Table Of ContentTolkien
About the author
Raymond Edwards is a freelance writer. He worked for some years for the
Oxford English Dictionary whilst completing doctoral research into
medieval manuscripts. Before this he followed the Oxford undergraduate
course originally devised by Tolkien. He has written for, amongst others,
The Tablet and The Times Literary Supplement. He translated Henry
Harclay’s Ordinary Questions, and has written short books on various
religious and historical subjects. He lives in north London with his wife,
children and an improbable number of books.
Tolkien
RAYMOND
EDWARDS
First published in 2014 by
Robert Hale, an imprint of
The Crowood Press Ltd,
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2020
Paperback edition 2020
© Raymond Edwards 2014
All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced,
transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as
specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions
under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any
unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and
publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 71983 105 8
The right of Raymond Edwards to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
To Allison
with love
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I – The Making of a Philologist
Chapter 1 – Early Years
Chapter 2 – University and Edith
Chapter 3 – War
Chapter 4 – The Young Scholar
Part II – Philology in Practice
Chapter 5 – Oxford and Storytelling
Chapter 6 – Delays and Frustrations
Chapter 7 – A Wilderness of Dragons: Beowulf and The Hobbit
Part III – Achievement
Chapter 8 – In the Background, War
Chapter 9 – Peace, Not Rest
Chapter 10 – Hyde and Jekyll
Chapter 11 – Finished, at Last
Chapter 12 – Philology at Bay
Chapter 13 – ‘My heart, to be shot at’
Part IV – Last Years
Chapter 14 – Silmarillion and Scholarship?
Chapter 15 – Unfinished Tales
Part V – Niggle’s Parish
Chapter 16 – Posthumous Publications
Chapter 17 – A Cinematic Afterlife
Epilogue
Appendix – Tolkien the Catholic
References
Further Reading and Bibliography
Index
Plates I – VIII
Acknowledgements
In one sense, no one writes a book like this alone; in another, of course, it
is an intensely solitary activity, and arguably a selfish one. I am grateful
to Stratford Caldecott and to Alexander Stilwell for, in different ways,
prompting me to write it, and for their advice and practical help; and to
Glynn MacNiven-Johnston for her care and attention to my prose style,
and for tireless encouragement. Lucy Lethbridge and Brendan Walsh have
indulged my preoccupation with Tolkien and his circle for years; they have
my hearty thanks. My parents encouraged and enabled my first interest in
Tolkien, after a sensible schoolmaster made me and my ten-year-old
classmates read The Hobbit. They, and he, have my gratitude.
An early version of some parts of this book appeared in a short
introduction to Tolkien published by the Catholic Truth Society; I am
grateful for their permission to re-use this material.
I also thank HarperCollins, and the copyright holders listed below, for
allowing me to reproduce passages from Tolkien’s work.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1981
Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1983
Mythopoeia © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1988
Smith of Wootton Major © The Tolkien Trust 1967
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil © The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited 1961
The Lord of the Rings © Fourth Age Limited 1954, 1955, 1966
The Book of the Lost Tales, Part One © The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1983
The Book of the Lost Tales, Part Two © The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited and C.R. Tolkien 1984
The Lost Road and Other Writings © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and C.R. Tolkien 1987
Sauron Defeated © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and C.R. Tolkien 1992
Morgoth’s Ring © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and C.R. Tolkien 1993
In the US, the following Tolkien extracts are reprinted by permission
of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from Tree and Leaf by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1964 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. ©
Renewed 1992 by John F.R. Tolkien, Christopher R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R. Tolkien. ©
1988 by The Tolkien Trust.
Excerpts from The Monsters and the Critics by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1983 by Frank Richard
Williamson and Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1962 by Unwin Hyman Ltd.
© renewed 1990 by Christopher R. Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien and Priscilla M.A.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. © 1954,
1955, 1965, 1966 by J.R.R. Tolkien. © renewed 1982, 1983 by Christopher R. Tolkien,
Michael H.R. Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R. Tolkien. © renewed 1993, 1994
by Christopher R. Tolkien, John F.R. Tolkien, and Priscilla M.A.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from Book of Lost Tales, Part I, by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1983 by Frank Richard Williamson
and Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from Book of Lost Tales, Part II, by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1984 by Frank Richard Williamson
and Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from The Lost Road and Other Writings by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1987 by Frank Richard
Williamson and Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from Morgoth’s Ring: The Later Simarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1993 by Frank
Richard Williamson and Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Excerpts from Sauron Defeated by J.R.R. Tolkien. © 1992 by Frank Richard Williamson and
Christopher Reuel Tolkien as Executors of the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Most of all my wife Allison has been unfailingly supportive of my
curious obsessions, endless piles of books, and patient of my persistent
distraction: this is her book as much as mine. The publisher and author
wish to thank copyright holders for permission to reproduce images.
Images for the plates were sourced as detailed below:
Plate I (top), Oosoom (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KES_Free_Grammar_School_Cha
rles_Barry.jpg)
Plate I (bottom), Gavin Warrins (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
User:GavinWarrins#mediaviewer/File:BirminghamOratoryDome.jpg)
Plate II (top), James Bradley (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Plate II (bottom), Oosoom (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
Plate III (top), chensiyuan (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ legalcode)
Plate III (bottom), Simon Q (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)
Plate IV (top), mcselede (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)
Plate IV (bottom), (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Grimm.jpg)
Plate V (top), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont-Hamel#mediaviewer/ File:Beaumont-
Hamel_-_General_view_of_the_battlefield.jpg)
Plate V (bottom), Gavin Warrins (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:
GavinWarrins#mediaviewer/File:BirminghamUniversityChancellors Court.jpg
Plate VI (top), JREL (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)
