Tolkien's Lost Chaucer
| Tolkien's Lost Chaucer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | John M. Bowers |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Released | 10 October 2019 |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 978-0198842675 |
Tolkien's Lost Chaucer is a scholarly book by professor John M. Bowers, published in 2019 by Oxford University Press.
The book rediscovers and presents the many "lost" unpublished writings by J.R.R. Tolkien on his unfinished project "Clarendon Chaucer", or "Selections from Chaucer's Poetry and Prose".
The project was started in 1922 with Tolkien and George S. Gordon being the appointed editors, the aim was to produce a volume of selected works of Geoffrey Chaucer for the use of students in Oxford University. Tolkien, however, due to his obsession with minutiae, while compiling the notes and glossary for the book made them too long to be acceptable. Though requested to reduce them to a publishable length, Tolkien never managed to do so, and consequently the project was halted after 1928. And though small progress were still made after that, it was officially abandoned in 1951 when Tolkien regretfully returned all his material to OUP.[1]
As a result all Tolkien's material were left buried in the Oxford's archives, and remained unknown until very recent years. This present volume, hence, draws upon the Tolkien's annotated proofs of the Selections and its 160-page notes, as well as other unpublished writings, shows much of his thinking about language and storytelling, and how Chaucer was a major influence on Tolkien's literary works.
Contents[edit | edit source]
- 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[edit | edit source]
Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings.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.
External links[edit | edit source]
References
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: II. Reader's Guide
