Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Del Rey (1986), Edition: Reprint, 272 pages
Description
Stories, poems and an essay by the author of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings."
User reviews
LibraryThing member Kushana
An odd mix of light pieces and critically important ones for understanding how [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] thought about his own work. Pleasant, lightweight reading until you reach "Leaf by Niggle" and "On Faerie-Stories".
"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story that seems to be about Tolkien's disappointments
Think about that for a moment.
"On Faerie-Stories" is [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s essay on what Fantasy is and why it should be written (and read). An important view on what he thought his work would do for readers, why he wrote it, and how being a historian influenced his fiction. It has influenced [Patricia McKillip] and [Stephen R. Donaldson] and [Ursula K. LeGuin]'s book of essays [The Language of the Night] is, in part, a response to it.
If you are dying to hear Tom Bombadil's tale about "badgers and their queer ways", more Hobbit poems like Sam's "Oliphant", or read some of Tolkien's short fiction, this is the book for you. It also has two vital keys for understanding what he thought he was doing as a writer.
Highly recommended for the two works that reveal "the bones the soup came from" i.e. how he worked as an artist, a topic Tolkien (a Medievalist who invented an elaborate back-story that [The Lord of the Rings] was a medieval manuscript) usually avoided.
-Kushana
"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story that seems to be about Tolkien's disappointments
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with himself as an artist: the mundane distractions that keep him from his art, his inability to realize the scope of his vision (he tried all his life to complete [The Silmarillion]), his fear that secondary creation (creative writing) was hubris against the Creator, and his fear that he would be remembered for only the least fragment of his work (Niggle is remembered for one leaf from his painting of a tree and its landscape, Tolkien feared being remembered only for [The Hobbit] and [The Lord of the Rings].Think about that for a moment.
"On Faerie-Stories" is [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s essay on what Fantasy is and why it should be written (and read). An important view on what he thought his work would do for readers, why he wrote it, and how being a historian influenced his fiction. It has influenced [Patricia McKillip] and [Stephen R. Donaldson] and [Ursula K. LeGuin]'s book of essays [The Language of the Night] is, in part, a response to it.
If you are dying to hear Tom Bombadil's tale about "badgers and their queer ways", more Hobbit poems like Sam's "Oliphant", or read some of Tolkien's short fiction, this is the book for you. It also has two vital keys for understanding what he thought he was doing as a writer.
Highly recommended for the two works that reveal "the bones the soup came from" i.e. how he worked as an artist, a topic Tolkien (a Medievalist who invented an elaborate back-story that [The Lord of the Rings] was a medieval manuscript) usually avoided.
-Kushana
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LibraryThing member StephenBarkley
People know Tolkien as the writer of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In 1966, Ballantine books collected some of his shorter works to serve as a paperback introduction for those who had not yet read his Ring Trilogy.
Peter Beagle wrote a fine introduction to this volume. It was amusing
The works collected are a true miscellany, both in content and in style. "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" is a somber fragment of a play where two battle-weary soldiers pick through the bodies of their comrades by lamplight to find their war-leader. "Farmer Giles of Ham," in contrast, is a comic fantasy story about a lowly farmer who becomes a dragon master. This story is suitable for younger readers. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is a collection of sixteen poems written during the third age of Middle Earth.
The highlight of this collection is "Tree and Leaf". After a lengthy essay on the nature of fairy stories which gives the reader insight into Tolkien's thought process, the story "Tree and Leaf" is a powerful account of a man—a painter—who spends his whole life putting off the future (and his neighbour) in order to paint the perfect leaf. When he is finally forced to go on his journey, he realizes his true role in the world and in the world to come. Reading from a Christian perspective, this story was very moving!
The works collected between these covers are so diverse, only a devoted Tolkien fan would be interested in reading them all. If that's you, then enjoy!
Peter Beagle wrote a fine introduction to this volume. It was amusing
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to read his biographical blurb which described him as the author of A Fine and Private Place which was "published in 1960, and was extremely well received" (xvi). (Of course, he went on to write the much more famous The Last Unicorn.)The works collected are a true miscellany, both in content and in style. "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" is a somber fragment of a play where two battle-weary soldiers pick through the bodies of their comrades by lamplight to find their war-leader. "Farmer Giles of Ham," in contrast, is a comic fantasy story about a lowly farmer who becomes a dragon master. This story is suitable for younger readers. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is a collection of sixteen poems written during the third age of Middle Earth.
The highlight of this collection is "Tree and Leaf". After a lengthy essay on the nature of fairy stories which gives the reader insight into Tolkien's thought process, the story "Tree and Leaf" is a powerful account of a man—a painter—who spends his whole life putting off the future (and his neighbour) in order to paint the perfect leaf. When he is finally forced to go on his journey, he realizes his true role in the world and in the world to come. Reading from a Christian perspective, this story was very moving!
The works collected between these covers are so diverse, only a devoted Tolkien fan would be interested in reading them all. If that's you, then enjoy!
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LibraryThing member tripleblessings
Includes "Tree and Leaf", "Farmer Giles of Ham", "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son", and an essay on Tolkien by Peter S. Beagle.
LibraryThing member Louise_Waugh
Only 4.5 stars, despite the Beowulf essay, and On Fairy Stories, and the Maldon play ALL being wonderful, because some of the poems just hurt my brain.
LibraryThing member ex_ottoyuhr
Non-LotR Tolkien is undeservedly obscure. This is a very interesting experience, particularly for _Farmer Giles of Ham_ and its illustrations -- or rather, vice-versa. Pauline Baynes outdid even herself here; as Tolkien put it, the text is practically reduced to a commentary on the pictures...
LibraryThing member Karlstar
This is a collection of other stories by Tolkien, only one of which is related to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Decent, but not great.
LibraryThing member eyja
I'm a Tolkien fan, so I really liked this book. I'm not sure I'd say I absolutely love every poem in here, and I certainly haven't read all the book, but the ones I do like, I really do.
LibraryThing member Bibliophile42
A wonderful introduction to the writing of Tolkien. Leaf by Niggle is one of my favorite short stories of all time.
LibraryThing member szarka
Worth the price of admission for "Leaf by Niggle" alone.
LibraryThing member rohwyn
This is probably a bit too obscure to casual Tolkien fans, but some of the pieces in this anthology are terrific. "Leaf by Niggle" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" were enough to make it worth my while, and there are a couple of interesting verses in it as well. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" provides
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insight into his storytelling methods. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is a collection of shorter pieces by Tolkien and an essay "Tolkien's Magic Ring" by Peter Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn. The Beagle essay on Lord of the Rings is decent, the sort of thing you see in introductions to books, even if I didn't find it particularly insightful. "The Homecoming
That leaves two pieces that I think alone do make the book worth buying and reading. First, there's "Tree and Leaf"--an extended essay about fairy tales and a short story written by Tolkien in the genre, "Leaf by Niggle." The essay was... interesting, and shows Tolkien's resemblance to his fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis in how it deals with mythology and Christianity and the nostalgia for a rural, pre-Industrial Britain. "Leaf by Niggle" read more C.S. Lewis than Tolkien actually, because it's so obviously Christian allegory, despite the fact that in one foreword to Lord of the Rings Tolkien claimed not to like allegory. And that leaves what I find the prize of the book, "Farmer Giles of Ham" a whimsical and charming tale of knights, giants and dragons with more in common with the spirit of The Hobbit than Lord of the Rings.
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of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son" is a short verse play by Tolkien inspired by an Old English poem, "The Battle of Maldon." I found Tolkien's afterward on that poem and the mindset of the Anglo Saxon nobility more interesting than his play itself, if again, not memorably brilliant. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" are ballads based on the character in Lord of the Rings. By and large I loved that epic, I've read it through three times and watched the film based on the trilogy about as many times. But this embodies what I disliked most in it, both the poems sprinkled throughout which I found uninspired and tedious, and the character Tom Bombadil, for whom I felt the same. Yes, I get it--he's a force of nature and thus the one being uncorruptible by the ring, but I wanted to put a spork through my eyes when reading about him and Goldberry. That leaves two pieces that I think alone do make the book worth buying and reading. First, there's "Tree and Leaf"--an extended essay about fairy tales and a short story written by Tolkien in the genre, "Leaf by Niggle." The essay was... interesting, and shows Tolkien's resemblance to his fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis in how it deals with mythology and Christianity and the nostalgia for a rural, pre-Industrial Britain. "Leaf by Niggle" read more C.S. Lewis than Tolkien actually, because it's so obviously Christian allegory, despite the fact that in one foreword to Lord of the Rings Tolkien claimed not to like allegory. And that leaves what I find the prize of the book, "Farmer Giles of Ham" a whimsical and charming tale of knights, giants and dragons with more in common with the spirit of The Hobbit than Lord of the Rings.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Some great short works by JRRT... The book's introduction, "Tolkien's Magic Ring" by Peter Beagle, is fantastic.
LibraryThing member AmishTechie
Suitable for Juvenile read-to. This is not up to the Classic level of the LOTR being a collection of stories, songs and material not directly related to LOTR or the Hobbit. However, it also lends a sense oof background and style to the body of his work that is not included in LOTR.
LibraryThing member JoBass
Collection of Tolkien's shorter works.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
A gathering of short works by tolkien, with a kind introduction by peter s. Beagle. It contains the /author's perceptive essay "Tree and Leaf", about fantasy writing, the Short story, "Farmer Giles of Ham", a playlet drawn from the "lay of the Battle of Maldon," and "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil"
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a set of verses. it is very satisfying as a tour of the man and his secondary works. Show Less
LibraryThing member renardkitsune
Another wonderful addition to any Tolkien lover's collection. This little book is especially interesting because it has a non-fiction essay about the fantasy, or rather more specifically "faerie" genre of literature, which gives insight into some of Tolkien's motivations behind his writing. It also
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includes a faerie story following the critical essay, a short play about a battle in England in 991 AD, an origin story of an old kingdom in Cornwall, and then a collection of poetry related to, and written by characters of, The Lord of the Rings. So is a smattering of different things that would appeal to all readers who enjoy Tolkien. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1966 (collection)
Physical description
272 p.; 6.85 inches
ISBN
0345345061 / 9780345345066
Local notes
Stories, poems and an essay
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