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

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In this excellent volume of criticism on Tolkien's work, Tom Shippey seeks to explain just what made Tolkien tick, and what made his stories the way they are. Tolkien shunned the idea of a biography, but I think this book is probably more along the lines of what he would have agreed to, since he believed that the best way to get a look inside an author's life was to examine his works. This book does just this.

The bulk of this book, of course, centers around Tolkien's stories of Middle-Earth: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Shippey attempts to explain why Tolkien wrote these stories the way he did, and the result is very insightful. Shippey explains why he wrote archaically, how the more modern hobbit society, with its postal system and manners, fits in with the rest of Middle-Earth, and how to classify the various cultures and nations (like Rohan and Gondor) appearing in the works, to name a few. The rest of the book deals with Tolkien's other, lesser-known works, including the two semi-autobiographical ones. For true fans of Tolkien, the criticisms of these shorter works are an invaluable resource.

All in all, this book is very insightful--there is definitely a great deal to be learned about Tolkien's works from a man who succeeded him to his Oxford chair, and who understands Tolkien's professional field as well. If you want to truly understand Tolkien, this is a book worth reading.

We hear a lot from Tolkien fans about how this book isn't much of a patch on the same author's earlier "The Road to Middle-Earth". (...) this book is an acute, well-argued, loving and intelligent study of one of the century's most maligned authors.

Yes, I said "maligned". Those, like me, who are not great fans of fantasy fiction as such, tend to find it a bit difficult to take Tolkien seriously. My own trajectory as a Tolkien reader has gone from utter worship (aetat 11 or so) via contempt and ridicule (aetat 24) to enjoyment and respect (aetat 31), and Shippey's book is partly to thank for this. One of his sharper insights is that a taste for Tolkien seems to be something that people have to be "educated out of" - i.e., that exposure to a modern literary studies curriculum is almost guaranteed to eradicate those more primitive parts of the imagination that respond to the kind of populist yarn-spinning that Tolkien was, almost despite himself, supremely good at. (This certainly accords with my experience.)

I say "almost despite himself" because one of the things I learned from this book was that Tolkien worked far harder on developing the mythological background to "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" than he spent on actually writing those books; indeed, that long after he'd published "The Hobbit" and was at work on its august sequel, he had to go back and revise it so as to make it fit in with the overall plan. I have a certain polite interest in "The Silmarillion" and the voluminous posthumous books of early drafts, but for me, by far the best of Tolkien is to be found in his two most famous books.

Shippey makes out a pretty good case for why these books deserve to be regarded as classics, especially "The Lord of the Rings", which he clearly regards as being on a par with Orwell's "Animal Farm" and Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow". These are two books that I hold in the highest esteem, albeit for very different reasons, and for a Lit boy like me it's been a sweet, but sobering process to admit "The Lord of the Rings" into their sombre company. Shippey can make you read the book in a new way - it no longer seems like a daft and slightly overlong romp for eternal teenagers, but like a grim, adult and rather downbeat modern novel in a fantastic mode. Hell, he's even got me reading "Beowulf". That can't be bad, despite Woody Allen's crack about it in "Annie Hall".

I think it's a bit sad for Tolkien that the two books he wrote as more-or-less spinoffs from the great work of his imagination are the ones he is most remembered for, but it's just, nonetheless, as they are by far his best books. I'll keep on reading "Lord of the Rings" for pleasure and profit. "The Silmarillion" and its kindred...well, to be frank, they'll be lucky if I pick 'em up now and again to check a reference. Shippey's skill, sardonic wit, commitment to popular taste and respect for the intelligence of his reader make this a better critical study than many others I can think of, about far more "literary" writers. Author of the Century? I'm not so sure - I'm too much of a Joyce fan. But it's time a lot of readers admitted that there's a lot of empty guff out there masquerading as "serious" literature (Saul Bellow, step to the front of the class) while books as good as Tolkien's (and Philip K. Dick's, and Ursula Le Guin's) are ignominiously written off as "genre" fiction. (...)

This book analyzes many of Tolkein's works, but focuses the majority of its attention on the _Lord of the Rings_ and its two companion works: _the Hobbit_ and _the Silmarillion_. Popular polls taken at the end of the 20th century frequently place the _Lord of the Rings_ (LotR) at the top as the number one best book of the century. Many book critics look in horror at such a ranking. Shippey's book is in large part a rebuttal of this dismissal of Tolkein's work by most of the `literary establishment'. Shippey argues that LotR is quite worthy of the honor as best work of the century.

This book is academic in nature and vocabulary, but it is also fun to read. As a Tolkein fan I found the book to be quite enlightening. Shippey delves DEEP in to the text, finding many treasures that I had not yet observed. I found it true, as one endorsement on the book jacket says, that Shippey "deepens your understanding of the work without making you forget your initial, purely instinctive response to Middle-Earth."

Professor Shippey, whose academic field is the same as that of Professor Tolkein himself, mines the philological earth and finds the likely background sources of numerous middle-earth creations, such as: Beorn, orcs, Rohan, etc. He also explores Tolkein's plot development strategy. One passage that I particularly liked was Shippey's description of how Tolkein used "interlacement" (the interweaving of different story lines) to convey an important thematic message of the work: that it's never wise to give up trying, no matter how bad the circumstances may appear. The examples he describes are very illustrative; for example: Aragorn's self-doubts as he pursues (in vain he fears) the orcs who had taken Pippin and Merry. I found several other sections to be thought-provoking as well: "wraithing"; "luck & courage"; and "eucatastrophe".

If there is one disappointment I had in reading this book, it is that some finishing touches seem to be missing. The later chapters in the book seem less well-developed, and not as well focused within the argument of the book as a whole. Near the end of his first full chapter on LotR Shippey summarizes the development of his argument thus far. But from there on, there is no further explicit reference to his argument. To be sure most of the remaining material still implicitly contributes to the theory, but I found no satisfying conclusion explicitly made in the end of the book.

In spite of that disappointment, this book significantly deepened my appreciation of the _Lord of the Rings_. I have for years considered LotR my all-time favorite book. As a result of reading Shippey's book, I understand better WHY LotR is such a great work, that it has great relevance and meaning in addition to its sheer wonder as entertainment.

This book is quite simply the seminal criticism and analysis of Tolkien's major works. Shippey is Tolkien's successor at Oxford, and in a very real sense "speaks the language" (no pun intended) that Tolkien spoke. He is able to disassemble and analyze Tolkien's writings in a way that is head and shoulders above any other similar works. His linguistic and literary analysis is the best ever made and is absolutely vital to truly understanding Middle Earth and the man that made it. Add to that a brief but very profound analysis of the religious themes, imagery, and inferences that is better than anything else out there (it completely surpasses Joseph Pearce's fine book on Tolkien, all in less than 10 pages.) Plus you'll get the most insightful discussion of the Anglo Saxon and Old Norse literary traditions and characters that would become Gandalf, Frodo, and the rest of the Fellowship.

If you truly love Tolkien's writing, then you simply must read this book. It is the first most important step in a real understanding of what Middle Earth is, where it is, where its characters came from, and what happened to them in ways that will really open your mind to the vastness and incredible beauty of Tolkien's world. After reading it, you'll have even less patience with the lunkheads who think LOTR is just another fantasy story. It's so, so much more than that.

And if that wasn't enough, you'll learn what Beowulf's name would mean in modern English. ("Beowulf" is usually the only word in the poem not translated, in case you haven't noticed.)

Tom Shippey's first book on Tolkien, _The Road to Middle-Earth_, was a profoundly insightful work. His philologically informed background provided keen insight into the linguistic backdrop (both real and imaginative) of Tolkien's fiction, showing the complex verbal play taking place within the story. It still stands, in my opinion, as the single-best scholarly book yet published about Tolkien.

By comparison, _J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century_ is a disappointment. Why? Several reasons, the first of which is the fact that many of the points Shippey makes here have previously been made in his first book. Much of the material here is a rehash of _Road to Middle-Earth_; this is true both in the general nature of Shippey's approach (i.e. emphasizing Tolkien's philological inspiration, and in particular his Anglo-Saxonist bent) as well as many specific and detailed philological points.

Even more disappointing is the fact that the writing in parts of this book has a scattered quality. The introduction, the "Re-Inventing Middle-Earth" chapter (about the Hobbit), and the greater part of the first chapter on Lord of the Rings ("Mapping Out a Plot") are solid and well-organized, but after that, one can't help but get the feeling that Shippey got a bit rushed and just started throwing things together in an increasingly slapdash way in order to get the book out before the first of the Lord of the Rings movies appeared. The end of "Mapping out a Plot" starts to lose focus, and while the second Lord of the Rings chapter (on evil) still holds together reasonably well, the third Lord of the Rings chapter (on Tolkien's mythology) is particularly disorganized, with little sense of any intellectual or methodological focus whatsoever. The Silmarillion chapter and the chapter on Tolkien's minor works are pretty much pointless, while the two appendices (one on Tolkien's critics, and one on Tolkien's literary decscendants, like Donaldson), seem like hastily tacked-on additions that aren't fully developed.

In spite of all that, there still is a lot of merit in this book. Though much of it is rehashed, the fact remains that Shippey's philological observations are still as insightful here as in _The Road to Middle-Earth_, and anyone who has not read that book, will still learn much from this one. Also, there are a few moments of specific analysis that are quite solid examples of thorough scholarship. Shippey's account of Tolkien's writing process in "Mapping Out the Plot" is solid and critically thoughtful, while his close analysis of speakers and language in the "Council of Elrond" chapter is nothing short of brilliant.

Shippey's attempt to redefine the literary context of Tolkien is also suggestive. Too often, it has been the convention to lump Tolkien in with his friends C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams-- or more broadly with a larger romance/fantasy tradition. In the chapter on Evil, Shippey suggests (quite rightly, I think), that Tolkien ought more properly be compared with other 20th century writers (like Orwell, Golding, Vonnegut, and even T.H. White) who have been distressed by the seemingly unlimited human capacity for *evil* that modernity has enabled us to unleash and found that this question could not be meaningfully approached except through the creation of 'fantastic' worlds and scenarios. (I'm not entirely sure that I agree with Golding and Orwell being called 'fantastic' here, but I think the basic point holds well enough). Unfortunately, this idea requires greater development and complexity than Shippey gives it here-- but it still is a very suggestive beginning. IMHO, Shippey should have devoted all the time he spent rehashing material from _Road to Middle-Earth_ to developing *this* idea further, making it the central argument of the book.

All in all, I have to say that _J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century_, in spite of its many flaws, is a worthwhile and insightful book-- and it's still better than most of the fluff that passes as 'Tolkien scholarship'. Still, it's no _Road to Middle-Earth_, and anyone expecting this book to rival that one should prepare to be disappointed.

Starting with Shippey's opening claim that "The dominant literary mode of the twentieth century has been the fantastic," this is a fascinating study of Tolkien, what influenced him, and what he in turn influenced. Shippey discusses the concepts of Evil and Myth, and places Tolkien in a group of "traumatized" authors, mostly veterans, who wrote non-realistic fiction (Orwell, Vonnegut, Golding, CS Lewis, TH White, Heller, and (stretching it a bit) LeGuin). Shippey also continues his examination of the pagan roots of Tolkien's concept of courage from his 1983 "The Road to Middle-earth," and includes a useful chapter on the often-neglected shorter works. His examination of the critics who dismiss Tolkien offers excellent insights into the failures of modern criticism. This book is a good place for the novice reader of Tolkien criticism to start, and there is an extensive bibliography of other critical works. The copy I borrowed on interlibrary-loan is full of post-it notes awaiting transfer to the copy I have on order!

When Tom Shippey's publisher suggested he update his Road To Middle-earth in anticipation of the upcoming Peter Jackson movies, he is reported to have said, "I cannot possibly think of anything more to say."

Well, he managed to squeeze out a new book nonetheless. Much of the material will seem very familiar to anyone who has read The Road To Middle-earth. Shippey doesn't cover any new theoretical ground. He still hammers away at the Anglo-Saxonist point-of-view, either disregarding Tolkien's non-Anglo-Saxon influences (such as the Bible, Homer, and some of the Greek dramas) or downplaying their significance.

On the other hand, no one seems better qualified to explore the world of Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon and Medieval influences than Tom Shippey. If you didn't get enough of the Old English and northern European roots in the first book, he brings out the tweezers and really digs for miniscule and obscure references in this work.

But there is an imbalance, in my opinion. For all their genius, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are really just stories that Tolkien set out to tell as amusements. There are complexities to be found in The Lord of the Rings which are lacking in The Hobbit. And yet, The Silmarillion is "the work of [Tolkien's] heart", as Shippey himself puts it. Even so, Shippey barely examines The Silmarillion. Perhaps that is because The Silmarillion doesn't offer as much to mine in the Anglo-Saxon arena as The Lord of the Rings. Whereas Tolkien borrowed many English place-names for Third Age Middle-earth, Beleriand depends upon a mostly Sindarin nomenclature. At best, Shippey only strikes out to "drive some shafts" into The Silmarillion, and he focuses on the other two books.

Unfortunately, the haste with which Shippey turned out the analysis is revealed in a number of erroneous references. Many first-year Tolkien students would easily pick out the gaffes. Coming from one of the world's leading Tolkien scholars, they are a bit embarrassing. The book, though longer than The Road to Middle-earth, therefore looks almost as unfinished as Tolkien's mythology. There are still far worse books out there, but Shippey has done better. Perhaps he is getting a little burned out and really didn't have much more to say after all.

Those of us who are hopeless Tolkienites have an insatiable curiosity about--and appetite for--the inner workings of Middle-earth, along with the man that brought that wonderful world to life. J.R.R. Tolkien was a fascinating man, and Oxford scholar Tom Shippey has forgotten more about this author than most of us will ever learn; to prove it, Shippey presents his analysis of Tolkien's work in his very readable book, J.R.R. TOLKIEN: AUTHOR OF THE CENTURY.

I was astounded to learn, via Shippey's patient presentation, that so many of the names of characters and places that appear in Middle-earth are derived from ancient Norse mythology, poetry, and literature. That Tolkien was hugely inspired by Beowulf is a given; that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings borrow extensively and richly from this centuries' old tale is not. Shippey also describes how Tolkien, as a devout philologist, was obsessed with words--with their infinite variations, and how the author utilized this knowledge not only to create names and places in his writing, but also create extensive, intricate languages.

Regarding Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, Shippey allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusions as to whether or not the novel is an allegory. Tolkien himself vigorously denied his fantasy tale was allegorical; in light of the fact LOTR is a classic tale of good vs. evil. . .a story that is a ringing indictment of modernization, industrialization, and technological destruction. . .it's almost comical how Tolkien went out of his way to deny the obvious. Shippey compares the novel to other allegories, and readily admits some of Tolkien's later short stories were indeed allegorical; thus the allegory card is played, albeit in a limited, less than satisfying way.

Shippey provides a detailed analysis not only of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but of Tolkien's other works, including his poems and short stories, his essays, and his voluminous subject matter published posthumously (The Silmarillion and The Lost Tales, etc.). And "detailed" is the right word, as Shippey examines and magnifies information almost to exhaustion. That the scholar sees mountains where other readers see mole hills is readily apparent via the pages of this book.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN: AUTHOR OF THE CENTURY is a compelling, recommended read for those wanting to know more about the man who brought us Middle-earth. One of Shippey's observations is right on the money: The fact that England itself didn't have its own mythology turned out to be most fortunate; Tolkien went about creating one.
--D. Mikels, Author, THE RECKONING

I'm a novice when it comes to Tolkien criticism, so maybe my opinion is less valuable than others who have read more on this subject. Nevertheless, as a relatively new devotee of Tolkien, I found this book highly insightful. Shippey examines the sources that inspired Tolkien to write the large and disparate body of work centered on Middle Earth, of which LOTR is only a small part. The bulk of it centers on how Tolkien borrowed characters, themes, and words from old Norse myths. While I admittedly had little or no interest in these ancient legends, I am amazed at Tolkien's mastery of the subject, and Shippey does a good job of making Tolkien's lifelong engagement with these stories highly interesting. There is also an excellent chapter looking at Tolkien's conception of evil in comparative perspective. Shippey points out that Tolkien's ultimate take on evil is ambiguous; there are signs that he viewed evil as merely the absence of good, but other compelling signs that he saw evil as a power in and of itself. Finally, Shippey examines Tolkien's work as mythology. Despite Tolkien's purported dislike of allegory, Shippey argues that this need not prevent us from gleaning important lessons from Tolkien's themes and characters. There are individual sections on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and his shorter works and letters. Readers will obviously prefer the chapters on the particular body of Tolkien's work they most admire. While more experienced literary critics might find fault with this work, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an informed analyses of Tolkien's inspirations and intentions.

Almost immediately after its publication, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings suffered scathing attacks from certain critics in the academic and literary worlds. Half a century later, it remains dubious to admit to well-educated friends that Tolkien is one's favorite author. A typical response is "Oh, I don't read those kind of books," by which we are meant to understand that Tolkien wrote "escapist throwback popular trash."

To make matters worse, these days, one can form an opinion without bothering to even read "those books." A few hours spent watching Peter Jackson's screen adaptation (or even a few minutes watching their trailers) gives anyone the confidence to bespeak Tolkien's doom.

How is it that many highly intelligent and sensitive readers cherish the Lord of the Rings, while many highly intelligent and sensitive critics loathe it? Professor Shippey's work, Author of the Century, unravels this mystery. Moreover, he painstakingly details much of the origin and intricacy of Tolkien's magnum opus.

Although it differs in title, in my opinion this book is essentially a re-write of Professor Shippey's "The Road to Middle Earth". Having read them both in short order, I prefer this one, but that I ventured to read both demonstrates the quality of the author and his material. I cannot comment on the even newer "The Road to Middle Earth:Revised and Expanded Edition".

Its table of contents is somewhat misleading. Most chapters cover far more subject matter than their headings would imply. This reviewer identified several themes to which Professor Shippey consistently returns throughout the book. They are 1) Refuting Tolkien's critics. 2) Tolkien's historical and philological sources. 3) Literary analysis of Tolkien's major works. 4) Tolkien's theodicy - his philosophy of Good and Evil.

I opened this review with a reference to the first theme, refuting Tolkien's critics, because the title of this book implies that such is its primary intent. However, Shippey's earlier work, "The Road to Middle Earth", was actually more aggressive in that regard. Perhaps Tolkien's popularity has outlived enough of his critics to warrant a relent in the counter-offensive. At any rate, there is enough material here to silence all but the most stubborn. Memorize a few paragraphs and you will lose any shame you might have felt in proclaiming the "Lord of the Rings" your favorite book.

However, the most enjoyable bits (to me) are those which shed light on the interplay between Tolkien the author, and Tolkien the Oxford professor of Old-English and philology. If you are an Anglophile and a word-lover, the kind of person who enjoys visiting England and reading the dictionary, you will thrill to all the sudden definitions, connections and insights scattered throughout. Examples... An etymology of "Halifirien" which is Old-English for "holy mountain." Tolkien's 1923 publication of an imagined Old-English reconstruction of the prototypical "egg" nursery rhyme riddle later used in the Hobbit. A beautiful story about Oxford's "Rollright Stones", a Neolithic stone circle, relating Middle-Earth to present day England. Detailed etymologies of "Woses" and "Ent", "Elf", "Emnet", and more. Numerous smatterings of Old-English wisdom, such as Beowulf's, "Æghwæþres sceal scearp scyldwiga gescad witan, worda und worca", describing the manner of a coast guard deciding to allow Beowulf to enter Denmark with his armed company, like Hama allowing Gandalf to carry his staff into Meduseld.

It is this such material that "Author of the Century" provides in greater depth and quantity than the earlier "Road to Middle-Earth". Elaborating it was a wise decision, as doing so deftly applies the deep knowledge of Professor Shippey as a fellow Old-English philologist. In fact, Shippey occupied the very position at Leeds that Tolkien helped to create. Perhaps no one else can give so many insights from this highly specialized field into its essential origins in Tolkien's creation. One envies Professor Shippey's students, as one envied Tolkien's, for surely he gives fascinating lectures.