The Tolkien Reader - by J R R Tolkien (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An absorbing collection of stories, poems, and commentaries by the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Renowned around the world as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien was also a distinguished academic and professor whose writings and lectures expand beyond the scope of his beloved Middle-earth. From short stories of fantastical adventures to essays on imagination and the narrative form, The Tolkien Reader gathers some of these fascinating and hard-to-find works into one volume.

Tree and Leaf: Professor Tolkien's now-famous essay "On Fairy-stories" and the short story "Leaf by Niggle" examine and illustrate the form and treatment of fantasy narratives.

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son: A short play inspired by The Battle of Malden, an Old English poem with no ending and no beginning that describes a historical tenth-century battle between the English and Viking invaders.

Farmer Giles of Ham: An imaginative history of the distant past that follows the unheroic Farmer Giles as he attempts to capture a somewhat untrustworthy dragon.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: A delightful collection of verse in praise of Tom Bombadil, staunch friend of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings.

About the Author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. After serving in World War I, he embarked upon a distinguished academic career and was recognized as one of the finest philologists in the world. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. He is, however, beloved throughout the world as the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic works as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He died on September 2, 1973, at the age of eighty-one.