Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
The Keys of Middle-earth AI simulator
(@The Keys of Middle-earth_simulator)
Hub AI
The Keys of Middle-earth AI simulator
(@The Keys of Middle-earth_simulator)
The Keys of Middle-earth
The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien is a 2005 book by Stuart Lee and Elizabeth Solopova. It is meant to provide an understanding of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings in the context of medieval literature, including Old and Middle English and Old Norse, but excluding other relevant languages such as Finnish.
The book was broadly welcomed by scholars, who however felt it could have gone further to assist the student. They wrote that it was rather cautious of criticism from other academics; that the texts were rather too brief for much academic study; and that there were small but telling errors in the description of Tolkien's writings. The expanded second edition of 2015 added some new texts.
The Keys of Middle-earth was published in a 284-page paperback in 2005 by Palgrave Macmillan. They published a second, expanded edition with 380 pages in 2015.
The first part of the book serves as an introduction to the texts. It begins with a presentation of J. R. R. Tolkien, covering his career, the relationship of his Middle-earth fiction to medieval literature, and an overview of his medieval sources. A section then introduces medieval literature in Old English, Middle English and Old Norse. This part of the book concludes with five short essays on the thematic and technical parallels between Tolkien's writings and medieval literature, covering the theme of the quest and the epic, as well as runes, alliterative verse and Tolkien's uses of it, and the names that he chose.
The second part of the book is introduced with a brief chapter, "The Editions", on the approach taken and the selection of medieval texts paired with episodes from Tolkien's writings. The body of this part, named "The Texts", offers mainly short excerpts from fourteen medieval literary works in the languages mentioned. Each section consists of a plot summary of the relevant part of Tolkien's story; an introduction to the medieval text; a discussion of Tolkien's use of the text, citing scholars such as Tom Shippey; and finally a text. This is a facing-page (parallel) text and a new, rather literal, line-by-line translation if it is Old English or Old Norse, or no translation but plentiful notes for Middle English.
For The Hobbit, the texts are Völuspá (Gandalf and the Dwarves), Vafþrúðnismál and Solomon and Saturn II (the riddle-game), and Beowulf (Smaug the dragon). For The Lord of the Rings, the texts are Sir Orfeo (the Elves at Rivendell); The Ruin (Legolas's "Lament of the Stones"), The Fight at Finnsburg and Cynewulf and Cyneheard (The Bridge of Khazad-dum), Pearl (The Crossing of the Nimrodel), Beowulf (Boromir's Death), Maxims II (Treebeard's List), The Wanderer and Beowulf (The Rohirrim), The Battle of Maldon and Homily on the Maccabees (The Battle of the Pelennor Fields), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf (The Landscape of Mordor), and The Seafarer (The Gray Havens).
The second edition has a similar structure, with the addition of a section on Túrin Turambar and its texts, the Kalevala and the Cowbone whistle; Eärendil and its text, Crist 1; two Old English riddles to add to Bilbo and Gollum's riddle game; and Jordanes' Getica to add to the coverage of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
The book has been warmly received by scholars, though they find some issues with it. Kay Marsh, reviewing the book for Studies in the Novel, calls it "an attractive solution" to the "alterity" (otherness) of medieval literature, with a well-chosen selection of texts; she recommends it as "both useful and entertaining". In her view, the line-by-line translations make the texts accessible and invite the reader to read sections of untranslated (but copiously glossed) Middle English works like Sir Orfeo. Marsh praises the "well-researched" introduction which covers both Tolkien's career and the study of medieval languages; and notes the "five short essays" on parallels between Middle-earth and the medieval texts. Marsh suggests that there could have been more of a discussion of paleography, the process of creating medieval manuscripts, something that would be new to most of Lee and Solopova's readers.
The Keys of Middle-earth
The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien is a 2005 book by Stuart Lee and Elizabeth Solopova. It is meant to provide an understanding of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings in the context of medieval literature, including Old and Middle English and Old Norse, but excluding other relevant languages such as Finnish.
The book was broadly welcomed by scholars, who however felt it could have gone further to assist the student. They wrote that it was rather cautious of criticism from other academics; that the texts were rather too brief for much academic study; and that there were small but telling errors in the description of Tolkien's writings. The expanded second edition of 2015 added some new texts.
The Keys of Middle-earth was published in a 284-page paperback in 2005 by Palgrave Macmillan. They published a second, expanded edition with 380 pages in 2015.
The first part of the book serves as an introduction to the texts. It begins with a presentation of J. R. R. Tolkien, covering his career, the relationship of his Middle-earth fiction to medieval literature, and an overview of his medieval sources. A section then introduces medieval literature in Old English, Middle English and Old Norse. This part of the book concludes with five short essays on the thematic and technical parallels between Tolkien's writings and medieval literature, covering the theme of the quest and the epic, as well as runes, alliterative verse and Tolkien's uses of it, and the names that he chose.
The second part of the book is introduced with a brief chapter, "The Editions", on the approach taken and the selection of medieval texts paired with episodes from Tolkien's writings. The body of this part, named "The Texts", offers mainly short excerpts from fourteen medieval literary works in the languages mentioned. Each section consists of a plot summary of the relevant part of Tolkien's story; an introduction to the medieval text; a discussion of Tolkien's use of the text, citing scholars such as Tom Shippey; and finally a text. This is a facing-page (parallel) text and a new, rather literal, line-by-line translation if it is Old English or Old Norse, or no translation but plentiful notes for Middle English.
For The Hobbit, the texts are Völuspá (Gandalf and the Dwarves), Vafþrúðnismál and Solomon and Saturn II (the riddle-game), and Beowulf (Smaug the dragon). For The Lord of the Rings, the texts are Sir Orfeo (the Elves at Rivendell); The Ruin (Legolas's "Lament of the Stones"), The Fight at Finnsburg and Cynewulf and Cyneheard (The Bridge of Khazad-dum), Pearl (The Crossing of the Nimrodel), Beowulf (Boromir's Death), Maxims II (Treebeard's List), The Wanderer and Beowulf (The Rohirrim), The Battle of Maldon and Homily on the Maccabees (The Battle of the Pelennor Fields), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf (The Landscape of Mordor), and The Seafarer (The Gray Havens).
The second edition has a similar structure, with the addition of a section on Túrin Turambar and its texts, the Kalevala and the Cowbone whistle; Eärendil and its text, Crist 1; two Old English riddles to add to Bilbo and Gollum's riddle game; and Jordanes' Getica to add to the coverage of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
The book has been warmly received by scholars, though they find some issues with it. Kay Marsh, reviewing the book for Studies in the Novel, calls it "an attractive solution" to the "alterity" (otherness) of medieval literature, with a well-chosen selection of texts; she recommends it as "both useful and entertaining". In her view, the line-by-line translations make the texts accessible and invite the reader to read sections of untranslated (but copiously glossed) Middle English works like Sir Orfeo. Marsh praises the "well-researched" introduction which covers both Tolkien's career and the study of medieval languages; and notes the "five short essays" on parallels between Middle-earth and the medieval texts. Marsh suggests that there could have been more of a discussion of paleography, the process of creating medieval manuscripts, something that would be new to most of Lee and Solopova's readers.