Books published by Walking Tree Publication

The nine articles of stimulating literary criticism collected in this volume view Tolkien's work from a variety of medieval perspectives: the device of entrelacement employed in Arthurian romances is used to throw light on the narrative design of The Lord of the Rings; the cultures of Middle-earth are described with the aid of medieval orality and literacy studies; the epic figure of the queen is recalled to reveal the significance of women in Tolkien's trilogy; the character of Éowyn is analyzed in terms of the epic warrior code and the romance chivalric ethos; the role of Elbereth is shown to correspond with the position of the Virgin Mary in the world of medieval believers; the nature of evil is explored through a comparison of Melkor to John Milton's Satan; allusions to medieval Icelandic sagas are detected in Tolkien's works for children; The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth is read in the light of The Battle of Maldon; and Tolkien's literary art is illuminated by way of his own critical essays on Beowulf and fairy-stories. Since all the contributors come from Poland, the phenomenon of Tolkien's prompt and enthusiastic Polish reception is briefly discussed in the introductory chapter.

J.R.R. Tolkien's giving of names has garnered considerable attention in the linguistic analysis of Tolkien's works. Usually, however, the focus has been on singling out particular names of important individuals and places. Thorough analyses of names (place-names or personal ones) are usually reserved for Elvish names only.Thus, this book centres on the place-names as found in the Shire as well as Breeland. All those names that are referenced on Tolkien's map of the Shire, plus those few that are not found on the map but mentioned in the text, as well as four from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, are analysed as to their possible "etymologies" against the theoretical backdrop of real-world English place-name research. Tolkien's "own" (in-world) etymologies, insofar as they differ from the real-world ones, are also taken into consideration. Finally, all extant German translations (Scherf and Krege for The Hobbit, Carroux and Krege for The Lord of the Rings) of these names are given and, where necessary, compared. Other media (the films and the Hobbit graphic novel, in particular) are also covered.

Tolkien's views on language, though never published as a formalised theory, were in some aspects rather 'heretic' (to use Tom Shippey's term) and seemed to fly into the face of 'established' linguistic theory - most notably his conception of 'native (hereditary) language' and, related to it, the idea of 'linguistic aesthetic' and 'phonetic fitness'. Unfortunately, this aspect of Tolkien's linguistic work has, as yet, not received the attention it deserves and Ross Smith is one of the first Tolkien scholars to investigate the question of Tolkien's position on language vis-a-vis the then (and even now) dominant tenet(s) in some depth.This is a second, revised edition.

Following in the footsteps of the previous publication, Tolkien's View: Windows into his World, Professor J.S. Ryan in this latest collection of essays pursues Professor Tolkien's narrow path through the Nameless Wood of uncharted territory between academic research and myth-creation culminating in the writing of the 20th century's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings.Having himself studied under Professor J.R.R. Tolkien and having written for no less than 50 years on his inspirational teacher, his sources and the applicability of his writings, J.S. Ryan is uniquely placed to reflect not only on Tolkien the Scholar or Tolkien the Author, but equally on Tolkien the Man.

Traditionally, the "Inklings" C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams have been seen as separate from the literature of their time: as innovative in an idiosyncratic way at best, and as reactionary and in deliberate opposition to contemporary progressive writing at worst. Recent years have seen a gradual change in this view, but few studies to date have attempted to read Lewis, Tolkien and Williams alongside their most famous contemporaries: the literary modernists.This monograph represents the first full-length study to draw explicit and in-depth comparisons between the Inklings and writers such as T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and David Jones among others. An examination of both thematic and structural concerns reveals a number of shared issues that go beyond mere responses to the cataclysmic events of the first half of the twentieth century. Myth as theme and structuring device, world-building as an attempt to render the author's subjective reality objective and authoritative, writing as an (unsuccessful) attempt to overcome the nightmare of history, and language as both the paradoxical means of creation and the reason creation must fail: these concerns and tensions are central to the works of both Inklings and modernists. In establishing that the works of Lewis, Tolkien and Williams contain aspects that can be termed "modernist", this study also hopes to show that certain aspects of modernism might very well be termed "fantastic".

As in the preceding volume (TolkieninTranslation), the studies presented here deal with a wide range of problems and challenges connected with the task of translating Tolkien's work. Contributions do not only discuss aspects of translation into different languages (German, Dutch, Swedish, Hebrew), but also offer in-depth analysis of especially difficult areas of translation (names, Tolkien's invented languages). Moreover, with the initial publication of this volume having closely followed the release of the third and final part of the movie in 2003, it could take stock and make a first assessment of Jackson's achievement (or failure). Five out of twelve contributions united in this volume thus deal with the movie under the aspect of 'translation'. The preceding volume, Tolkien in Translation, is available as number 4 in the Cormare¿ Series from Walking Tree Publishers.

As a linguist and philologist, J.R.R. Tolkien used words and languages as a source of inspiration for his subcreation and continuously interwove them with his narratives. With language being so central to his works, the task of translating them into other languages raises numerous problems for the translator. This volume reflects on some of these challenges and how different translators overcame them.The volume opens with a study that takes a theoretical angle on the problem of translation and considers the applicability of Tolkien's views on the matter in the light of broader translation theory. The subsequent contributions look at the translations of Tolkien's works into various languages (Norwegian, Spanish, French, Russian and Esperanto). The study of the Russian translation focuses on the underground circulation of unapproved versions (samizdat) during the time that they were banned in the Soviet Union, and compares the different approaches of the various translators.The theme of this book is continued in a second volume, Translating Tolkien: Text and Film, available as number 6 in the Cormare¿ Series from Walking Tree Publishers.

A new death for the old world, winds of industrial change that gust across green hills and dales, machines and callous hearts that dig deep into the ecosystems of Earth as trees crash upon the shrinking forest floors and ecological devastation is visited upon the land. This is the darkest hour of Middle-earth as presented in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - how curiously all of this resembles our reality, and the environmental crisis that threatens the modern world... This new study, in a clear and engaging tone, explores and unfolds the environmental dimension of Tolkien's work and worldview, not only in terms of the themes observable in his masterwork The Lord of the Rings, but also across his wider fiction, essays and private papers. With discerning recourse to the work of leading ecologists and eco-thinkers, this book argues that Tolkien - in his unfolding narratives of machine against nature, where regimes of power ruthlessly move against the land - holds up a mirror to the ecological crisis of the primary world and offers a vivid depiction of (and thus a warning against) where the reckless abandonment of concern for the green face of the planet may lead. Tolkien, Campbell argues, by virtue of his consistent adherence to such striking and compelling environmental themes, was a visionary defender of nature who, before the emergence of any organised Green Movement, may have anticipated the scale of the environmental emergency that was yet to dawn. In the exploration of Tolkien's green themes and the critical analysis of his tales of Middle-earth and wider fiction, Campbell re-evaluates Tolkien as a contemporary writer, and offers new insights into Tolkien's work and new perspectives on the literature of the fantastic.

J. R. R. Tolkien is best known for his prose work, especially his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Although there are many poems included in his novels that add depth to the narrative, Tolkien's talent as a writer of poetry has scarcely been appreciated and in-depth studies of Tolkien's verses are rare. This collection edited by Julian Eilmann and Allan Turner presents ten papers and an introduction by Michael Drout that deal with specific aspects of Tolkien's poetry. Some papers focus on one particular poem, while others examine a group of poems with a specific thematic approach. Among other topics, this collection highlights Tolkien's development as a writer of alliterative verse, the relationship between poetry and faith, or the function of poems in the narrative of The Lord of the Rings. In addition this volume takes a critical look at the use of poetry in Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, illustrating how Tolkien's verses contribute to a contemporary adaptation of this literary classic.

Tolkien's View: Windows into his World contains a number of selected essays by Professor J.S. Ryan, for their most part originally published over three decades from the 1960s to the 1990s, on the theme of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works. Having himself studied under Professor Tolkien at the time of the publication of his masterwork The Lord of the Rings, Professor J.S. Ryan is uniquely well-placed to comment on some aspects of Tolkien's academic environment in Oxford, the subject matters J.R.R. Tolkien studied and brooded upon in his regular professional work and the people he personally knew, cherished and was influenced by as a student and then as a professor of Old and Middle English, a writer and a person.

Tolkien's Middle-earth and its legendarium have drawn extensive scholarly attention. But there is more to Tolkien than the history and legends of Middle-earth, and there has hitherto been a certain lack of academic criticism focused primarily on his shorter fictional works Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Roverandom and his poetry. Although scholarly evaluations of these works exist, they often deal with the shorter texts more as an afterthought, as footnotes to the 'major' texts rather than as demanding attention in their own right. This dearth of studies suggests that it is time for a closer look at Tolkien's 'Shorter Works'. The current volume collects the findings of a joint conference of Walking Tree Publishers who co-organised this event in order to celebrate their tenth anniversary, and the German Tolkien Society at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany in 2007. Various interesting aspects, details and connections are unearthed which are likely to broaden not simply the understanding of Tolkien's Shorter Works, but also of the author's overall fictional work as well as the man and author J.R.R. Tolkien himself.

This volume presents papers by Tom Shippey, Verlyn Flieger, Colin Duriez, Patrick Curry, John Garth, Martin Simonson, Dieter Bachmann, Devin Brown, Miryam Librán-Moreno, Eugenio Olivares-Merino, Margarita Carretero-González, Fernando J. Soto & Marta García de la Puerta, Eduardo Segura and Thomas Honegger. The essays focus on the use of Myth, Magic, and Art in the works of the Inklings and explore the interconnectedness of these concepts in the thinking of the members of this group.

Following the release in 2001 of the first film of Peter Jackson¿s adapted trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien¿s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a wave of ¿Ring Fever¿ swamped the world, with reprints of the novel, guidebooks, Internet sites, memorabilia and toys, video and computer games, location tours and extended DVDs. Taking a Cultural Studies perspective, this collection of essays examines the cultural issues generated by Tolkien¿s novel and Jackson¿s films. In particular, by applying a variety of cultural, media and literary theories, the essays in this collection attempt to answer the question: How did we become Middle-earth? Topics covered range from fan culture in an age of IT, globalization, transnational capitalism and consumerism to the local socio-political implications of the Rings tale, and the formation of a Middle-earth in our real (or, as argued by the French philosopher Jean Beaudrillard, our no longer real but hyperreal) world.

The six articles in this collection commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the long-awaited publication in 1977 of Christopher Tolkien's edition of The Silmarillion, the first opportunity for most readers to learn more about the detailed mythology and history which underlie, explicitly or implicitly, the narrative of The Lord of the Rings. In view of the long and complex publication history of the texts relating to the legendarium, even thirty years is perhaps too short a time to form a critical consensus about the work. Nevertheless, the articles presented here hope to give a picture of some of the the areas of investigation that have established themselves in that period: mythopoeia, theology, the legacy of the ancient North, and the ways in which a text is created. The contribution by Rhona Beare is a completely re-written version of a section from her now out of print introduction to The Silmarillion; the others have all been written specially for the occasion.

The current volume, being the second of two dedicated to 'Tolkien and Modernity', grew out of the wish to further the exploration of Tolkien as a 'contemporary writer', i.e. an author whose literary creations can be seen as a response to the challenges of the modern world. It comprises papers that focus on four broad themes: love, time, heroism, and style. Although one could argue that these topics have been present since the beginning of literature, though sometimes temporarily submerged, it is with the cataclysm of World War I and the entry of Einstein's Theory of Relativity into the public consciousness - two events that shook the very foundations of pre-modern society - that they gained a new and immediate relevance.

The current volume, being the first of two dedicated to 'Tolkien and Modernity', grew out of the wish to further the exploration of Tolkien as a 'contemporary writer', i.e. an author whose literary creations can be seen as a response to the challenges of the modern world. It comprises papers that focus on the following themes: Tolkien and the 20th century, feminist theory, time, creativity, and freedom. Although one could argue that most of these topics have been discussed since the beginning of literature, it is with the shaping events of the first half of the 20th century - the World Wars, Einstein's theory of relativity, totalitarianism and the atomic bomb - that they gained a new and immediate relevance.

Professor Tom Shippey is best known for his books 'The Road to Middle-earth' and 'J.R.R. Tolkien. Author of the Century'. Yet they are not the only contributions of his to Tolkien studies. Over the years, he has written and lectured widely on Tolkien-related topics. Unfortunately, many of his essays, though still topical, are no longer available. The current volume unites for the first time a selection of his older essays together with some new, as yet unpublished articles.

J.R.R.Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", it has long been recognized, was shaped and undergirded by his Christian beliefs. But he was not the only writer of fantasy to have a close relationship between his faith and his fiction. This book is a study of such relationships in four writers: Tolkien himself, his friends C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, and, from an earlier generation, George MacDonald. It seeks to look at their use of other worlds and other beings; at their attitudes towards 'escapism'; at the presence of symbolism and myth in their writings; at the themes and ideas they had in common; and at the extent to which their fiction has a value for Christian apologetics.

[Recovery and Transcendence for the Contemporary Mythmaker] is one ofthe most persuasive and open-minded of the various appropriations ofTolkien to a religious or spiritual meaning. [...] At its heart is the anti-reductionistpsychological/religious theory of the concentration camp survivor,Viktor Frankl. Frankl explains human motivation primarily as a quest formeaning, a response to the 'pull' of discerned values, rather than as whollydetermined by the 'push' of instinctual drives: through this quest, human'growth' is possible even in the most dire circumstances. Such features ofTolkien's work as his theory and practice of 'eucatastrophe', the morally fittinghappy ending in the face of great adversity which vouchsafes a glimpseof transcendent joy, and his conception of art as a mode of 'recovery',whereby the too-familiar known world is seen afresh 'as we were meant tosee it', are assimilated to Frankl's view, as is the exploratory, developmental,'dialogic' quality of Tolkien's myth-making. But Garbowski draws on manysources, from folklore to Hollywood, and ranges widely through Tolkien'swriting, alert always to the ethical and spiritual implications of the protagonist'spredicaments. The book is of additional interest as an example of thesignificant response to Tolkien in Eastern Europe, a response based on hiscelebration of small, imperilled homelands and his sombre awareness ofcontemporary evil, as well as on his implicitly Christian values.From ABES Annotated Bibliography of English StudiesChristopher Garbowski is Associate Professor at the Institute of English atMaria Curie Sk³odowska University in Lublin, Poland. He is the author ofKrzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue Series (1996).

Root and Branch, which was first published in 1999, comprises articles by Patrick Curry, Thomas Honegger and Christina Ljungberg. The first paper, by Thomas Honegger, looks at a structural instance of 'depth' in Tolkien's work by means of discussing the various occurences of the Man in the Moon. Patrick's Curry extensive study addresses the question of why Tolkien's work is simultaneously so enduringly popular with readers and so abhorrent to literary critics. Christina Ljungberg's contribution discusses parallels between Tolkien's depiction of Nature and power and the one found in Margaret Atwood's works.This second edition is a revised reprint featuring four of the five items of the original edition.

When The Lord of the Rings was published in the 1950's it did not sit comfortably among any preconceived notions of literary genre. The critical responses reflected the confusion: for some, it was an unwelcome reappearance of narrative standards that modernism was supposed to have done away with, or just a bad novel. Others considered it a refreshing work in the epic and romance traditions.Ironically, much of the critical prejudice regarding the question of genre in The Lord of the Rings has been motivated by the same kind of blindness that Tolkien denounced in his famous 1936 lecture Beowulf: the monsters and the critics. Like Beowulf, Tolkien's work has also failed to be properly appreciated and assessed due to a general refusal to accept the centrality of monsters, because despite its 'monstrous' originality and fantastic setting, it is very clearly, and not only chronologically, at the centre of twentieth-century literature. The Lord of the Rings and the Western Narrative Tradition is an attempt to account for the particular genre interaction that governs Tolkien's tale and put it in a meaningful relationship with the contemporary literary context. At the same time, it is a quest to track down one of the most famous and elusive literary monsters of the past century by filling out a long-neglected white space on the map of comparative literature and genre criticism.

News from the Shire and Beyond - Studies on Tolkien comprises selected papers of the Swiss Tolkien Society's Cormarë conference held at Seelisberg in 1996, and provides a cross-section of topics in the field of Tolkien studies. The spectrum ranges from Johannesson's linguistic study of the Shire-talk, Honegger's analysis of the narrative constitution of Middle-earth to Buchs' and Näf's contributions on the representation of Tolkien's world in the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game. It is a revised reprint featuring five of the six items of the original 1997 edition.