Adam Gura

Dr. Baker
English 601
August 3, 2009
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)
Choice of Subject
If there is one author that has influenced me as a reader and as a graduate student, it
would have to be J.R.R. Tolkien. I would call him the father of modern fantasy literature.
He combined invented myth with mythology of European myth, created two languages,
invented history, poetry, and art. He was a scholar of Old and Middle English as well as a
Language scholar. He popularized Beowulf, my all time favorite epic. He is, in lack of a
better term, the man when it comes to the literature that I enjoy reading. When Dr. Baker
suggest that I study Tolkien over Vonnegut, I was thrilled, especially when he told me of
the collection of artifacts and works that exist in the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton
College. I have always been a bit of a Tolkien nerd, reading articles, listening to lectures
on CD, and teaching Lord of the Rings in my Science Fiction/Fantasy class at Byron High
School. This assignment gave me a great opportunity to further understand some of the
works I was not so familiar with and see if there is any connection to literature I have
read of Tolkiens. I also wanted to look at older editions of books I am familiar with, but
perhaps gain insight on how books are republished and what additions they put in the
new editions.
Discoveries
Though there are many aspects of Tolkiens life and career that I am already familiar
with, his works that I investigated revealed many new details that I did not know. The
first deals with Tolkiens book, The Book of Lost Tales. I found out that although he
never fully completed this book, he had completed thirteen tales. This was the first work
Tolkien did in his fantasy writing. From this appeared the Valar, Elves and his
background history for his Lord of the Rings series. This also helped him develop the
Silmarillion. Within The Book of Lost Tales I found three tales that are echoed
throughout the Lord of the Ring Series: Baren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin, and the
Children of Hurin. I also discovered through the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia that Baren
and Luthien were of particular significance to Tolkien and that on him and his wifes
tombstone he had the words Baren and Luthien etched under their names. One of the
neat attractions at the Wade Center was Tolkiens desk, where he wrote all of The Hobbit
and most of The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. I found it interesting to find out that
Wheaton College had such a large collection of Tolkien material. I knew that Tolkien
was Roman Catholic, but he was not one to make it known like C.S. Lewis. However,
learning at the Wade Center that Tolkiens mother converted to Catholicism and that he
was raised by a priest for a part of his life leads me to believe that his religion was deeply
personal and that a collection at Wheaton College makes sense. My initial curiosity of
Tolkiens lesser known works began at NIU when I began writing a list of works from
J.R.R. Tolkien: a Descriptive Bibliography. Books such as The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil and other Verses from the Red Book, Letters from Father Christmas and

Bilbos Last Song were all noted in the Bibliography and I wanted to get my hands on the
actual texts. The Wade Center had all three of the books. I was particularly interested in
Tom Bombadil because he is one of my favorite characters in the Lord of the Rings series.
However, his part is limited and is not even in the film version of the books. The book
read much like The Hobbit: more like a childrens fairytale. When looking at some of the
works at the Wade centerThe Hobbit, Tom Bombadil, and Letters from Father
ChristmasI am amazed to see that Tolkien, the impressive Old and Middle English
Scholar, wrote so much Childrens literature.
I was a bit disappointed to find very few first editions in the Wade Center collection. I
wanted to compare various editions to see what has been added or perhaps clarified. The
Center had The History of Middle Earth collection in first edition, but since this is a
relatively new print and is incredibly hard to read in the first place, I could not discover
anything different between the new editions and the original. I never really noticed the
separation of dates between the publishing of his works. The Hobbit was written thirteen
years before the rest of the series and The Silmarillion was published after his death.
Tolkien treated his Fantasy writing as more of a hobby and much of his scholarly work
came first. Furthermore, his background work with his Lord of the Ring series is so
extensive, that he devoted much of his time on the history of Middle-Earth rather than the
actual stories themselves.
I learned a great deal about his youth from the Tolkien Societies website
<http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html>. He was born in South Africa
and then moved to Sarehole England. I initially believed that he was born in England.
Eventually he moved to Birmingham. I can see the influence of this in his writing where
the Shire is representative of his time spent in Sarehole and how the threat of
industrialization of Sauron is reflective of Birmingham.
Research Difficulties
The biggest challenge in my research was selecting works that I wanted to
explore. As a teacher of a fantasy class, I wanted to explore all of Tolkiens work as a
fantasy writer. I first looked at both Bibliographies that I found at the NIU library:
Tolkien: Descriptive Bibliography and Tolkien Criticism: an Annotated Checklist, to
generate a list of works by Tolkien. Once I was told about the Marion Wade Center, I had
a chance to examine all the works that were on my list. Everything that was on my list
was cited as the first edition, and so I had to adjust everything based upon the editions I
examined. I had an overwhelming amount of information in front of me, so I only
focused on information (recorded in my discoveries) that was new and unfamiliar. I think
this assignment would have been a lot more difficult if it wasnt for the Wade Center.
Even then, slimming down the amount of information was a tough task. The other
difficulty I had was adding in new publications of Tolkiens work, such as The Children
of Hurin and Sigurd and Gudrun. Both bibliographies are out of date and only record
publications up to 1993. Based on what I have found on the Tolkien Society website and
Michael Drouts website, these are the only new publications.

Selection Process
The selective bibliography is of the works of Tolkien on the editions found in the Wade
Center at Wheaton College, My goal with this bibliography is to select the works of
Tolkien as a fantasy writer. I included his essays on Beowulf and his translation of Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight because these works had a heavy influence on Tolkien as a
fantasy writer. The Wade Center had some original editions, but I primarily handled the
reprints. I like the added introductions, illustrations and notes that people add in on new
editions. I also added in The History of Middle Earth series after his printed works
because I consider these separate from his main work. Christopher Tolkien collected his
fathers notes and compiled them into the series. Technically, it was Christopher that did
most of the grunt work and I would like to acknowledge that collection separate from the
rest of the bibliography. I would also like to note that The History series is incredibly
difficult to read. I recorded my handlings below and they are listed in chronological
order. All of the texts listed below were handled by me and examined at the Marion
Wade Center.
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings. London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1954.
The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings. London: George
Allen and Unwin, 1955.
Smith of Wootton Major. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1967.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other Verses from the Red Book. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
Swann, Donald, and J.R.R. Tolkien. The Road Goes Ever on. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1978.
Poems and Stories. London George Allen and Unwin, 1980.
Mr. Bliss. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. Introduction and notes by Douglas A. Anderson.
Boston and London: Houghton Mifflin and Harper Collins, 1987.
The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of the Lord of the Rings. London: Unwin
Hyman Limited, 1987.
Tree and Leaf. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988.
Bilbos Last Song. London: Sign Post books, 1990.

Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien. London: Harper Collins, 1992.

Letters from Father Christmas. Boston and London: Houghton Mifflin and Harper
Collins, 1995.
Roverandom. Ed. Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1998.
Farmer Giles of Ham. Ed. Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. London: Harper
Collins, 1999.
Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London:
Harper Collins, 2000.
Beowulf: and the Critics. Ed. Michael Drout. Tempe AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval
and Renaissance Studies, 2002.
The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
The Tolkien Reader. London: Harper Collins, 2005.
Children of Hurin. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2007.
Tales from the Perilous Realm. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008.
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
The History of Middle-Earth Series
The Wade center had all of the first editions of this series. They are listed in
Chronological order. Again, all texts were examined by me at the Marion Wade Center.
The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1983.
The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. . Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1984.
The Lays of Beleriand. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and Unwin,
1985.
The Shaping of Middle-Earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1986.

The Lost Road and Other Writings. . Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen
and Unwin, 1987.
The Return of the Shadow. . Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1988.
The Treason of Isengard. . Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and Unwin,
1989.
The War of the Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1990.
Sauron Defeated. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1992.
Morgoths Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: Harper Collins, 1993.
The War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: Harper Collins, 1994.
The Peoples of Middle-Earth. . Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: Harper Collins, 1996.
These selected works focus predominately on Tolkien as a scholar of Old and Middle
English. Only one of these texts appeared in the original edition, Some Contributions.
All other editions are reprints. Like most of the reprints, Tolkiens work went into mass
production when the films came out. These works are in chronological order. I looked at
these works at the Marion Wade Center, but did not examine them as deeply as I did with
his Fantasy works. I included these works within this bibliography because, yes they are
scholarly work, but of his scholarly work, these are closely associated with his fantasy
writing.
Some Contributions to Middle-English Lexicography. Review of English Studies.
Vol.1 (April, 1925), 210-215.
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1983.
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth. Middlesex: Anglo Saxon books, 1991. First published
in Essays and Studies of the English Association. London: John Murray, 1953.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carptenter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
A Middle English Reader and Vocabulary. New York: Dover, 2005.

Filmography
Below are the selected films and animated films that have been based on Tolkiens works.
I annotated the criticism I found, noting three positive reviews (one I found on the
animated film) one review that was indifferent, and one review that was somewhat
negative. I went through most of the files at the Wade center and came up empty handed
when looking for an overall, negative review. Not listed in my bibliography are the plays
and musicals that have been based on Tolkiens works. I can conceivably see a musical
working, considering the poetry and songs that are throughout Tolkiens works.
However, I am concerned with only the film and television productions. The
bibliography is ordered chronologically for both the movie/television productions and the
reviews. I physically handled the reviews at the Wade center, but I could not make copies
of the articles. The Wade Center has to do that and because of my restriction of time, I
wasnt capable of bringing the reviews with me back to class. I have not seen the
animated version of Lord of the Rings; I discovered through Tolkien Encyclopedia that the
Bakshi animated film was a combination of the first and second book and that overall
was not a good cartoon.
The Hobbit. Director. Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. Producer Jules Bass. Screenwriter.
Romeo Muller. 27 November, 1977.
J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings. Director. Ralph Bakshi. Producer. Saul Zaentz.
Screenwriter. Peter Beagle and Chris Conkling. November, 1978.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (animated movie). Director. Jules Bass, Arthur
Rankin Jr. Producer Jules Bass. Screenwriter. Romeo Muller. 11 May, 1980.
A & E. Journey to Middle Earth: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Inside
The Lord of the Rings. Producer Catharine Harrington. Exec. Producer David
Doss. 11 Jan. 2004. A&E Network.
A&E. The Making of the Lord of the Rings. Breakfast with the Arts. 11 Jan. 2004.
A&E Network.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Director. Peter Jackson. Producer
Barrie M. Osborne. New Line Cinema. 2001.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Extended DVD. Director. Peter
Jackson. Producers Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh. New
Line Cinema. 2001.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Director. Peter Jackson. Producer Barrie M.
Osborne. New Line Cinema. 2002.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Extended DVD. Director. Peter Jackson.
Producers Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh. New Line Cinema.
2002.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Director. Peter Jackson. Producer
Barrie M. Osborne. New Line Cinema. 2003.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Extended DVD. Director. Peter Jackson.
Producers Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh. New Line Cinema.
2003.
Reviews
The reviews below were found in the archives of the Marion Wade Center. Though there
were reviews of all of the films, musical productions, and animated versions of Lord of
the Rings, I tried to focus on reviews on the recent films and find at least one review that
focused on the animated film. These reviews are listed chronologically, followed by a
brief annotation summarizing the review.
Smith, Cecil. Television Reviews: Return of the King. Los Angeles Times. Friday,
May 9, 1980: 12.
In this article, Smith gives an overall positive review of the animated version of
the Return of the King. I was not aware of an animated version of The Lord of the Rings
series. I only knew that The Hobbit had an animated version to it (the full screen, Peter
Jackson Hobbit is in the works right now). Overall, Smith gave it a positive review,
stating that he is not a Tolkienite but can appreciate the way Rankin/Bass portray the
battle between good and evil and that it [is] a fit companion to The Hobbit.
Mitchell, Elvis. Film Review; Hit the Road, Middle-Earth Gang. The New York
Times. December 19, 2001: 3pp.
Mitchell praises Peter Jacksons ability to create a film on the most intimidating
nerd/academic fantasy classic ever (1). Mitchell notices The Fellowship is like and
previous films of boyhood action/fantasy, which are a combination of Christian allegory,
mythology and adventure, and that women (which I can argue against) have not much of
a place in (2). Mitchell seems indifferent to the movie, noting that he appreciates many
parts of the movie, but criticizes its length and the hairstyles reminiscent of 1970s
bands (2).
Ebert, Roger. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Chicago Sun Times.
December 18, 2002: 2pp.
What caught my eye on this article is that Ebert gave the film three out of four
stars. Overall, he calls the movie, one of the most spectacular swashbucklers ever
made. His big criticism focuses on the fact that the hobbits have less of a part in the
films and that Jackson moved more towards a traditional action hero (thus the increase
film time on Aragorn, or Vigo Mortensen). I agree with Ebert on this point; however, in

the extended edition of the movie, the character development of the hobbits is fully
explored. I would assume though that in order to move the story along, Jackson would
have to cut this part out. Ebert also notes that there is a lot of scenery displayed
throughout the movie, but at the same time compliments Jacksons ability to use the full
screen.
Last, Jonathan V. Return of Return of the King: The Extended Edition DVD of Lord of
the Rings: Return of the King is bigger, but is it better? The Weekly Standard.
December 17, 2004: 3 pp. <http://www.weeklystandard.com>.
This is a negative review of the final movie. I thought I would find this in the
reviews of the final movie. With its extended ending, I only assumed that negative
criticism would be on this film. Last notes that it was the weakest of the three movies
and that The pace was poor, the timeline condensedand characters who suddenly
became passive (1). However, the review praises the extended edition of the movie
because it fixes any kind of defects that the original film brings. Last even says that even
though the extended edition is 250 minutes, it moves more briskly than the theatrical
release (2). Even though this article is not a total negative review, it does critique parts
of Return of the King.
Smithouser, Bob. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Plugged In.
December, 12, 2005. 4 pp. <http://www.pluggediononline.com>.
In this article, Smithouser summarizes the happenings of the final film in the
series. The article is segmented into categories for the reader. Under Positive elements,
Smithouser notes that All of the themes set forth in the first two films are rounded out
and resolved (1). Smithouser also notes on one of the best dialogues in the movie
between Gandalf and Pippin invites a comparison to the Christian understanding of
heaven (2). The article is a positive review of the film.
Sources used in this bibliography
West, Richard C. Tolkien Criticism: An Annotated Checklist. Kent State UP, 1970.
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. Delaware: Oak Knoll Books, 1993.
J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Ed. Michael D.C.
Drout. New York: Routledge, 2007.
Lord of the Rings (1978) Film. July 14, 2009. Wikipedia. July 25, 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_(1978_film)>.
Michael Drout. Wheaton College, Mass. July 25, 2009.
<http://acunix.wheatonma.edu/mdrout/>.

A big special thanks to the Marion Wade Center for all of the resources.