Literary Companion Series - J.R.R. Tolkein (paperback edition) [Hardcover]

Katie de Koster (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0737702443 | ISBN-13: 978-0737702446 | Publication Date: September 1, 1999 | Edition: 1

Noted critics explore Tolkein's heroic epics, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Considered masterpieces of the fantasy genre, Tolkein's stories center around creatures that inhabit the world of Middle Earth and their struggles with the forces around them. (20020501)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-This collection of abridged, previously published essays provides sophisticated analyses of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The introductory essay presents solid biographical background on Tolkien. Although some of the selections are accessible to high school students, most suffer from the abridgment and several are too complex or presume readers' familiarity with writers such as George Macdonald or C. S. Lewis or with Jungian psychology. Roger Sale's excerpted essay on heroism in The Lord of the Rings seems to end abruptly in the middle. T. A. Shippey's concluding essay, which identifies Tolkien's sources in developing Middle-earth, is perhaps the most useful in the collection. The editor also includes a thorough chronology of Tolkien's life, times, and work. Purchase where demand for this subject is high and readers are advanced.-Ellen A. Greever, University of New Orleans, LA

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"An anthology of essays by scholars representing various perspectives and interpretation of the novel. The book(s) provides criticism and discussions of meaning, structure, and the historical content...as well as biographical information. It is organized in such a way that will give students a plethora of information in a largely accessible format. Each chapter heading is annotated, giving readers a chance to sample the content of the essays. Furthermore, each selection is introduced with background biographical data on the essay's author alongwith a summary of the content and the particular point of view represented. A reader-friendly and comprehensive resouce for students and teachers of world literature."
-- School Library Journal ( November 2001) (School Library Journal 20011015)

"A valuable resource."
-- School Library Journal (May 2002) (School Library Journal )

"And for literary support, Greenhaven's series Literary Companions has become a standard in many schools and public libraries, thanks to its thoughtful questions and analysis."
-- Booklist (October 2001) (Booklist )

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Greenhaven Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0737702443
• ISBN-13: 978-0737702446
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,469,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A compilation of old, mediocre articles & excerpts, December 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Literary Companion Series - J.R.R. Tolkein (paperback edition) (Hardcover)

Like Harold Bloom's "Lord of the Rings: Modern Critical Perspectives", De Koster's "Readings on J.R.R. Tolkien" is a compilation of previously printed articles and book excerpts about Tolkien-- and about Lord of the Rings (LotR) in particular. Also like Bloom's book, it's nothing to get excited about. Most of its contents are old and whiskered, filled with passe comments and observations. A few articles are a half-century old book reviews written when LotR first appeared. Many of the older articles (like Auden's and Wilson's) have also been reprinted many, many times before in other compilations. (Strangely, though, a lot of the older articles have had their names changed from the original...)

There are also articles here that were penned more recently... mostly from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but, to be perfectly honest, only a few of these are genuinely insightful... and many of those insights are, in fact, based on critical methods that are no longer current (e.g. psychoanalytical readings). Only one article was written in the 90s, a defense of Tolkien against charges of racism, taken straight from Patrick "Defending Middle-Earth" by Patrick Curry. Curry's defense is passionate and polemical, but he's preaching to the choir on this point, and this excerpted article is not a particularly good example of Tolkien scholarship in the past decade.

On the whole, it's tough to see what value this book has for either a Tolkien fan or scholar. So much of its content is outdated, and a lot of it just isn't all that substantive to begin with. Moreover, the fact is that all of the stuff included here can easily be found (in full, not excerpted) in any good public library or half-decent research library, and de Koster doesn't really add anything in the way of editorial comment or organization to make this edition any better than the sum of its parts.

I can't, however, say the book is wholly without merit, as a few articles, like Shippey's are decent (although folks should just go and read his books, rather than the brief excerpt here), and the old reviews are of importance to those interested in the history of Tolkien criticism) Still, I'd recommend that folks avoid this collection of old and mediocre material and instead take a gander at some of more insightful (and more current) Tolkien criticism and scholarship that's out there...

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not very current, November 13, 2000

By 

John Farrell (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Literary Companion Series - J.R.R. Tolkein (paperback edition) (Hardcover)

While this slim volume is definitely superior to Harold Bloom's recent collection of 30-year-old essays that most Tolkien students are already familiar with, nevertheless, "Readings" disappoints in much the same way. There is only one short piece written recently (the one on whether LOTR is racist); the rest are all retreads (important ones, to be sure) from previous volumes and periodicals. Any student seriously considering LOTR for a thesis or paper will be dismayed. All but one of these essays were written before 1983 (i.e., before today's crop of college freshmen were even born).

Why wasn't a chapter from Norman Cantor's superb book "Inventing the Middle Ages" (1991) included? Why wasn't the trouble taken to track down essays written in the 90s? Can it really be because there just isn't any serious Tolkien scholarship?