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    J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
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    J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
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    J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
    Ebook452 pages7 hours

    J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

    By Tom Shippey

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 28, 2011
    ISBN9780007381951
    Unavailable
    J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
    Author

    Tom Shippey

    Professor Tom Shippey taught at Oxford, overlapping chronologically with Professor Tolkien and teaching the same syllabus, giving him an intimate familiarity with the poems and the languages which formed the main stimulus to Tolkien’s imagination. He subsequently held the same Chair of English Language and Medieval Literature at Leeds University which Tolkien held early in his career, and currently holds the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at Saint Louis University, USA.

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    Reviews for J. R. R. Tolkien

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    • 5/5
      Many years after The Road to Middle-Earth, Shippey brings us a new volume full of new insights from the man that currently holds the Oxford chair once occupied by Tolkien. His analysis in this book certainly supports his claim to it.There are things in here that even the most die-hard Tolkien fans wouldn't know. The structure of the story itself in terms of flow and symmetry that often go unnoticed are dissected and examined to appreciate their full effect. Tolkien's knowledge of Old English is examined in the context of The Lord of the Rings, with particular examples such as "emnet" which appears in Rohan and which was an Old English word discovered by Tolkien himself ("emnet", by the way, means "plain", which Tolkien never liked as a word because it was taken from the French word "plaines").If you enjoy Tolkien's work, you will love this book.
    • 5/5
      I can't remember now if I'd read this one in its entirety before or not. (I have read Shippey's [Road to Middle -Earth], and I think a few points may show up in both of them, so my occasional recognition of bits of Author of the Century may have stemmed from remembering Road to Middle-Earth.) In any case, this is a wonderful piece of accessible but still generally rigorous Tolkien scholarship. Shippey points out and defends Tolkien's place within the literary framework of the 20th century (or what JRRT's place ought to be recognized to be and still (disgracefully) isn't) and discusses each of Tolkien's major works and several of the minor works. Shippey is best in his extensive consideration of The Lord of the Rings, where he spends a lot of time on LotR's linguistic origins, its intricate plot structure and its presentation of good and evil (a point about which many past critics have completely missed the boat). Fascinating reading which does important work in illustrating the value and quality of Tolkien's work while successfully and appropriately defending it against detractors. A must read for LotR devotees interested in litcrit as well as for anyone fascinated by [Beowulf] (the Beowulf discussions are always in service of the explication of LotR, but should be interesting in their own right to anyone taken with that poem as well).
    • 5/5
      It's very similar to The Road to Middle-Earth, but a bit more general and written with 20 or so years more of hindsight and posthumous publications. They make a nice pair of books about Tolkien and each has some merits over the other. A nice omnibus edition of them together would be nice, but the similarities would make that seem unlikely.
    • 4/5
      In Tom Shippey’s book, *J. R. R. Tolkien, Author of the Century*, the professor examines the works of Tolkien, and the reasons for the positive and negative reactions from fans and academics to the works. A thing needs to be said about the title used. In the book, which was written in 2002, the author examines the disconnect between the popular perceptions of Tolkien and his work to the perceptions on the part of Academia to Tolkien and his work. In several polls over the years, Tolkien has come out as the most regarded, or one of the top five most regarded, depending on the poll, authors of the twentieth century. This, of course, drives some academics simply crazy. They disparage *The Lord of the Rings* and Tolkien’s other works as simply useless, fun stuff, that is not the serious type of research and writing a professor of his caliber ought to have engaged in. Shippey, with meticulous research and insight, goes about the task of absolutely demolishing these notions. He shows by careful examination how Tolkien did have important things to say and chose to say them in his fantasy. Tolkien is shown to be, like Lewis, Orwell, and others, a product of his time and place. He had seen real, genuine evil in the Kaiser’s Germany, the Nazis, Fascists, and later Communists. Real-world, and even traditional religious and theological explanations seemed of little use to understanding the horrors that he and so many others had witnessed. While it is clear that he did not mean to use allegories, it is also clear that he did have some manner of symbolism. Tolkien believed that he was bridging the gap between the ancient pagan, the medieval Christian, and the modern worlds. He was both “rediscovering” ancient ideas, as well as searching out and uncovering important truths, including the most important Truth, as he saw it, in the person of Christ and the faith of the Catholic Church. Let no one be mistaken on two points. *The Lord of the Rings* is *not* and allegory. It does not have one for one analogues of the people of the Bible. However, it clearly *does* represent Christian Truth to the extent that when a friend questioned the “pagan” elements in the story, and focused on those, Tolkien scolded him. He wrote in an exasperated tone in his correspondence that *The Lord of the Rings* is a “thoroughly Catholic work”. He believed it, and if you look at his sourcing, one can see how it is not an allegory, but a use of Christian symbolism. The other point we must “get right” is that Tolkien did, in fact, use allegories. He actually identified some of his shorter works as being in part about himself, and how he saw his life. A look at these pieces gives us a picture of a restless, searching man, who knew he wanted to find that far-off land of myth, but was constrained by the cares of a sinful world. The views into Tolkien, and the myths busted about him are well worth the reading of the book. The author lampoons the critics, and praises most of the fans, even the emulators, of Tolkien. Shippey’s coverage of the criticism of the largely political and snottish attitudes towards Tolkien is spot on, and he makes clear that it doesn’t carry much water beyond the view of some elitist snob who thinks that all literature should be decided by him or her. The problem with his criticism comes in with the thinly-veiled contempt for Terry Brooks’ *Shannara* series of books. The reason that I had a problem with this was because Shippey has a list of those whom he thinks are the “good emulators” of Tolkien, divided into two parts. First, there is a detailed summary of some very impressive works, and then a list of what I would term “Honorable Mentions” who aren’t good enough, but quite good. On that list is David Eddings. Don’t get me wrong, his stuff is not horrible, and is enjoyable enough, but that’s not the issue. The issue for me is that his works come from a philosophical basis opposed on many fronts to Tolkien. Indeed, the late Eddings thought of *The Lord of the Rings* with derision, and wanted to write works that would be more realistic, and a more correct philosophy. For all of his faults, Brooks has never seen himself as “correcting” Tolkien’s “garbage”, as Eddings did. To give Eddings respect at the expense of Brooks, would be like calling Philip Pullman the “heir” to CS Lewis at the expense of other authors. It seems fishy to me. If the point of it is to highlight those who followed in Tolkien’s footsteps, I would not put Eddings there, but put him in the context of those who followed in the steps of Tolkien’s literary, cultural, and ideological, detractors. This worship of Tolkien, and sometimes blindness to the very point of his philosophy that Tolkien espoused is the only weak point that I can think of. All in all, though, a very informative and penetrating look into the thoughts and worldviews of Tolkien, and an explanation of the Christian roots of *The Lord of the Rings*. A simply great book. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Shippey is a philogist much as Tolkien was, and in fact had JRR's job once the old don retired. So he's not exactly unbiased in his appraisal. The title itself is pretty darn argumentative, but kind of silly. Reminds me of childhood arguments over who has the "best" Beatle, and who was better, the Stones or the Beatles. He cites some pretty weak reasons for his claim (a survey of ten thousand people). But then he seems to forget about it and moves on to showing how EVERY plot element was determined by ancient works and words. This is downright weird, when you think about it. You claim Tolkien is the finest author of the 20th century, and then go on to argue that the man never had an original thought? The Ents, that's right, he thought up the Ents. Otherwise, nope, all based on Nordic tales, Beowulf, that sort of thing. Tolkien was simply resurrecting Lost Tales from the ancient past, claims Shippey. Then later, he changes thesis yet again, to claim that Tolkien wrote LOTR as a story for his languages and history to live in. Now, that I can buy, and has been told elsewhere. There are some interesting nuggets here, but he spends far too much time getting into the little niggling bits of the history and heritage of words. Three pages, for instance, on the roots of the Wild Men of the Woods, who only get a brief mention in Tolkien. To be fair, there are some good arguments here for why LOTR is so special, and if you're a fan, you'll enjoy those parts. When the runic words show up, you may want to just to skip ahead. Unless Old Norse is your bailiwick.