Critical Essays on Tolkien - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Carorëiel · 04-09-2003, 07:57 PM

I'm doing a project (I'll spare you the details), and I'm looking for different critical essays on Tolkien and his works (mostly LotR, but not necessarily exclusively). My focus is essays addressing (even if somewhat obliquely) Tolkien's importance, whether literary, social, historical--whatever. In other words, essays addressing why we continue to read him.

I'm familiar with the essays in Flieger's Splintered Light, Pearce's (ed) Tolkien: A Celebration, Birzer's Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth, and Lobdell's (ed) A Tolkien Compass. Just wondering if anyone knows of anything else out there I've overlooked that might be useful--and thought this topic might spark some convo regarding existing criticism.

Sorry if this should have been attached to a pre-existing thread, but the angle seemed different enough to warrant its own. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ April 09, 2003: Message edited by: Carorëiel ]

Aiwendil · 04-09-2003, 08:39 PM

Flieger has another book also, called, I believe A Question of Time or something like that. Quite good. Also, I would recommend Shippey's Author of the Century. I know you said you mainly wanted LotR related stuff, but if you're looking for anything on Legendarium in a broader sense, I also recommend the collection of essays Tolkien's Legendarium, edited by Flieger and Hostetter.

davem · 04-10-2003, 02:18 AM

There're a couple - Proceedings of the 1992 Tolkien Conference http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de tail/-/1887726047/qid=1049962393/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-8443890-0341519?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

& JRR Tolkien & his Literary Reasonances http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0313308454/qid%3D1049 962474/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-8443890-0341519

You could also check out Celebrating Middle Earth http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

[ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: davem ]

Estelyn Telcontar · 04-10-2003, 09:15 AM

Here's a very interesting essay on the psychological elements in LotR: Tolkien: Archetype and Word .
Lengthy, not easy to get into at the beginning, and well worth reading!

mark12_30 · 04-10-2003, 12:15 PM

Esty, thank you, that was fabulous!!

Estelyn Telcontar · 04-10-2003, 01:25 PM

Interestingly, it's been almost exactly one year since I first posted that link here on the site, starting a thread to discuss it: Tolkien and Psychology. Alas, the interest was not as great as I had hoped - perhaps the discussion will revive now?

mark12_30 · 04-10-2003, 01:39 PM

But my dear Esty, what percentage of B-D Tolkien fans will jump at a thread about "Psychology"? Title it "Dreams", or something... "Frodo and his encounters with Archetypes"...

"Tolkien, Psychology, and Archetypes"

Okay, I'll go have a look.

Yeah, add "Faerie" in there too... "Tolkien, Psychology, Faerie, and Archetypes"

I think we'd all benefit from a discussion about archetypes, what they are, what they bring to a fairy tale, what they bring to a quest and an epic... The connectino between dream-world and Faerie is unmistakable, so one would think that Faerie would be dreamlike, and so somewhat archetypal. I guess. I'm certainly no expert-- but I really enjoy(ed/ing) David Day's book Tolkien's Ring because it waves at the other myths Tolkien may have drawn from or been influenced by.

This seems like the place for LittleManPoet to jump in and say something about writing serious, original fantasy. I connect the two concepts, anyway.

How does one create a mythos?

Mythopoeia... Mythmaking. MacDonald did it. Building Eucatastrophes. How does one go about this? Sword-and-sorcery hold no real appeal for me. Mythmaking, on the other hand...

[ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

Child of the 7th Age · 04-10-2003, 03:46 PM

Helen and Esty,

I hate to cut into this great discussion, but just wanted to suggest one more title that looks at Tolkien from a slightly different vantage---Patrick Curry, Defending Middle-earth, Tolkien: Myth and Modernity.

He says that LotR is a powerful statement about the central conflict of the modern world: the struggle of community, nature and spirit against the modern union of state-power, capital, and technology. You may or may not agree with him, but it's interesting reading.

[ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

mark12_30 · 04-10-2003, 03:59 PM

Cutting in-- Little Andreth? Naw, c'mon. I was having a one-sided discussion anyway and I was probably off-topic already. (Nawww, not Gamba!!...) So tell us what it's about (I've hit my quota for books, and Shippey is next on the list anyway.) What struck you about it? Do tell...

[ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]

**lindil** · 04-10-2003, 09:05 PM

Thanks Esty, I dipped into the essay and loved it, I hope to give it a more careful reading and respond to your psych thread { and Hey! I would have posted on it if I had seen it. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] } but I do see what you mean.

I think the application of various psychologies to the Legendarium gets far to hard a rap.

If it is 'truth', then of course any other method of discerning truth through Archetypal patterns will not only show resembnlances but also illuminate from a different angle.

I would like to see him tackle the Silm! talk about archetypes!

But his line about Gollum being Frodo's shadow is patently obvious, not that JRRT in any way designed it as such...

I will save the rest for Esty's thread.

04-09-2003, 07:57 PM	#1
Carorëiel Haunting Spirit Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Tennessee Posts: 54	Critical Essays on Tolkien I'm doing a project (I'll spare you the details), and I'm looking for different critical essays on Tolkien and his works (mostly LotR, but not necessarily exclusively). My focus is essays addressing (even if somewhat obliquely) Tolkien's importance, whether literary, social, historical--whatever. In other words, essays addressing why we continue to read him. I'm familiar with the essays in Flieger's Splintered Light, Pearce's (ed) Tolkien: A Celebration, Birzer's Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth, and Lobdell's (ed) A Tolkien Compass. Just wondering if anyone knows of anything else out there I've overlooked that might be useful--and thought this topic might spark some convo regarding existing criticism. Sorry if this should have been attached to a pre-existing thread, but the angle seemed different enough to warrant its own. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [ April 09, 2003: Message edited by: Carorëiel ] __________________ "Art is our way of keeping track of what we know and have known, secretly, from the beginning."--John Gardner

04-10-2003, 02:18 AM	#3
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	There're a couple - Proceedings of the 1992 Tolkien Conference http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de tail/-/1887726047/qid=1049962393/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-8443890-0341519?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 & JRR Tolkien & his Literary Reasonances http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0313308454/qid%3D1049 962474/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-8443890-0341519 You could also check out Celebrating Middle Earth http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books [ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: davem ] __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."

04-10-2003, 09:15 AM	#4
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Here's a very interesting essay on the psychological elements in LotR: Tolkien: Archetype and Word . Lengthy, not easy to get into at the beginning, and well worth reading! __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

04-10-2003, 12:15 PM	#5
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Esty, thank you, that was fabulous!! __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-10-2003, 01:25 PM	#6
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Interestingly, it's been almost exactly one year since I first posted that link here on the site, starting a thread to discuss it: Tolkien and Psychology. Alas, the interest was not as great as I had hoped - perhaps the discussion will revive now? __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

04-09-2003, 08:39 PM	#2
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	Flieger has another book also, called, I believe A Question of Time or something like that. Quite good. Also, I would recommend Shippey's Author of the Century. I know you said you mainly wanted LotR related stuff, but if you're looking for anything on Legendarium in a broader sense, I also recommend the collection of essays Tolkien's Legendarium, edited by Flieger and Hostetter.

04-10-2003, 01:39 PM	#7
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	But my dear Esty, what percentage of B-D Tolkien fans will jump at a thread about "Psychology"? Title it "Dreams", or something... "Frodo and his encounters with Archetypes"... "Tolkien, Psychology, and Archetypes" Okay, I'll go have a look. Yeah, add "Faerie" in there too... "Tolkien, Psychology, Faerie, and Archetypes" I think we'd all benefit from a discussion about archetypes, what they are, what they bring to a fairy tale, what they bring to a quest and an epic... The connectino between dream-world and Faerie is unmistakable, so one would think that Faerie would be dreamlike, and so somewhat archetypal. I guess. I'm certainly no expert-- but I really enjoy(ed/ing) David Day's book Tolkien's Ring because it waves at the other myths Tolkien may have drawn from or been influenced by. This seems like the place for LittleManPoet to jump in and say something about writing serious, original fantasy. I connect the two concepts, anyway. How does one create a mythos? Mythopoeia... Mythmaking. MacDonald did it. Building Eucatastrophes. How does one go about this? Sword-and-sorcery hold no real appeal for me. Mythmaking, on the other hand... [ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ] __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-10-2003, 03:46 PM	#8
Child of the 7th Age Spirit of the Lonely Star Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 5,133	Helen and Esty, I hate to cut into this great discussion, but just wanted to suggest one more title that looks at Tolkien from a slightly different vantage---Patrick Curry, Defending Middle-earth, Tolkien: Myth and Modernity. He says that LotR is a powerful statement about the central conflict of the modern world: the struggle of community, nature and spirit against the modern union of state-power, capital, and technology. You may or may not agree with him, but it's interesting reading. [ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ] __________________ Multitasking women are never too busy to vote.

04-10-2003, 03:59 PM	#9
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Cutting in-- Little Andreth? Naw, c'mon. I was having a one-sided discussion anyway and I was probably off-topic already. (Nawww, not Gamba!!...) So tell us what it's about (I've hit my quota for books, and Shippey is next on the list anyway.) What struck you about it? Do tell... [ April 10, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ] __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.

04-10-2003, 09:05 PM	#10
lindil Seeker of the Straight Path Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: a hidden fastness in Big Valley nor cal Posts: 1,680	Thanks Esty, I dipped into the essay and loved it, I hope to give it a more careful reading and respond to your psych thread { and Hey! I would have posted on it if I had seen it. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] } but I do see what you mean. I think the application of various psychologies to the Legendarium gets far to hard a rap. If it is 'truth', then of course any other method of discerning truth through Archetypal patterns will not only show resembnlances but also illuminate from a different angle. I would like to see him tackle the Silm! talk about archetypes! But his line about Gollum being Frodo's shadow is patently obvious, not that JRRT in any way designed it as such... I will save the rest for Esty's thread. __________________ The dwindling Men of the West would often sit up late into the night exchanging lore & wisdom such as they still possessed that they should not fall back into the mean estate of those who never knew or indeed rebelled against the Light.