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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Sorry, just watched the DVD again, didn't see him. Anything other than the movie just isn't canon. :P
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
First post, in Elvish.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
It should be noted though that the sales of his other books have risen. They obviously just havn't sold as much as the LoTR series.
Did anyone else read this as just a very long title? Goes to show that commas still have importance in the English language.
One of my favorite childhood memories is my dad reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings out loud to me and my younger brother. I'm glad other people are doing that with their kids also, and it's cool that there are more Tolkein stories to delve into. :)
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...
I remember reading a couple of months back that some researcher requested someo f Tolkein's papers from the Oxford archives, and found within it a line-by-line translation of Gilgamesh, in Tolkein's own hand, with his comments. The article said that the translation was to be published this summer. I can find no reference to this on the web, however.
Anyone else here of this?
"Stop whining!" - Arnold, as Mr. Kimble
Think of a Jesus Christ figure prancing through the woods with golden curls who defeats his enemies through song.
There actually are scenes with him (played by Richard Simmons) in the extended version available on DVD. They had to cut them because he kept bursting into tears.
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I wouldn't put him in the class of men. I believe that he is treated more as a spirit from the first age though his origins are a bit cloudy.
Arf!
Also worth noting is that Tolkin was one of the original translators of the New Jerusalem Bible.
yes... yes... I know that many of you don't believe in God, etc. But, hopefully, you'll recognize that translating the entire Bible to English is quite an accomplishment for one of our favorite authors. And, just maybe, you'll even appreciate how happy it makes us Christians to have this great author bring his talents to scripture.
Then again, maybe I'll just get modded to oblivion...
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. -G.K. Chesterton
My favourite of them all, a tale in which Smith voyages to the land of the faeries via a magical cake.
That happened to me at the office Christmas party! Someone tooks photos and then put them up on the notice board. It was really embarassing.
Every year for 23 years, Tolkien wrote his children a letter from Father Christmas, from the late 20's into the 40's. The great depression and WWII get mentioned in passing, but Father Christmas always triumphs.
This one is good for reading to children, with wonderful pictures by Tolkien. For older children, you can sprinkle in a bit of history by telling why Father Christmas had such trouble delivering toys in 1932, and so on. For the Tolkien fancier, the book gives some insight into the author's mind. For example, my edition has samples of the ``elvish writing'' which Father Christmas sent to the children.
See what I've been reading.
Mmmm... Brownies...
If there was a mod called "Scary" I would give you +5 points...
Richard Simmons in Lord of the Rings? Oh dear god, what has the world come to?
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." ~ Christian Slater, True Romance
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
When I read this odd section of the book I always find Tom to be a rather creepy character. He seems to eminate power and is able to see into the future, yet he chooses to pacify his enemies though the most gentle of means (by singing!). As mysteriously as he appears, he is quickly forgotten and plays no other important part in the book. He is somehow 'above' the petty, earthly issues of the dark lord and the one ring and sees no reason to alter the forseen course that history will take. I suppose like so many other characters in LotR, Tom is an idealized figure, whose actions are constrained by the nature of his being. Otherwise, why would he not just prance down to Mordor and sing a little toon for Sauron? :D
One wonders what Lucas would have done with Tom... CGI extravaganza showdown with Sauron!
Bullet time anyone??? :::shudder:::
Tolkien.co.uk gives Feb/03 as the publication date.
Clem.
Or at least Tolkien must have been aware of the similarities with this hero of the Finnish Kalevala when he was writing his poems. The Kalevala wizards employed a style of magic much like Bombadil's. The Bombadil poems read, unfortunately, like a rather watered down and less earthy copy of the orginal.
I think it's probably significant that the Bombadil chapters occur so early in LotR, when Tolkien was casting about for a theme. He was trying to create a new English folkore, and the Kalevala was an obvious model, having virtually redefined the Finnish national identity when it was published. The Bombadil chapters of LotR just feel like an unsuccessful graft from a different story. Indeed while with some effort Tolkien managed to accomodate Bombadil in his world by giving him an unique role in it, he rather ignores Goldberry, whose nature is equally problematic.
The simplest answer is that they both belong to a different story, one that Tolkien thought he might be writing before he found his own voice in Rivendell.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
is that the stories of the Silmarillion aren't really meant to be read, like the published forms of the Hobbit and LotR are.
The Silmarillion is meant to be told, out loud, in the manner of a bard in the king's hall, reciting and performing before a crowd. Modern readers find the style dry because they're used to having the facial expressions and voice tones spelled out in the text, or shown to them on television. If you read the stories aloud, you find that they're not so dry after all.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)