Tree and leaf

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Tree and Leaf (English original title: Tree and Leaf ) is a book by the British writer and philologist J. RR Tolkien . Illustrated by Pauline Baynes , it was published in 1964 by George Allen & Unwin in London .

content

The first edition of Tree and Leaf summarized two different works by Tolkien. On the one hand the essays On Fairy-stories ("About fairy tales" or "Fabulous stories") and on the other hand the story Leaf by Niggle ("Leaf by Tinkerer"). The 1988 reprint was supplemented by notes by Christopher Tolkien and the poem Mythopoeia , which Tolkien wrote for him in response to the statement "Myths are 'lies breathed through silver'" by CS Lewis . The English-language edition from 2001 also took up the story The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (from 1953). The essay was written around 1938/39, Tree and Leaf around 1943.

On fairy stories

The chapter begins with the words:

“I PROPOSE to speak about fairy-stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure. Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold. And overbold I may be accounted, for though I have been a lover of fairy-stories since I learned to read, and have at times thought about them, I have not studied them professionally. I have been hardly more than a wandering explorer (or trespasser) in the land, full of wonder but not of information. "

“I suggest talking about fairy tales, even though I understand that this is a daring adventure. Faerie is a dangerous land, with pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the daring. And I may be brave, because although I've been a lover of fairy tales since I learned to read, and I often thought about them, I haven't studied them professionally. I was little more than a wandering explorer (or intruder) in the country, full of wonder but not full of information. "

- JRR Tolkien : Tree and Leaf: On Fairy-stories

In the essay Tolkien deals with the questions of what are fairy tales, where are their origins and what purpose they serve. He regards the latter as the most important of the three questions.

He begins with an explanation of the concept of fairy tales according to the Oxford English Dictionary . He writes about the different forms of stories, about fairies in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night 's Dream as well as about Grimm's fairy tales or Welsh, Gaelic stories. The essay deals with fairy tale telling as a form of literature and was originally written for a lecture at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Tolkien also wanted to show that fairy tales are not aimed exclusively at a child audience.

literature

  • JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. George Allen and Unwin, London 1964, ISBN 0-04-824014-1 .
  • JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. (Translation of the 1964 edition by Wolfgang Krege and Margaret Carroux ). Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main; Berlin; Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-548-39039-0 .
  • JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. (Expanded edition with notes by Christopher Tolkien and the poem Mythopoeia. ) Houghton Mifflin Company, London 1988, ISBN 0-04-440254-6 .
  • JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. (Another expanded edition, also contains The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son. ) HarperCollins, New York 2001, ISBN 0-00-710504-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. In: Essays Presented to Charles Williams. Oxford University Press, London 1947.
  2. Via Mythopoeia on tolkiengateway.net, accessed January 7, 2013.
  3. ^ JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. from p. 33.
  4. ^ JRR Tolkien: Tree and Leaf. P. 57.
  5. On Fairy Stories. on tolkienwelt.de