This monograph is a collection of analytic articles on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit," written by Tolkien scholar and Comparative Translationist Mark T. Hooker, most famous, perhaps, for his application of Comparative Translation to the study of Tolkien in his book "Tolkien Through Russian Eyes". All of the articles in the book have been reviewed and revised to take into consideration the materials newly made available in "The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.""Beyond Bree" says that there is "something here for everyone with even a passing interest in Tolkien. All of the articles are well researched, insightful, and highly informative.""Amon Hen" (September 2006) says: "Highly recommendable.""Tolkien Studies" (No. 4) says: a "pleasantly eccentric volume" . . . "Hooker has a wide variety of things to say that have not been heard before."Includes bibliographic references and index. B&W illustrations.
From the Author: Since Middle-earth is located--to paraphrase Rod Serlinga__s introduction to The Twilight Zone--'in another dimension, not of sight and sound, but of mind,' its artifacts are the products of the mind; words and names, rather than skeletons, pottery shards and flint tools. The literary baggage of each word and name in a language is built up out of all the usages of that word or name that a reader has ever been exposed to. Tolkien called this "the leaf mold" of onea__s mind (Carpenter 140-141). The purpose of this study is to offer the reader a glimpse into the literary baggage that I carry around for the words that make up Tolkiena__s Legendarium. The default shipping option is not the cheapest. Select US Postal Regular Media to see a reasonable price for shipping.
Combines both previously published and unpublished essays, to bring [Hooker's] latest essays together in one convenient volume. Many of the previously published essays have been revised and expanded.--cf. p. x.
This is a second volume of articles by Mark T. Hooker that picks up where A Tolkienian Mathomium left off. Hooker's analysis is from a linguistic perspective similar to Tolkien's. "If you liked the last one, you're going to like this one," says the Foreword. Beyond Bree and Hither Shore said that there is "something [in A Tolkienian Mathomium] for everyone with even a passing interest in Tolkien. All of the articles are well researched, insightful, and highly informative." Tolkien Studies said that it is a "pleasantly eccentric volume ... Hooker has a wide variety of things to say that have not been heard before." Tolkien Collector's Guide said A Tolkienian Mathomium "is one of the most unique sets of essays on Tolkien I have read in the past 10 years." An early review by The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza of the analysis of the origin of the name Tom Bombadil appearing in The Hobbitonian Anthology ranks it as "the best explanation yet of how the name Tom Bombadil came into being."
Tolkien and Welsh provides an overview of J.R.R.Tolkien's use of Welsh in his Legendarium, ranging from the obvious (Gwynfa-the Welsh word for Paradise), to the apparent (Took-a Welsh surname), to the veiled (Gerontius-the Latinizaton of a royal Welsh name), to the hidden (Goldberry-the English calque of a Welsh theonym). Though it is a book by a linguist, it was written for the non-linguist with the goal of making the topic accessible. The unavoidable jargon is explained in a glossary, and the narrative presents an overview of how Welsh influenced Tolkien's story line, as well as his synthetic languages Quenya and Sindarin. The study is based on specific examples of attested names, placed in the context of their linguistic and cultural background, while highlighting the peculiar features of Welsh, "the senior language of the men of Britain" (MC 189), that Tolkien found so intriguing. It supplements, rather than competes with Carl Phelpstead's excellent Tolkien and Wales, which sidestepped the topic of the Celtic linguistics behind Tolkien's work. Learn the story behind Lithe, Buckland, Anduin, and Baranduin. Pagination: xxx + 274, B&W illustrations by James Dunning, maps, Index, Trade Paper Jason Fisher--the editor of Tolkien and the Study of His Sources (McFarland, 2011), and the host of the blog 'Lingwë: Musings of a Fish' -- says: Tolkien and Welsh "should be pretty accessible to most readers." Mark gets "into some of the particulars of Welsh (and Sindarin) phonology--especially on the matter of mutation, a prominent feature of both languages--but Mark writes primarily for the lay person." Where Carl Phelpstead's book Tolkien and Wales "presents a broad survey of the forest as a whole, Mark's book is down at the level of the trees within it, even single leaves, grappling with individual words and names. If you are familiar with his previous books, it is much like those, but with the driving thread being the influence of Welsh on Tolkien's nomenclature and storytelling. I think Mark's book and Carl's complement each other and could be profitably read together." Tolkien and Welsh has been invited to enter the 2013 Competition for the Literature Wales Book of the Year Award. Participation is by invitation only. Despite the fact that the "Preface" explicitly advises the reader that: "The focus is on sources that were current at the time in which Tolkien lived and wrote. Modern theories may have supplanted the theories of Tolkien's time, but that is irrelevant. This volume explores the question of what Tolkien thought, not what we think we know now." some reviewers surprisingly fault Tolkien and Welsh for citing sources that present views that might not be supported by modern scholarship.
Part I of this volume (Linguistic Masques) looks at Tolkien's 'speaking names.' These names do more than just identify the character to whom they are attached; they say something about them as well. Here, the reader will learn more about the names Strider (who has a Celtic Theonym as an antecedent), Míriel, Finwë, & Fëanor (whose names show the power of lenition as a story telling device), The Black Breath & Kingsfoil (a pun, the disease, and the cure), and Gong (a pejorative name for Orcs that only a philologist could dig up). Part II (The Story Behind the Name) explores the myths and literary baggage of such names as those of the Sun Maiden, the Horned Moon, the full moon, the Man in the Moon, the Walls of the World, the concept of white, the Divine Mannus, and how Homo Loquens found a home in Middle-earth. Part III (Bones of the Oxen in Tolkien's Linguistic Soup) looks more closely at Tolkien's linguistic creations from a linguistic perspective. On the one hand, Tolkien complained that commentators analyzing his names normally had no idea how a philologist would go about creating them, adding that the "source, if there was one," for his names only provided the sound silhouette of the name, "and its purport in the source is totally irrelevant, except in the case of Earendil." (L.380) On the other hand, a number of commentators with a knowledge of philology, including both Christopher and the senior Tolkien, have pointed out many more exceptions than just Earendil. This volume is, therefore, an excursion into the 'leaf-mould' of Tolkien's mind, to see how Tolkien recut and repolished old words to make them new. Includes bibliographic references and index. B&W illustrations. Also from this author: Tolkien Through Russian Eyes (Walking Tree Publishers, 2003), published simultaneously in Russian "Frodo's Batman," Tolkien Studies, No. 1 (2004) The Hobbitonian Anthology (Llyfrawr, 2009) "Reading John Buchan in Search of Tolkien," Tolkien and the Study of His Sources, Jason Fisher (ed.). (McFarland, 2011) Tolkien and Welsh (Llyfrawr, 2012) The Tolkienaeum (Llyfrawr, 2014) Iter Tolkienensis (Llyfrawr, 2016) Tolkien and Sanskrit (Llyfrawr, 2016) An American Forger in Wales (Llyfrawr, 2017) The Tolkiennymicon (Llyfrawr, 2018)
Tolkien Through Russian Eyes examines the sociological impact of the translation and publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's works in post-Soviet Russia. After 70 years of obligatory State atheism, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian society began actively seeking new sets of spiritual values. The Christian-like doctrine of Tolkienism has attracted a substantial following. During the Soviet era, The Lord of the Rings was a banned book, which was translated independently by a number of underground translators. The result of this is that there are numerous contemporary published translations competing with each other for the reader's attention. There are 10 translations of The Lord of the Rings; 9 translations of The Hobbit and 6 translations of The Silmarillion. Each translator has a slightly different approach to the text. Each translation has a slightly different interpretation of Tolkien. Each translator has a different story to tell. Most of the existing translations are only Tolkienesque, they are not really Tolkienian. They have been adapted to the Russian mental climate. This book relates the history of the publication of Tolkien's works; examines the philosophical distortions introduced by the competing translations, attempts to explain their origins and how they will be perceived by the Russian reader. No knowledge of Russian is necessary. Mr. Hooker's articles on Tolkien have been published in the specialist periodical press in English, in Dutch and in Russian. The results of his research have been presented at a number of conferences, both in the United States and in Holland.
This is "The Director''s Cut," as a cinematographically minded wag termed it. This study is based on the observation that Tolkien calqued the names of the Sapta Sindhavah (Seven Rivers) from the Rig Veda as the Seven Rivers of Ossiriand. In other words, Tolkien created seven Elvish river names that mean the same thing as the river names of the Sapta Sindhavah. Much has been said of Tolkien''s use of Welsh, Old English, Gothic, Icelandic, Russian, Greek, and Latin. Little, however, has been said about Tolkien''s use of Sanskrit (Refined Speech), the great-great-...grandfather of all the languages above. Sanskrit was spoken in the second millennium B.C. in the valley of the River Indus, the river that put the "Indo" in the name Proto-Indo-European, a linguistic term for the *reconstructed common ancestor of the European languages. All indications to the contrary (C&G ii, 461), there is little doubt about Tolkien''s knowledge of Sanskrit from the point of view of a linguist. It is de rigueur for any serious philologist interested in etymologies like Tolkien. Tolkien was on the Language side of the English School at Oxford, where he took Comparative Philology as a special subject for Honour Moderations. (G&G ii, 758) In a certain sense, Tolkien''s The Silmarillion can be considered a veiled member of the genre of Raj Literature. The names of The Silmarillion say that in the same way that the names in Tolkien''s poem "The Mewlips" are masks that hide the fact that it is a poem about World War I. As the present study shows, the names of The Silmarillion say that the locus of Tolkien''s "Mythology for England" (C&G ii, 244-248) is the India of the British Raj. A literary analysis of Tolkien''s place in Raj Literature is, however, much more speculative than the linguistic analysis that makes up the core of this study, which stands on solid philological ground. The literary analysis will, therefore, be left to another time and place. While the basis of Tolkien''s calque of the names of the Seven Rivers as Ossiriand is Vedic in concept, the superstructure that Tolkien builds upon this foundation is non-Vedic. Some elements of the superstructure are more readily attributable to historical sources, like the history of the India Campaign of Alexander the Great, and the history of the British Raj in India, both of which were a part of the school curriculum when Tolkien was growing up. While the analysis of some of the words | names in this study would not be believable in stand-alone articles, in the context of the coherent structure of words and names presented here, they are worthy of serious consideration. The discovery presented here has the potential to more clearly define the linguistic and philosophical cradle of Tolkien''s ''Mythology for England,'' which was always The Silmarillion, and never The Lord of the Rings. It is Proto-Indo-European in the same way that the English language stems from Proto-Indo-European. That does not, however, mean that there is no gap between Proto-Indo-European language and culture, and the language and culture of The Shire. The analysis that follows is not a rehash of the discredited ideas of The Shores of Middle-earth (1981). It is instead, a completely new, linguistic approach to Tolkien''s Silmarillion nomenclature. Also from this author: Tolkien Through Russian Eyes (Walking Tree Publishers, 2003), published simultaneously in Russian. "Frodo''s Batman," Tolkien Studies, No. 1 (2004) A Tolkienian Mathomium (Llyfrawr, 2006) The Hobbitonian Anthology (Llyfrawr, 2009) "Reading John Buchan in Search of Tolkien," Tolkien and the Study of His Sources, Jason Fisher (ed.). (McFarland, 2011) Tolkien and Welsh (Llyfrawr, 2012) The Tolkienaeum (Llyfrawr, 2014) Iter Tolkienensis (Llyfrawr, 2016)
Source criticism--analysis of a writer's source material--has emerged as one of the most popular approaches in exploring the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Since Tolkien drew from many disparate sources, an understanding of these sources, as well as how and why he incorporated them, can enhance readers' appreciation. This set of new essays by leading Tolkien scholars describes the theory and methodology for proper source criticism and provides practical demonstrations of the approach.
