδωσε πολλά βιβλία όσο ήταν εν ζωή (9 στο σύνολο σε
αντίθεση με τα 30 και βάλε που κυκλοφορούν σήμερα) και επειδή ο γιος του
ανέλαβε την επιμέλεια του έργου του πατέρα όπως επίσης και πολλοί
άλλοι επιμελητές, πολλά γραπτά του επαναλαμβάνονται είτε σε διάφορες
μορφές, είτε επαυξημένα, είτε και αυτούσια. Και αυτός είναι ο κύριος λόγος
που κάποιες φορές παθαίνω κορεσμό από Τόλκιν.
Εδώ μέσα περιέχονται 7 δοκίμια / ομιλίες:
1)Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
2)On Translating Beowulf
Αυτά τα διάβασα πρώτη φορά εδώ αλλά το θέμα του δεν μου είναι εντελώς
καινούριο. Διάβασα και πιο παλιά την μετάφραση του Τόλκιν για αυτό το
αρχαίο αγγλικό έπος
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
3) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Πρώτη φορά εδώ αλλά το διάβασα και δεύτερη τον περασμένο μήνα (Φλεβάρη)
στο Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo
4) On Fairy-Stories
Τρίτη φορά που το διαβάζω. Πρώτη εδώ: Tales from the Perilous Realm
και δεύτερη εδώ: Tree and Leaf
5) English and Welsh
Πρώτη φορά εδώ και παρουσιάζει αρκετό ενδιαφέρον από γλωσσολογικής άποψης.
Μιλάει για το τι καθιστά μια μητρική γλώσσα, εθνικότητα, φυλή, και τις
μεταξύ τους σχέσεις, όπως επίσης και για την έμφυτη προτίμηση σε μια γλώσσα.
6)A Secret Vice
Δεύτερη ανάγνωση. Η πρώτη ήταν στο A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages
7) Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford
Πρώτη φορά εδώ και όπως λέει και ο τίτλος είναι ο αποχαιρετιστήριος λόγος του
Τόλκιν πριν συνταξιοδοτηθεί το 1959.
June 22, 2025
This is a collection of Tolkien’s lectures and essays (7 total) that span his literary career.
There are two on Beowulf: the first being the title of the collection and the reason I bought this book. My professor referenced it in our Anglo-Saxon literature class. But, I actually liked the second essay, “On Translating Beowulf” better, and I would advise it as recommended reading for anyone studying the Old English poem, which is most often read in translation.
The last piece, on English Language and Literature was the valedictory address to a graduating class of Oxford. His speech is meant more for the faculty than the students and captures a politics of Tolkien. Arguing that the study of content (literature) cannot be done without considering form (language), he really was a form and content guy!
The essay “A Secret Vice” is on inventing languages, a secret pleasure of Tolkien’s, and could be read as context for the well-developed elvish language in The Lord of the Rings.
“On Fairy-Stories” also shows Tolkien’s love for the fantastic and he defines the genre, not as stories “about fairies or elves,” but “about the aventures of men in the Realm” of faerie (sic 113). He gives a defense of fantasy that can be introductory reading for studying the genre, which has historically been dismissed from high brow studies of Literature. With the rise of cultural studies and study of popular fiction in its own right, fantasy has made it onto the literary scholar’s desk, but Tolkien is an influential father of this pursuit, by both writing the primary source (e.g. The Lord of the Rings) and scholarly criticism of the genre.
The last two pieces included in this collection are titled “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “English and Welsh,” which I have not yet read.
There are two on Beowulf: the first being the title of the collection and the reason I bought this book. My professor referenced it in our Anglo-Saxon literature class. But, I actually liked the second essay, “On Translating Beowulf” better, and I would advise it as recommended reading for anyone studying the Old English poem, which is most often read in translation.
The last piece, on English Language and Literature was the valedictory address to a graduating class of Oxford. His speech is meant more for the faculty than the students and captures a politics of Tolkien. Arguing that the study of content (literature) cannot be done without considering form (language), he really was a form and content guy!
The essay “A Secret Vice” is on inventing languages, a secret pleasure of Tolkien’s, and could be read as context for the well-developed elvish language in The Lord of the Rings.
“On Fairy-Stories” also shows Tolkien’s love for the fantastic and he defines the genre, not as stories “about fairies or elves,” but “about the aventures of men in the Realm” of faerie (sic 113). He gives a defense of fantasy that can be introductory reading for studying the genre, which has historically been dismissed from high brow studies of Literature. With the rise of cultural studies and study of popular fiction in its own right, fantasy has made it onto the literary scholar’s desk, but Tolkien is an influential father of this pursuit, by both writing the primary source (e.g. The Lord of the Rings) and scholarly criticism of the genre.
The last two pieces included in this collection are titled “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “English and Welsh,” which I have not yet read.
June 2, 2019
Un ensayo impecable. Lectura obligatoria para los docentes de literatura de todas las edades.
March 30, 2009
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, more decisively than the Greek hexameter routs the alliterative line--though it is not improbable."
No, really, who else would compare the Trojan War to Greek hexameter's effect on alliteration? It is one of my life goals to educate myself into understanding what this really means.
Re. the fusion between old and new, this all ties back to my friend, whom our writing community recently lost, Jason Wenger. His first day of workshop, when we were all asked to go around the table and state our writing philosophies in a nutshell, Jason said he wanted to "say something old in a new way." Our professor heckled him for this, said something like, are you serious? I'm getting a bit scared, as if Jason were saying he planned to be unoriginal. But no, I knew what he meant and I think most people in the class did. He was talking about myth and the heart of storytelling, the stories that haven't essentially changed any more than people have in the last several thousand years.
Well, this same professor, God bless him, got my goat later that semester by referring to fantasy/sci-fi as "all that crap in the corner of the bookstore" or something like that. And so I went out in a tizzy and copied Tolkien's essay and some other materials for everybody and tried to start a discussion about what genre fiction is and what it isn't, and why it might still want to be called genre rather than "transcendant of its genre" if it is well or masterfully written. Anyway, I spent a lot on the copies and then Jason said about all the reading I'd given out, "That's so messed up," to which I laughed and said, "You don't have to read it, you know."...My presentation ended up getting rushed and kind of sucking--this workshop was not fertile ground for it anyway--but when I got to the quote above from Tolkien, I remember saying, "And Jason Wenger, this one's for you," and going on to read that line vindicating his writing philosophy about the fusion of the old and the new. I hope that he got something out of the whole experience. I would like so much to be able to ask him about it now.
"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, more decisively than the Greek hexameter routs the alliterative line--though it is not improbable."
No, really, who else would compare the Trojan War to Greek hexameter's effect on alliteration? It is one of my life goals to educate myself into understanding what this really means.
Re. the fusion between old and new, this all ties back to my friend, whom our writing community recently lost, Jason Wenger. His first day of workshop, when we were all asked to go around the table and state our writing philosophies in a nutshell, Jason said he wanted to "say something old in a new way." Our professor heckled him for this, said something like, are you serious? I'm getting a bit scared, as if Jason were saying he planned to be unoriginal. But no, I knew what he meant and I think most people in the class did. He was talking about myth and the heart of storytelling, the stories that haven't essentially changed any more than people have in the last several thousand years.
Well, this same professor, God bless him, got my goat later that semester by referring to fantasy/sci-fi as "all that crap in the corner of the bookstore" or something like that. And so I went out in a tizzy and copied Tolkien's essay and some other materials for everybody and tried to start a discussion about what genre fiction is and what it isn't, and why it might still want to be called genre rather than "transcendant of its genre" if it is well or masterfully written. Anyway, I spent a lot on the copies and then Jason said about all the reading I'd given out, "That's so messed up," to which I laughed and said, "You don't have to read it, you know."...My presentation ended up getting rushed and kind of sucking--this workshop was not fertile ground for it anyway--but when I got to the quote above from Tolkien, I remember saying, "And Jason Wenger, this one's for you," and going on to read that line vindicating his writing philosophy about the fusion of the old and the new. I hope that he got something out of the whole experience. I would like so much to be able to ask him about it now.
January 8, 2023
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 discipline of literature. If anyone ever wanted to know where Tolkien got his ideas for his fantasy, this is a glimpse into his genius.
***********
Reread review: This time, I just read the essays on Beowulf, Gawain, and Fairy Stories. After spending more time reading Beowulf and Gawain, those essays were even richer and more beneficial to me as a reader and teacher. "On Fairy Stories" is simply inspired. Again, the target audience is definitely an academic one, but any Tolkien fan would, I think, enjoy at least "Fairy Stories."
Essays include an analysis of Beowulf as a poem, Gawain, the process of creating languages, and drawing distinctions within the discipline of literature. If anyone ever wanted to know where Tolkien got his ideas for his fantasy, this is a glimpse into his genius.
***********
Reread review: This time, I just read the essays on Beowulf, Gawain, and Fairy Stories. After spending more time reading Beowulf and Gawain, those essays were even richer and more beneficial to me as a reader and teacher. "On Fairy Stories" is simply inspired. Again, the target audience is definitely an academic one, but any Tolkien fan would, I think, enjoy at least "Fairy Stories."
July 28, 2012
This book is the best insight into Tolkien’s professorial capacity. Not only was he a great author, but also a very influential scholar. His most famous essay, The Monsters and the Critics changed completely the way of approaching Beowulf as a work of art, and not only an archeological finding that may shed some light on the historical mysteries.
All in all, it was a great read. I recommend it to anyone who is at least a tiny bit interested in early-medieval literature or fantasy.
All in all, it was a great read. I recommend it to anyone who is at least a tiny bit interested in early-medieval literature or fantasy.
March 9, 2019
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien is an incredible collection of essays/lectures, including his most seminal and famous. Worth the price of admission alone is “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”, in which Tolkien defends Beowulf as literature rather than a mere historical curiosity; and “On Fairy Stories”, where Tolkien lays out his theories on the fantasy genre. This collection is an absolute staple to appreciating the creator of Middle-earth.
October 6, 2015
Tolkien's "The Monsters and the Critics" was a speech he gave when he received one of his academic chairs. The speech single highhandedly revived the discipline of Anglo Saxon studies from a dying thing to something we are still studying.
This speech presents one of the few times the author used allegory.
This speech presents one of the few times the author used allegory.
February 11, 2016
*review to be posted*
March 13, 2023
I think Tolkien might have been a medievalist??
July 13, 2017
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 above
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: this was interesting and didn't feel as hard - perhaps because I have some knowledge of Arthurian legends?
On Fairy Stories: love, love, loved this! (see quotes below)
English and Welsh: I will never be able to pronounce Welsh words and I doubt I will learn it but it was a cool essay
A Secret Vice: Tolkien's made-up language appears here.
Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford: on his department and even though he claims to be a poor lecturer, I wish I had the chance to attend one of his lectures based on the essays here
The essays here, while not scholarly, are definitely not as easy as a TED talk. They take work while reading, but the effort is definitely worth it.
And by the way, I have tons of saved quotes from On Fairy Stories, like:
"Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold."
"The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all mannethe of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and starts uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever or sent peril; both joy and sorrow sharp as swords. "
"Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted."
And lots more. But too many quotes and I would probably just end up transcribing the entire essay. n addition, I think it's worth reading the footnotes here too, because Tolkien's footnotes feel like he's talking directly to you which makes them entertaining and unlike most footnotes.
I'm not going to say that all Tolkien fans should read this because it's not really aimed at them (I think). But if you're interested in mythology or philology, this is for you. And if you're a fan of Chesterton, or just a fan of fairy stories, On Fairy Stories is definitely a must-read.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
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 above
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: this was interesting and didn't feel as hard - perhaps because I have some knowledge of Arthurian legends?
On Fairy Stories: love, love, loved this! (see quotes below)
English and Welsh: I will never be able to pronounce Welsh words and I doubt I will learn it but it was a cool essay
A Secret Vice: Tolkien's made-up language appears here.
Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford: on his department and even though he claims to be a poor lecturer, I wish I had the chance to attend one of his lectures based on the essays here
The essays here, while not scholarly, are definitely not as easy as a TED talk. They take work while reading, but the effort is definitely worth it.
And by the way, I have tons of saved quotes from On Fairy Stories, like:
"Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold."
"The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all mannethe of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and starts uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever or sent peril; both joy and sorrow sharp as swords. "
"Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted."
And lots more. But too many quotes and I would probably just end up transcribing the entire essay. n addition, I think it's worth reading the footnotes here too, because Tolkien's footnotes feel like he's talking directly to you which makes them entertaining and unlike most footnotes.
I'm not going to say that all Tolkien fans should read this because it's not really aimed at them (I think). But if you're interested in mythology or philology, this is for you. And if you're a fan of Chesterton, or just a fan of fairy stories, On Fairy Stories is definitely a must-read.
This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile
May 22, 2022
Took me a long while to finish, but not for lack of interest or enjoyment. At first glance these essays seemed more or less unrelated to each other, but despite their different subject matters, they share some key ideas. The main one I took from them is Tolkien's belief, which I wholeheartedly share, that stories should be enjoyed for their own sake and not only studied for the sake of history. Someone who reads Beowulf for example only for the sake of identifying the bits of true history or story elements that can be traced through time is engaged in a noble pursuit, but is also missing the point of the story. To reiterate a metaphor Tolkien uses, that person is like someone who encounters a new building made from old material and who takes it apart to see where the stones came from. He says something more or less similar about languages as well, namely that language can be enjoyed and loved for its own sake and not just for the sake of study. Though some of the more strictly philological bits in the later essays were of little interest to me to the extent that I could even understand it, the overall message was well received.
And now I haven't even yet mentioned the brilliance of 'On Fairy Stories' as a defence of fantasy. I underlined so many parts of that essay, I might as well not have bothered. Here's just two quotes:
"When we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power - upon one plane; and the desire to wield that power in the world external to our mind awakes. It does not follow that we shall use that power well upon any plane. We may put a deadly green upon a man's face and produce a horror; we may make the rare and terrible blue moon to shine; or we may cause woods to spring with silver leaves and rams to wear fleeces of gold, and put hot fire into the belly of the cold worm. But in all such 'fantasy', as it is called, a new form is made; Faërie begins; Man becomes a sub-creator."
"Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker."
Amen to that!
And now I haven't even yet mentioned the brilliance of 'On Fairy Stories' as a defence of fantasy. I underlined so many parts of that essay, I might as well not have bothered. Here's just two quotes:
"When we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power - upon one plane; and the desire to wield that power in the world external to our mind awakes. It does not follow that we shall use that power well upon any plane. We may put a deadly green upon a man's face and produce a horror; we may make the rare and terrible blue moon to shine; or we may cause woods to spring with silver leaves and rams to wear fleeces of gold, and put hot fire into the belly of the cold worm. But in all such 'fantasy', as it is called, a new form is made; Faërie begins; Man becomes a sub-creator."
"Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker."
Amen to that!
April 3, 2020
I can't believe I'm giving Tolkien less than five stars, but it's more a reflection on me than him. There are seven essays in this collection, one of which I've read before ("On Fairy Stories") and while they all demonstrate his wit and depth of knowledge, some of them went over my head. Obviously the intended audience for the essay about translating Beowulf are students of philology and Old English. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the essay on "Welsh and English" even though again it was a little over my head. I ended up googling quite a bit about the history of languages in Britain. My favorite essays were the ones about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--I read Tolkien's version last year and this was a nice refresher of its plot and themes-On Fairy Stories, always a classic, and his "A Secret Vice" where he talks about his love of making up languages and why he thinks that appeals to people. Glad to have this added to my library!
January 3, 2019
This is an excellent collection of essays, with some really great pieces I will be reading again. I really do love Tolkien's non-Middle Earth stuff, it's a shame it doesn't get more attention, because it absolutely deserves it.
Through Tolkien's mastery of ancient languages, and poetry of the medieval age like Beowulf (which gets two essays here dedicated to it) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkien offers insights that few others can in such an engaging way. But it's his love of languages that makes this collection so enjoyable, the only reason to be drawn back a little from this book is that it does not contain the complete text of A Secret Vice. Still a great essay in itself, really interesting for people interested in building languages, but still - there's more to this essay out there. Somewhere.
Through Tolkien's mastery of ancient languages, and poetry of the medieval age like Beowulf (which gets two essays here dedicated to it) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkien offers insights that few others can in such an engaging way. But it's his love of languages that makes this collection so enjoyable, the only reason to be drawn back a little from this book is that it does not contain the complete text of A Secret Vice. Still a great essay in itself, really interesting for people interested in building languages, but still - there's more to this essay out there. Somewhere.
May 16, 2024
It's intense, and not a read for everyone.
Essendo una serie di conferenze tenute da Tolkien durante la sua carriera di professore, e successivamente adattate da suo figlio (e revisore ufficiale) Christopher, non scorre certo come un romanzo; contiene però una serie di spunti molto interessanti sui romanzi medievali, la lingua, e il "fantastico" in letteratura - temi che a me appassionano molto, ma non sono necessariamente popolari. Hence, 3 stars, in terms of accessibility and entertainment; 500+ stars for knowledge and communication.
Essendo una serie di conferenze tenute da Tolkien durante la sua carriera di professore, e successivamente adattate da suo figlio (e revisore ufficiale) Christopher, non scorre certo come un romanzo; contiene però una serie di spunti molto interessanti sui romanzi medievali, la lingua, e il "fantastico" in letteratura - temi che a me appassionano molto, ma non sono necessariamente popolari. Hence, 3 stars, in terms of accessibility and entertainment; 500+ stars for knowledge and communication.
read-in-part
June 10, 2023The essay on Beowulf was very interesting and worthwhile. I haven't actually read Beowulf, though, so I think I will have to return to this after doing so. (Warning that neither the Latin nor the Old English quotes are footnoted. Being passably fluent in one of the two, I survived.)
I intend to read the essays about language at the end of the book, but I'm skipping the parts about Beowulf (again) and Sir Gawain for now.
I intend to read the essays about language at the end of the book, but I'm skipping the parts about Beowulf (again) and Sir Gawain for now.
April 15, 2021
This was grand. Granted, much of it was challenging and some of it directly went over my head, but I still enjoyed it. Tolkien's beauty, humor, and passion are easily seen. The more I read his other work, the more depth I find in the already deep wonder that is Lord of the Rings.
I will say, the article on Faerie Stories stands out like a beacon. I will regularly return to read it again.
I will say, the article on Faerie Stories stands out like a beacon. I will regularly return to read it again.
February 16, 2025
A tratti impegnativi eh, non mi sono applicata molto per seguire tutte le varianti di gallese e anglosassone menzionate perché sennò stavo ancora là. PERÒ comunque interessanti per capire un po' di più sulla persona, direi forse un po' rigida per i miei gusti ma con dei buoni valori e squisitamente sassy, oltre che autistic vibes ma questo già lo sapevamo
February 12, 2025
As always, Tolkien's writing is majestic. This book is especially good for those who like being detailed critics of the books they read.
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