The Road to Middle-earth

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The Road to Middle-earth ( The Road to Middle-earth ) is a book of the British-Indian writer and medievalist Tom Shippey from 1982. This was the early manuscripts of the writer and philologist JRR Tolkien studied for this book and evaluated, it seemed first in the UK with Allen & Unwin in London, the second edition was published in 1992 by HarperCollins . Revised and expanded editions and translations into other languages ​​followed.

Background and content

Tolkien's tales of Middle-earth have their origins in his academic activities as Professor of Philology and the Chair of Anglo-Saxon Studies at Oxford University . Shippey's analysis is based on his own activities, so he taught at Oxford and later took over Tolkien's professorship in English language and medieval literature at Leeds University.

The book sheds light on the origins of Tolkien's books The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and The History of Middle-earth, and includes previously unpublished excerpts and poetry. Shippey is particularly dedicated to the author's creativity and the possible sources of his inspiration. He shows in detail how Tolkien's professional and scientific background led to the creation of his own mythological world and explains the connections using the Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales . To convey Tolkien's complex work and the process of Middle-earth's development, he examined the twelve volumes of the History of Middle-earth , edited and edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher . Shippey's particular focus was on the Lord of the Rings as a linguistic and cultural entity, as the interwoven center of the web of his story and as an answer to the inner meaning of myth and poetry. In doing so, Shippey followed Tolkien's own preferences for the poetry of languages ​​and his interest in mythology. In his book he also shows what influence other works he has recorded, such as Beowulf , Grimms Märchen or the Elder Edda , had in order to keep this literary tradition alive and to continue it.

Awards

expenditure

  • Tom Shippey: The Road to Middle-earth . 1st edition. Allen & Unwin, London a. a. 1982, ISBN 0-04-809018-2 (English).
  • Tom Shippey: The road to Middle-earth. [How JRR Tolken created a new mythology] . Revised and expanded edition. HarperCollins, Hammersmith, London 2005, ISBN 0-261-10275-3 (English).
  • Tom Shippey: The Road to Middle-earth. How JRR Tolkien created "The Lord of the Rings" (=  hobbit press ). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-608-93601-8 (English: The Road to Middle-earth . Translated by Helmut W. Pesch ).

literature

  • Gergely Nagy: The Road to Middle-earth, Revised and Expanded Edition (review) . In: Tolkien Studies . tape 2 , no. 1 , May 16, 2005, p. 258-261 , doi : 10.1353 / tks.2005.0026 (Project muse).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Road to Middle-earth by Tom Shippey Press Release. houghtonmifflinbooks.com, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  2. ^ The Road to Middle-earth by Tom Shippey . HarperCollins, London 2005 (English, co.uk ).
  3. ^ The Mythopoeic Society: Mythopoeic Award Winners. In: mythsoc.org. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .