honestpuck writes
"I find it surprising that with the current popularity of the The Lord
of The Rings movies and subsequent rise in sales of the trilogy and
The Hobbit that so few bookshops stock more of the Professor's other
works. Fortunately this volume makes it easier. It puts four of his works in one, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil Leaf By Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major." The first and fourth of these I've read elsewhere (and enjoyed), so I'm glad to learn of the other two. Read on for honestpuck's capsule description of each.
Tales From The Perilous Realm
author
J.R.R. Tolkein
pages
192
publisher
Harper Collins
rating
9
reviewer
Tony Williams
ISBN
0261103431
summary
Excellent short stories and poetry from a master story-tellet
Farmer Giles of Ham
This is a marvelous tale of a reluctant, and accidental, hero and a dragon who doesn't quite live up to the stereotype. The style is a little old fashioned, making it seem more like the fairy tales of your childhood than even The Hobbit, with a dry sense of humour. That said, it also seems to be the hardest for a child to enjoy (my sample size is only two, however), though personally I liked it when I first read it and enjoy it still.. It is the longest of the four works and by far the earliest written and published, 1949.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures is a collection of 16 assorted poems, most are either partially quoted or referred to in The Lord Of The Rings. The poems are a mixed bag, ranging from the short and amusing "Oliphaunt" through to the more adult and wistful "The Last Ship" that closes the collection. All are enjoyable for the adult reader, some enjoyable for children.
Iâ(TM)ve never really liked Tolkienâ(TM)s verse when he tries to be serious, in this collection I only really like "Oliphaunt."
Leaf By Niggle
The shortest of the three stories, in this one Niggle, whose dreams far
outweigh his talent, sets out to paint the perfect tree and is caught up
in his own variation of the Pygmalion myth (though it is a tree that comes to life.) It is a marvelously written tale that unfolds
beautifully.
Smith of Wootton Major
My favourite of them all, a tale in which Smith voyages to the land of the faeries via a magical cake. Another story that revolves around the
dreams and fantasies in a life. This one is a perfect fairy tale and perfect for reading aloud to a small person, full of magic and charm and
whimsy it brings to mind everything I loved about The Hobbit.
Conclusion
While the three tales and 16 poems all have their differences there is
certainly a distinctive style across them all. Just a little
old-fashioned, a little formal - in fact almost exactly how you'd expect
an Oxford Professor to write fiction. This volume is worth reading, and
an enjoyable read but does not quite have the magnificence of language
in The Lord of The Rings nor the wonderful light touch of well-crafted
children's tale in The Hobbit. They are good short pieces, that sort of excellence is hard to craft into such short works.
Anyone who enjoyed The Hobbit will find this a wonderful volume. Tolkein
always talked of writing both The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings as a
way of creating truly English myth and fairy tales (he felt that Arthur
was too much a tale borrowed from the French). While both of those 'grew
in the telling,' this small volume gives us three marvelous (and English
in feel) fairy tales and some good poetry. A must for all Tolkein fans.
Tales from the Perilous Realm is harder to find than Tolkein's better-known works, but is available from online merchants including
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I think the reluctance of shops to stock Prof Toliens other material is because of the constant issues of his dad's notes and half finished tales that Christopher Tolkien dished out for so many years. I think the LotR is brilliant, but I haven't got time to read through anyones 'works in progress'.
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
The Simarillian is a must-have for anyone interested in Tolkien's world. It was actually his FIRST work, predating the Hobbit, but people told him it wouldn't sell. It was an ongoing work and his son (Christopher) edited and published it after his death.
It goes through all the history from "In the Beginning there was darkness" sort of Genisis to the final history of Aragorn and Arwen. There you learn about where Gandolf comes from, what the Wizards really are (same tier of age as Balrogs, interestingly) as well as Soron's predecessor, Melkor.
Repeat VERY GOOD BOOK TO HAVE!!!!
Murray Todd Williams
Serious Tolkien readeres will probably be interested in Christopher Tolkien's "History of Middle-Earth" and the other publications which have been released.
Everyone else probably will have comparatively little use for them. If you haven't read the "Silmarillion", I wouldn't even bother picking them up; on the other hand, if you want a "first-hand" look at how the Lord of the Rings was constructed, "The History of Middle-Earth" is very insightful (and will give you a lot of extra-geeky trivia to throw around).
I have read "Smith of Wotton Major" and "Farmer Giles of Ham", and to throw in my two bits I think they're both wonderful stories. "Farmer" is at times outright hilarious, as the above reviewer indicates the humor is dry; I found it thoughly entertaining.
"Smith" is another matter. I think it's a wonderful story, too, but it's a "fey-story" in the old sense, which means it's actually a little creepy at times. I loved it as a child, but found it a little disturbing. Recently reading it (~8 months ago) I thought it absolutely beautiful, and decidely bittersweet.
Another story not in this collection that's very recommended for both whimsical adults and any child is "Roverandom", which is a wonderful fantasy about a lost toy dog who ends up in the company of wizards...
This is definitely NOT a childrens book. It is absolutely crammed with in-jokes that are firmly directed at linguists and philologists and other academics.
For example, when Tolkien talks about Farmer Giles' blunderbuss, he makes a point of saying that people might not know what a blunderbuss is, then goes on to say the "the four wise clerks of Oxenford" define it as . This is lifted EXACTLY from the then-current edition of the the Oxford English Dictionary.
The dry, pedantic style was also directed at the similar style employed by academics.
Also, one has to remember that this was written in the aftermath of one of the most terrible wars the country had ever seen, and also came at the end of rationing in the UK, and despite the style, FGoH is a rollicking great belly laugh, definitely one of JRRT's really intelligent works.
BTW, was going through my papers last night and found my old copies of JRRT's poems, "Imram," which chronicles the travels of Saint Brendan, and "The Lay of Aotrao and Itroun", a very dark epic poem in the Breton tradition, which I copied by hand from the original manuscripts back in the '70s. As far as I know these have never been published, which is a shame, as they are both excellent works...
Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
Who's Tom Bombadil?
Gene Hargrove has one answer, but it will only make sense if you've at least read the Lord of the Rings.
moto411.com
Tolkien.co.uk gives Feb/03 as the publication date.
Clem.
Steuard Jensen has a differing opinion. Both Hargrove's and Jensen's essays are referenced in the The Encyclopedia of Arda entry.
From William D. B. Loos' essay:
As to Tom's nature, there are several schools of thought.
He was a Maia (the most common notion). The reasoning here is plain: given the Middle-earth cast of characters as we know it, this is the most convenient pigeonhole in which to place him (and Goldberry as well) (most of the other individuals in The Lord of the Rings with "mysterious" origins: Gandalf, Sauron, Wizards, and Balrogs did in fact turn out to be Maiar).
He was IlÃvatar. The only support for this notion is on theological grounds: some have interpreted Goldberry's statement to Frodo (F: "Who is Tom Bombadil?" G: "He is.") as a form of the Christian "I am that am", which really could suggest the Creator. Tolkien rejected this interpretation quite firmly.
T.A. Shippey (in The Road to Middle-earth) and others have suggested that Tom is a one-of-a-kind type. This notion received indirect support from Tolkien himself....
For the ill-informed conspiracy theorists out there, you might wish to read this.
And for those of you who say that public schools aren't turning out good work, you may wish to visit a less meticulous analysis (author unknown) from DPS.
moto411.com
No, the big problem is that it's incorrectly written and typeset.
Not only is there a comma missing after "Bombadil", the titles are not emphasized correctly. Quotation marks or emphasis should be used to clearly demarcate the titles. Since the story text itself is in italics, the titles should be in roman (ie., upright) type to set them apart. The correct formatting and grammar, therefore, would be:
- "... It puts four of his works in one, Farmer Giles of Ham, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Leaf By Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major."
Of course, this is probably asking too much from the average Slashdot editor geek type.