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Awesome! Included the Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Leaf by Niggle, among other stories. A must-read for any Tolkien fan!
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A fun, fairly easy read with various styles of Tolkien's writing.
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This book is probably best for hardcore fans or scholars. For me the essay on fairy stories was the best part even though I wasn't always sure what Tolkien was on about, perhaps because I have insufficient background in the relevant subjects and the other writers he has critiquing. This left me unsure whether or not I was in agreement with what he was saying, or indeed whether I could even form an opinion at all. I did find his discussion of the differences between child and adult experiences of and perceptions about fairy stories to be illuminating, although again far outside my general realms of knowledge.
The stories in ths collection were not even remotely as engaging as the books about Middle Earth, and the best I can say about them is they were cute. As usual, I found the poetry to be a chore to get through with the exception of The Mewlips which was nicely creepy, and Cat which was, well, about cats so I am biased.
The stories in ths collection were not even remotely as engaging as the books about Middle Earth, and the best I can say about them is they were cute. As usual, I found the poetry to be a chore to get through with the exception of The Mewlips which was nicely creepy, and Cat which was, well, about cats so I am biased.
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This is a great read, adding a lot to one's knowledge of Tolkien. The three best pieces in the book are "On Fairy Stories," "Leaf by Niggle" and "Farmer Giles of Ham."
"On Fairy Stories" deals with two important themes--subcreation and eucatastrophe.
Subcreation is the act of world-building in which all creators of stories participate. It’s not creation. The primary world, the physical and spiritual world in which we live, was created by God. The world in which the events of our stories take place is not the primary world, but a secondary world that has been subcreated by an author. The author stands in relation to his subcreated world as God stands to the primary world. There is, of course, one big difference: characters in the primary world have free will, whereas characters in the secondary world do not. Even here, you can be nit-picky. Every author will attest that, sometimes, characters take on lives of their own and assert a kind of freedom over events in the secondary world. Whatever the psychological origin of such a phenomenon, it happens, and really attests to the divine nature of subcreation.
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote that reading poetry involved the reader in “the willing suspense of disbelief.” The reader has to make a conscious agreement to believe in the secondary world created by the poet. Tolkien was a little harsher. If the author was doing a good job, he reasoned, the reader shouldn’t need to suspend his disbelief. He wouldn’t even realize that he was in a fictional world until he reached the end of the tale and had to close the book. Anyone who has read all afternoon and not noticed the passage of time knows exactly what Tolkien was talking about!
Tolkien was writing The Hobbit at the time, and clearly, his analysis of fairy story was at the same time an analysis of what he was doing in his own fairy story. The Hobbit isn’t a great deal like LOTR. The elves are not so much the figures of veneration as they are in LOTR—they’re more frivolous, more childlike. You can make what excuses you like—we’re only seeing an aspect of their nature in The Hobbit, perhaps—but the fact is that they’re written to satisfy the same mind that finds wonder in fairy story.
The eucatastrophe is the sudden and unexpected happy ending in a story. Against all expectations, things turn out right. The hero was thought to be dead, but is not. All is better than could really have been imagined before. The Resurrection is the prime historical example of eucatastrophe, of course, and there are numerous examples in literature, including most notably the destruction of the Ring of Power at the end of LOTR.
"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story--an allegory, no less. Tolkien claimed to dislike allegory, but here is an allegory he wrote. It's about a man called Niggle, who has an important journey to undertake, and good deeds to do, but he keeps getting distracted by the painting of a tree he is working on. It soon becomes pretty clear that the journey is death, and his allegorical journey by train to a land (obviously heaven) in which the tree from his painting is real is a beautiful rendition of the role of art in this life and beyond. The closing passage is a chilling reminder of how ill those left behind really deserve the art that is produced for them.
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is the tale of a reluctant hero who conquers a dragon--a delightful tale that gently spoofs chivalric romance and even, at one point, the Oxford English Dictionary!
"On Fairy Stories" deals with two important themes--subcreation and eucatastrophe.
Subcreation is the act of world-building in which all creators of stories participate. It’s not creation. The primary world, the physical and spiritual world in which we live, was created by God. The world in which the events of our stories take place is not the primary world, but a secondary world that has been subcreated by an author. The author stands in relation to his subcreated world as God stands to the primary world. There is, of course, one big difference: characters in the primary world have free will, whereas characters in the secondary world do not. Even here, you can be nit-picky. Every author will attest that, sometimes, characters take on lives of their own and assert a kind of freedom over events in the secondary world. Whatever the psychological origin of such a phenomenon, it happens, and really attests to the divine nature of subcreation.
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote that reading poetry involved the reader in “the willing suspense of disbelief.” The reader has to make a conscious agreement to believe in the secondary world created by the poet. Tolkien was a little harsher. If the author was doing a good job, he reasoned, the reader shouldn’t need to suspend his disbelief. He wouldn’t even realize that he was in a fictional world until he reached the end of the tale and had to close the book. Anyone who has read all afternoon and not noticed the passage of time knows exactly what Tolkien was talking about!
Tolkien was writing The Hobbit at the time, and clearly, his analysis of fairy story was at the same time an analysis of what he was doing in his own fairy story. The Hobbit isn’t a great deal like LOTR. The elves are not so much the figures of veneration as they are in LOTR—they’re more frivolous, more childlike. You can make what excuses you like—we’re only seeing an aspect of their nature in The Hobbit, perhaps—but the fact is that they’re written to satisfy the same mind that finds wonder in fairy story.
The eucatastrophe is the sudden and unexpected happy ending in a story. Against all expectations, things turn out right. The hero was thought to be dead, but is not. All is better than could really have been imagined before. The Resurrection is the prime historical example of eucatastrophe, of course, and there are numerous examples in literature, including most notably the destruction of the Ring of Power at the end of LOTR.
"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story--an allegory, no less. Tolkien claimed to dislike allegory, but here is an allegory he wrote. It's about a man called Niggle, who has an important journey to undertake, and good deeds to do, but he keeps getting distracted by the painting of a tree he is working on. It soon becomes pretty clear that the journey is death, and his allegorical journey by train to a land (obviously heaven) in which the tree from his painting is real is a beautiful rendition of the role of art in this life and beyond. The closing passage is a chilling reminder of how ill those left behind really deserve the art that is produced for them.
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is the tale of a reluctant hero who conquers a dragon--a delightful tale that gently spoofs chivalric romance and even, at one point, the Oxford English Dictionary!
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The book shows various sides of Tolkien: The humor, the wit, the darkness. It shows he’s a writer who can do more than just dribble about trees and hobbits. It shows early incarnations of ideas that would later be molded into that infamous saga. The short story, Leaf by Niggle, and the poem Sea-Bell are standouts in this book.
In The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son, Tolkien a closet play where two people Tid and Tor (teetertot, like a seesaw) debate about honor and chivalry in war.
Bad Summary: Tolkien debates if he should put PTSD at the end of Lord of the Rings.
In Tree and Leaf, Tolkien calls fairy tales ‘fairy stories’ and writes about why they should be taken seriously to a class of stuffy white people
In Leaf by Niggle, Tolkien writes about death, purgatory, and heaven. It’s his Dante’s saga. It’s also about him creating Lord of the Rings and comparing the saga to a tree that just keeps on growing while he obsesses over the leaves.
In Farmer Giles of Ham, Tolkien shows he can be funny too.
Bad Summary: What if Proto-Bilbo Baggins fights a giant and Proto-Smaug and became Proto- Aragorn at the end of the story?
In his first two poems, Tolkien shares his love for Tom Bombadil. He really likes him, guys.
The third poem, Errantry, is wonderful. The way the words flow into each other is amazing.
The fourth poem, Princess Mee, is about Mee and Shee. The rhyme scene is very singsong, lyrical. I could sing it. Do I love these fairy songs? Yes, I do.
The Man in the Moon Stayed up too Late is an expanded version of Hey Diddle Diddle (the Cat and the Fiddle). It ends where it begins, so it can be repeated indefinitely. I love poems that do this. The Hobbitons, a Dutch folk group, made it into a song in 1996. The group also did a version of The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon. This version is far more lyrical, less bombastic, and it’s soothing as hell.
In The Stone Troll, guess who comes along? Tom. He’s the Stan Lee of Middle-earth. The Stone troll tries to eat Tom, but Tom slips behind him and kicks him in the butt. It hurts his foot. Breaks it, probably, but he gets away.
Perry-The-Winkle is Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer but, with a troll. See, there’s this sad troll who doesn’t do anything wrong, he’s just a troll and people thus hate him. It’s kind of sad that he’s being discriminated against. He goes to find a friend in the Shire, and they send him out. He cries on the side street until he’s found by Perry-The-Winkle who is actually...kind to him. They go to Perry’s house, eat, Turns out the troll is a good cook, everyone finds out, and they love him because they want his food.
The Mewlips is about the boogeyman. It’s an old habit tale about these creatures that eat hobbits. I love it, it’s so wonderfully terrifying.
Oliphaunt is Sam scaring Gollum. He’s talking about elephants. In fact, Tolkien has a couple of animal poems. Fastitocalon is about a turtle. People live on him. This turtle turns over and everyone dies. Warning: Don't live on turtle backs. The Cat is about, well, a cat. He’s fat, he’s on the mat, but don’t forget he’s a lion.
The last four poems are emotional, atmospheric.
Shadow-Bride is about a lonely man who casts no shadow. He’s enchanted in stone. One day, a shadowy woman comes along and the man is awakened. He steals her and she becomes his shadow. It’s kinda romantic in a very creepy way.
The Hoard is about a dragon, his hoard of gold, and an old dwarf. It’s Smaug, his gold armor encasing his belly, and how he died anyway. Then it cuts to an old king who loves his treasure so much he stares at it all day. Naturally, he eventually loses his kingdom, dying the way the dragon did.
A version of The Sea-Bell was written long before Lord of the Rings, but you can tell there's something in his brain that'll eventually form into the ring. Mortality, desire, suffering, the neverending sea and the twilight beyond the deep.
Summary: A person walks by the shore. He hears a sea-bell, and it calls to him, begs to him to leave this place he knows so well. Then he sees a boat and is taken to a land where he hears people but can't see them. He names himself King, challenging people to come to him. Darkness comes, and he falls. Blind, bent, he grows grey and old and crazy. Then he sees a ship and is taken home, but once home he can’t hear that bell he loved so much before.
As I said, he hadn't written Lord of the Rings yet, but this is Frodo. The ring calling him, driving him mad, his fall from grace, his desperate return to a place that doesn't understand him, his desire for the ring even though he knows it's destructive.
The Last Ship is about a human who sees the elves leaving. She wants to go with them, and they offer to take her, but when she goes she finds she can’t. Thus, she returns home. It’s about morality, about man’s desire to live on but how they must face the fact their song must end. Just like this poem, just like this book.
In The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son, Tolkien a closet play where two people Tid and Tor (teetertot, like a seesaw) debate about honor and chivalry in war.
Bad Summary: Tolkien debates if he should put PTSD at the end of Lord of the Rings.
In Tree and Leaf, Tolkien calls fairy tales ‘fairy stories’ and writes about why they should be taken seriously to a class of stuffy white people
In Leaf by Niggle, Tolkien writes about death, purgatory, and heaven. It’s his Dante’s saga. It’s also about him creating Lord of the Rings and comparing the saga to a tree that just keeps on growing while he obsesses over the leaves.
In Farmer Giles of Ham, Tolkien shows he can be funny too.
Bad Summary: What if Proto-Bilbo Baggins fights a giant and Proto-Smaug and became Proto- Aragorn at the end of the story?
In his first two poems, Tolkien shares his love for Tom Bombadil. He really likes him, guys.
The third poem, Errantry, is wonderful. The way the words flow into each other is amazing.
The fourth poem, Princess Mee, is about Mee and Shee. The rhyme scene is very singsong, lyrical. I could sing it. Do I love these fairy songs? Yes, I do.
The Man in the Moon Stayed up too Late is an expanded version of Hey Diddle Diddle (the Cat and the Fiddle). It ends where it begins, so it can be repeated indefinitely. I love poems that do this. The Hobbitons, a Dutch folk group, made it into a song in 1996. The group also did a version of The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon. This version is far more lyrical, less bombastic, and it’s soothing as hell.
In The Stone Troll, guess who comes along? Tom. He’s the Stan Lee of Middle-earth. The Stone troll tries to eat Tom, but Tom slips behind him and kicks him in the butt. It hurts his foot. Breaks it, probably, but he gets away.
Perry-The-Winkle is Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer but, with a troll. See, there’s this sad troll who doesn’t do anything wrong, he’s just a troll and people thus hate him. It’s kind of sad that he’s being discriminated against. He goes to find a friend in the Shire, and they send him out. He cries on the side street until he’s found by Perry-The-Winkle who is actually...kind to him. They go to Perry’s house, eat, Turns out the troll is a good cook, everyone finds out, and they love him because they want his food.
The Mewlips is about the boogeyman. It’s an old habit tale about these creatures that eat hobbits. I love it, it’s so wonderfully terrifying.
Oliphaunt is Sam scaring Gollum. He’s talking about elephants. In fact, Tolkien has a couple of animal poems. Fastitocalon is about a turtle. People live on him. This turtle turns over and everyone dies. Warning: Don't live on turtle backs. The Cat is about, well, a cat. He’s fat, he’s on the mat, but don’t forget he’s a lion.
The last four poems are emotional, atmospheric.
Shadow-Bride is about a lonely man who casts no shadow. He’s enchanted in stone. One day, a shadowy woman comes along and the man is awakened. He steals her and she becomes his shadow. It’s kinda romantic in a very creepy way.
The Hoard is about a dragon, his hoard of gold, and an old dwarf. It’s Smaug, his gold armor encasing his belly, and how he died anyway. Then it cuts to an old king who loves his treasure so much he stares at it all day. Naturally, he eventually loses his kingdom, dying the way the dragon did.
A version of The Sea-Bell was written long before Lord of the Rings, but you can tell there's something in his brain that'll eventually form into the ring. Mortality, desire, suffering, the neverending sea and the twilight beyond the deep.
Summary: A person walks by the shore. He hears a sea-bell, and it calls to him, begs to him to leave this place he knows so well. Then he sees a boat and is taken to a land where he hears people but can't see them. He names himself King, challenging people to come to him. Darkness comes, and he falls. Blind, bent, he grows grey and old and crazy. Then he sees a ship and is taken home, but once home he can’t hear that bell he loved so much before.
As I said, he hadn't written Lord of the Rings yet, but this is Frodo. The ring calling him, driving him mad, his fall from grace, his desperate return to a place that doesn't understand him, his desire for the ring even though he knows it's destructive.
The Last Ship is about a human who sees the elves leaving. She wants to go with them, and they offer to take her, but when she goes she finds she can’t. Thus, she returns home. It’s about morality, about man’s desire to live on but how they must face the fact their song must end. Just like this poem, just like this book.
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If you've read "Tales from the Perilous Realm", you've read most of this book already. There was only one story I hadn't read yet because I had read "Tales", so it was a nice and quick read for me for my first book of the year!
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This is worth it just for Leaf by Niggle, which is a 5* story. This is not a Middle Earth tale, but a parable of amazing insight and importance. A must read on how we need to sacrifice for others and how the very things that in one sense impoverish us make us richer. The other stories are fun and funny and many suitable for children.
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Es una recopilación de varios escritos de él que no darían suficiente para libros completos, por lo que están muy variados, solamente el último teniendo que ver con la Tierra Media
El primero es un ensayo acerca de los "cuentos de hadas", sus clasificaciones tradicionales, fallos, aciertos y la misma definición de Tolkien. Tengo que decir que este ensayo me superó por mucho y tengo muy claro el contenido.
Sigue con "Leaf by Niggle", un cuento bellísimo de un hombre que quiere dedicarse a su pintura, pero el ayudar a los demás toma precedente y la deja inconclusa al ir al último viaje de su vida.
Después está la historia cómica del Granjero Giles de Ham, que con mucha buena suerte, valor y algo de destreza logra derrotar a un gigante y un dragón para convertirse en un singular héroe.
Finalmente cierra con una serie de poemas y cuentos cortos en verso de diferentes temas, como algunos escritos por hobbits, unos sobre elfos, unos cómicos y las aventuras de Tom Bombadil, uno de mis personajes favoritos de Tolkien.
No puedo recomendar este libro a todas las personas, pero si quieren leer algo más de Tolkien que no pertenezca a la Tierra Media, es un excelente lugar para iniciar.
El primero es un ensayo acerca de los "cuentos de hadas", sus clasificaciones tradicionales, fallos, aciertos y la misma definición de Tolkien. Tengo que decir que este ensayo me superó por mucho y tengo muy claro el contenido.
Sigue con "Leaf by Niggle", un cuento bellísimo de un hombre que quiere dedicarse a su pintura, pero el ayudar a los demás toma precedente y la deja inconclusa al ir al último viaje de su vida.
Después está la historia cómica del Granjero Giles de Ham, que con mucha buena suerte, valor y algo de destreza logra derrotar a un gigante y un dragón para convertirse en un singular héroe.
Finalmente cierra con una serie de poemas y cuentos cortos en verso de diferentes temas, como algunos escritos por hobbits, unos sobre elfos, unos cómicos y las aventuras de Tom Bombadil, uno de mis personajes favoritos de Tolkien.
No puedo recomendar este libro a todas las personas, pero si quieren leer algo más de Tolkien que no pertenezca a la Tierra Media, es un excelente lugar para iniciar.
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I just read the essay "On farie Stories" It is simply the best. I find that this is the reason I read!
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tree and leaf:brilhante!
o resto das estorias: n gostei mt. X(
o resto das estorias: n gostei mt. X(
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This is a nice addition for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's writing. It's an odd collection of disparate kinds of fiction: plays, poems, essays, and short fiction. It's a sort of catch-all or buffet of Tolkien's writing.
The standout here is Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" which lays out not just his thoughts on fairy and fantasy stories, but gives glimpses of his understanding the purpose and importance of stories in general. It is required reading for anyone who has ever dared to pick a book. The end of the essay soars as he links the rewards we get in reading fairy and fantasy stories to that of the Christian story, the greatest story of all, which has the singular benefit in that it also happens to be true, the place where myth and history meet.
"Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's son" is a fragment of a play which is the least accessible of the the works. Tolkien's preface to it is far more interesting than the piece itself as he expounds on the "northern" ideals of honor and duty. Healthy dashes of Beowulf are referenced as examples, along with bits of actual history.
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is much lighter fare. This long form short story does not take itself too seriously, but it does feature a fearsome dragon and a legendary sword. It is an enjoyable read, but so much less developed than "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" that it will be disappointing to anyone expecting something of similar caliber.
"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is the title given to a collection of poems at the end of the book. While some of these are silly and clearly only meant for fun, they are generally enjoyable and very "hobbitish", dealing with simple things like food and the natural world. Notable exceptions are "The Shadow Bride" which is haunting and sad and "The Last Ship" which has a more epic feel, so much so that it could probably have been included in "The Lord of the Rings." I also enjoyed "The Hoard" which reads like a parable of the futility of greed and amassing wealth for wealth's sake.
There are ups and downs in the level of craft and imagination in these tales, which is to be expected with such an eclectic collection. But all around, this one is highly recommended, especially for fans of Tolkien's other, more fully realized works.
The standout here is Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" which lays out not just his thoughts on fairy and fantasy stories, but gives glimpses of his understanding the purpose and importance of stories in general. It is required reading for anyone who has ever dared to pick a book. The end of the essay soars as he links the rewards we get in reading fairy and fantasy stories to that of the Christian story, the greatest story of all, which has the singular benefit in that it also happens to be true, the place where myth and history meet.
"Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's son" is a fragment of a play which is the least accessible of the the works. Tolkien's preface to it is far more interesting than the piece itself as he expounds on the "northern" ideals of honor and duty. Healthy dashes of Beowulf are referenced as examples, along with bits of actual history.
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is much lighter fare. This long form short story does not take itself too seriously, but it does feature a fearsome dragon and a legendary sword. It is an enjoyable read, but so much less developed than "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" that it will be disappointing to anyone expecting something of similar caliber.
"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" is the title given to a collection of poems at the end of the book. While some of these are silly and clearly only meant for fun, they are generally enjoyable and very "hobbitish", dealing with simple things like food and the natural world. Notable exceptions are "The Shadow Bride" which is haunting and sad and "The Last Ship" which has a more epic feel, so much so that it could probably have been included in "The Lord of the Rings." I also enjoyed "The Hoard" which reads like a parable of the futility of greed and amassing wealth for wealth's sake.
There are ups and downs in the level of craft and imagination in these tales, which is to be expected with such an eclectic collection. But all around, this one is highly recommended, especially for fans of Tolkien's other, more fully realized works.
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A short reader that documents Tolkien’s views through prose and storytelling on the significance of fairy tales in the human experience. In On Fairy Tales Tolkien argues that creating a fairy tale is the pinnacle of human sub-creation because it mimics the powers that the creator has given us. In Niggle and Leaf he explains his previous essay through story by having Niggle create a world full of significance despite being taken away by the modern doctors and responsibilities.
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