The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Verlyn Flieger --- 168 pages

An early, unfinished short tale, based on a story from The Kalevala (The Land of Heroes), a collection of "runos" or songs handed down in the oral tradition by the folk living in that area of far northern Europe, once ruled by Sweden and then by Russia, which would eventually assert its own identity as the nation of Finland.

Tolkien discovered this collection of poems rendered into English shortly before he began his undergraduate career at Oxford University; in fact, he became so enthralled with them that he attempted to teach himself Finnish so he could read them in the orginal, at a time when he should have been focused on his examinations (he passed, but only received a disappointing "second," not an auspicious start for the scholarly career that was his ambition).

It changed his mind about pursuing the Classics however, and he devoted himself instead to the study of languages, which led to a very distinguished scholarly career as a philologist, and --- eventually --- to his enduring fame as an author and the creator of Middle Earth.

The volume also includes two versions of an essay on The Kalevala which Tolkien presented to two Oxford undergraduate literary clubs.  

Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger presents us with this first and admittedly juvenile attempt at story telling because it reveals the earliest roots of recurring themes and motifs in Tolkien's mature mythology. Thus, it is of most interest to dedicated scholars and students of Tolkien, although not so much to the casual reader.

Click HERE for a review from the London Telegraph.

Click HERE for a review from the Washington Free Beacon.

Click HERE for a review from the Christian Science Monitor.

Click HERE for a review from the Boston Globe.

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski --- 644 pages including backnotes, bibliography and index

The authors are religious scholars and this massive portrait of "The Inklings" ---- an informal coterie of intellectuals that flourished in Oxford from the 1930s into the early 1960s --- focuses on the religious and philosophical elements in the works of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, mythmaker and philologist J.R.R.Tolkien, philosopher Owen Barfield, and publisher and supernaturalist CharlesWilliams,  There were various other members of the group who came and went through the years, but these four were the nucleus.

They were shaped by their experiences of World War I, their Christian faith, their interest in the ancient history, languages and stories of the British Isles, and their taste in literature. Barfield and Williams are figures of minor interest, and even Lewis's star has faded in the fifty years since his death. Of all the Inklings, Tolkien is the one who has lasted. His great works of fantasy, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Simarillion, and his contributions to the field of Old English languages and literature, continue to engage readers and scholars. Millions of readers around the world have been captivated by the spell of Tolkien's world-making. There is little magic and much minutiae in this earnest effort, but at least the bibliography is excellent.

Click HERE to read the review from the Los Angeles Times.

Click HERE to read the review from the Seattle Times.

Click HERE to read the review in the Harvard Magazine.

Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien

Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, Together with Sellic Spell by J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Christopher Tolkien --- 425 pages

J.R.R. Tolkien and all of his works has been one of the greatest pleasures and influences on my reading life since I first chanced upon The Hobbit in high school. He was, for me, like finding manna in the desert.

For years some of my favorite British authors have written about their time at Oxford and the extraordinary experience of hearing Tolkien's lectures on Beowulf. Now so many years later, Tolkien's son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, has at last published his father's 1926 translation of Beowulf along with excerpts from his written lecture notes from the 1930s. This is about as far from the dry and desiccated style of most academic writing as one can get.

Tolkien's comments on Beowulf cast a reflective light not just on the ancient heritage of Northern European myth, legend and history; they also reveal how these influenced Tolkien's own imagination and his grand design to create "a mythology for England" in his tales of Middle-earth. It will be interesting to compare Tolkien's translation with the more recent translation by the (late) celebrated Irish poet and scholar Seamus Heaney.

For those who love learning, world-building and ancient days, this will be a delight.

Click HERE to read an article about Tolkien's Beowulf in The Guardian (UK) and HERE to read an article from The Oklahoman (US).

Click HERE to read an appreciation of Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.

The thousand-year-old manuscript of Beowulf is preserved in the British Museum .

Click HERE to read how the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf was preserved against all odds.