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| Tolkien's Lost Chaucer | |
|---|---|
| Publication Information | |
| Author | John M. Bowers |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Released | 10 October 2019 |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 978-0198842675 |
| Preceded by | The Fall of Gondolin (2018) |
| Followed by | The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien (2020) |
Tolkien's Lost Chaucer is a scholarly book by John M. Bowers, published in 2019 by the Oxford University Press. It explores J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished and previously unknown work, known as the "Clarendon Chaucer" — an edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's poetry.
The book does not publish long texts from this work, but rather quotes from its materials to discuss Tolkien's thoughts on Chaucer's language and storytelling. And also by drawing upon some other unpublished writings, it shows how Chaucer was a major influence on Tolkien's own writings.
Substantial portions of materials from this work have been published in Bowers' new book, Tolkien on Chaucer, 1913-1959.
Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviation
- Prologue: Concerning Chaucer
- Unexpected Journeys
- Four Chaucerians: Walter W. Skeat, Kenneth Sisam,
George S. Gordon, C. S. Lewis - Tolkien as Editor: Text and Glossary
- The Chaucerian Incubus: The Notes
- Tolkien as a Chaucerian: The Reeve's Tale
- Chaucer in Middle-earth
- Coda: Fathers and Sons
- Appendix I
- Appendix II
- Works Cited
- Index
From the publisher
Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked between 1922 and 1928 on his Clarendon edition Selections from Chaucer's Poetry and Prose, and though never completed, its 160 pages of commentary reveals much of his thinking about language and storytelling when he was still at the threshold of his career as an epoch-making writer of fantasy literature. Drawing upon other new materials such as his edition of the Reeve's Tale and his Oxford lectures on the Pardoner's Tale, this book reveals Chaucer as a major influence upon Tolkien's literary imagination.
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