User:Astraflame/Tolkien Key Studies

The initial draft of this is based on Michael D.C. Drout's review of the state of Tolkien criticism in 2000. We welcome your criticism on the talk page and would greatly desire help in updating it to include works published after 2001 and of course, any other works disregarded by Professor Drout. Minor works (single articles that Drout considered exceptional) have been excluded in this list, but may be re-included if they have been cited in other places as having a significant impact on Tolkien studies. Funnily enough, Drout also did not include biographical studies, which is an omission that we should probably correct.

Major Collections

 * Proceedings of the 1992 Tolkien Centenary Conference, ed. Patricia Reynolds and Glen H. GoodKnight. 1996.
 * J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances, ed. George Clark and Daniel Timmons. 2000.
 * Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on the History of Middle-earth, ed. Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter. 2000.

Source Study

 * Shippey, Tom. The Road to Middle-Earth, 3rd ed. 2003 - still considered the most definitive account of Tolkien's sources
 * Anderson, Douglas. The Annotated Hobbit. 2002 - not just an annotated edition, but a thorough study of Tolkien's sources in making The Hobbit

Philosophical Studies
(particularly regarding good and evil)


 * Bassham, Gregory and Bronson, Eric, eds. The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All. 2003. - not included in Drout's review since it was published later and not all of the articles in this book are actually considered to be particularly good, but addresses a greater breadth of philosophical issues than any previous work.
 * Flieger, Verlyn. Splintered Light - difficult to categorize, considered by Drout to be the second best book on Tolkien criticism, thorough discussion of Tolkien's subcreation based on Tolkien's intentions and as linked to his religious beliefs and an idea of mythology espoused by a fellow Inkling, Owen Barfield
 * Flieger, Verlyn. A Question of Time - Drout considers this to be the third best book on Tolkien criticism, discussion of how Tolkien uses time in The Lord of the Rings as part of the work that he intended to carry out in The Lost Road and "The Notion Club Papers."

Mythological Studies
(considered by Drout to be "the least successful" approach, but I personally think he was being a bit too pessimistic)


 * Chance, Jane. Tolkien's Art: A Mythology for England. 1979 - one of the first books exploring the subject
 * Flieger, Verlyn. Interrupted Music. 2005 - outline of the process, the motives, and the traditions built upon by Tolkien in making The Silmarillion and Middle-earth. Too new to be included in Drout's review.
 * Stenström, Anders. "A Mythology? For England?" in Proceedings of the J. R. R. Tolkien Centenary Conference, ed. Reynolds and GoodKnight, 310-14. 1992. - meta-critical account of the subject

Reception Studies
(should not be mistaken for the actual reception of Tolkien, but surveys of that reception)


 * Shippey, Tom. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. 2000. - Drout believes that this is the most thorough attack of all critics of Tolkien's significance in literature
 * Rosebury, Brian. Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon. 1992. - reprint of some of his previous stylistic analysis of Tolkien's work but also argues for the importance of his works within the context of modernist criticism
 * Pearce, Joseph. Tolkien: Man and Myth. 2001. - exploration of Tolkien's relationship with the other writers of his day, but also a survey of the literary establishment's reaction to The Lord of the Rings
 * Curry, Patrick. Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien, Myth and Modernity. - Drout thinks that this work is not particularly cohorently written but describes The Lord of the Rings as an environmentalist work at odds with modernistic approaches
 * Colebatch, Hal. Return of the Heroes: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Contemporary Culture. - one of the most thorough considerations of Tolkien in the context of his work as political allegory, pushing Tolkien towards the right and not entirely successful in his argument

Miscellany

 * Craig, David M. "'Queer Lodgings': gender and sexuality in The Lord of the Rings" Mallorn 35 (1997): 11-18. - one of the most sensible discussions of the topic, according to Drout
 * Hargrove, Gene. "Who is Tom Bombadil?" Mythlore 13 (1986): 20-24. - best scholarly treatment of Bombadil, according to Drout

Tolkien Linguistics
have largely been set aside in most bibliographies, but the most pertinent publications are:


 * Vinyar Tengwar - the journal of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship
 * Parma Eldalamberon - another journal of Tolkien linguistic studies