An Inklings Bibliography (48)
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Volume 19 Number 1 Article 11 Winter 12-15-1993 An Inklings Bibliography (48) Joe R. Christopher Wayne G. Hammond Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Christopher, Joe R. and Hammond, Wayne G. (1993) "An Inklings Bibliography (48)," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 19 : No. 1 , Article 11. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract Entries 42–59 in this series are written by Hammond (Tolkien material) and Christopher (Lewis and other material). See Hammond, Wayne G., for one later entry in this series. This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss1/11 Page 56 Issue 71 - (JJlnccR 1993 C P y T H L O R C Compiled 6y }oe R. ChRistopheR and (JJaync Q. Hammond Authors and readers are encouraged to send copies A good review essay, discussing the failings of and bibliographic references on: J.R.R. Tolkien — W ilson's C. S. Lewis: A Biography. Beversluis uses six exam Wayne G. Hammond, 30 Talcott Road, ples out of Lewis' life in which Wilson refuses to accept Lewis' explanations and explains them in psychological Williamstown, MA 01267; C.S. L ew is and Charles terms: "Wilson seldom justifies these oracular pronounce W illiam s — Dr. J.R. Christopher, English Department, ments [of Lewis' real motives]. But anyone who takes the Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402. trouble to recast them in argument form will realize that he is repeatedly guilty of the fallacy post hoc, ergo propter Bamfield, Marie. "More Celtic Influences: Numenor hod' (186). "Confronted again and again with Lewis' own and the Second Age." Mallorn 29 (1992): 6-13. [Tolkien] testimony, [Wilson] neither abandons nor modifies his The mythology Tolkien invented was first to be "purely claims; instead, he takes another plunge into Lewis' Anglo-Saxon and to extol the origins of the English inhab psyche and surfaces clutching some still deeper irrational itants of Britain at the expense of their Celtic neighbours." cause. He in fact seems prepared to say anything, however But Tolkien was smitten by the essentially Irish vision of a ad hoc or implausible, rather than acknowledge that Lewis' fair immortal race and their Otherworld paradise in the reasons are genuine" (186). "[W ilson's] book is a textbook West, and at last expanded the range of his inspiration (p. example of what Robert Gittings [in The Nature of Biogra 8). Numenor evokes not only Atlantis but also Celtic myth: phy] calls 'the biography of denigation'" (190). Beversluis the sunken land of Lyonesse (cf. Westernesse) and the del also points to examples of Wilson's double standards in uge sent by God in the Breton legend of Is. The motif of the judgements of Lewis' books (180), his lack of real research Land of Gift may have come from the myth of the goddess (183), his omission of any serious consideration of Lewis' Eriu ceding Ireland to the mortal Milesians. The culture of essays rebutting psychological readings (184), but does Numenor shows little Celtic influence except the custom give one paragraph to some virtues in Wilson's book that the king should abdicate and surrender his life before (193). The present brief summary does not indicate ade senility (p. 8), and is "m ore akin to Athens or Luxor than quately how Beversluis works from specific examples to to Uppsala or Tara" (p. 12). However, the division of the support his critique. [JRC] island as described in Unfinished Tales appears to be based Bums, Marjorie J. Echoes of William Morris's Ice on ancient Ireland and Wales. landic Journals in J.R.R. Tolkien. Studies in Medievalism The presort article follows on the authors Celtic Influences on 3.3 (Winter 1991): [3671-73. the History of the First Age, Mallorn 28 (1991): 2-6. [WGH] Bums considers the possibility of a connection between Beare, Rhona. "The Barrow-Wight." Ravenhill the Icelandic Journals by Morris and Tolkien's Middle-earth 7.6/Chronicles of the Restoration 15.2 (Mar. 1992): 7-10. [Tolkien] tales, The Hobbit in particular. In the latter, "setting, character, and incident are at times remarkably close to situations and Beare relates the barrow in which the hobbits were events Morris encountered on his 1871 Icelandic journey" (p. captured by a wight in The Fellowship of the Ring to Arthur's [367]). Morris, like Bilbo, travelled by pony and through an Stone, an ancient burial mound in Herefordshire. These almost identical landscape; early on, he too met with wind are similar in structure, and each has a door facing east. and rain and had to make do with no fire; and his arrival in Beare also describes parallels between Tolkien's episode Waterdale parallels Bilbo's coming to Rivendell. Thereafter, and various vampire tales. the two journeys are less precisely matched, but their simi In another article in the same joint issue of Ravenhill/Chron- larities are striking enough to suggest an influence on Tol icles of the Restoration, "It has been Melted," p. 10, Beare de kien. Bums especially notes "the barren, death-evoking scribes an Anglo-Saxon spell for removing "elfshot" or super lands, those sandy, ash-strewn sections of Iceland that have natural darts in connection with the healing of Frodo's Nazgul- their Tolkienian counterparts in the Desolation of Smaug and wound in The Fellowship of the Ring, Book2. [WGH] in Mordor's sullen wastes" (p. 372). [WGH] Beversluis, John. "Surprised by Freud: A Critical Chance, Jane. The Lord o f the R ings: The M ythology Appraisal of A. N. Wilson's Biography of C. S. o f Pow er. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. xiv + 131 pp. Lewis." Christianity and Literature 41:2 (Winter 1992), 179-195. [Lewis 11,13,20; Williams 13] CPyTHLQRe Issue 71 - (illnccR 1993 Page 57 Chance's book begins with a chronology, a general intro published in "The History of Middle-earth." The earlier duction to Tolkien and his works, and an account of his text has been enlarged, many of the maps have been al critical reception. These first chapters are incidental to tered, and new maps and diagrams have been added, e.g. Chance's main text, however, and for the most part are a cutaway view of the inn at Bree and more detailed written superficially and from a distinctly American point of pictures of Minas Tirith. The added color image on p. [137] view. Her argument proper begins with chapter four, in is mistakenly printed flopped left to right. [WGH] which she compares Tolkien's use of power and knowledge in The Lord of the Rings with the philosophy of Michel Hammond, Wayne G., with the assistance of Doug Foucault. In the remainder of her book she elaborates on this las A. Anderson. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bib aspect of Tolkien's work, analyzing also the growth of "po liography. Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies, and New litical abilities" in the hobbits and how language is used (by Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Books, 1992. xiv + 434 pp. Tolkien and by his characters) to manipulate and to affect The first bibliography of the works of Tolkien to de perception. Chance is interested too in the narrative patterns scribe first and subsequent editions descriptively, i.e. with of Tolkien's book, which she summarizes in a final chapter. transcriptions of title pages, details of printing and bind Her analyses, interwoven throughout a book-by-book ing, and the history of the writing and publication of the reading of The Lord of the Rings, unfortunately often seem works. The book is intended especially as a guide to works to be random thoughts strung together, and her arguments by (not about) Tolkien for collectors and librarians, but are undercut by frequent errors: for example, her use of also serves the textual scholar and the student who wishes "The Birthday Party" rather than "A Long-expected to determine the most accurate edition of a given work. Party" as the title of chapter 1 of Tolkien's book; her The bibliography is hierarchically divided into seven sec conclusion (p. 38), with no textual foundation, that Frodo's tions, each with its own system of classification, deter father drowned because he drank excessively; her claim, mined by type of material: books entirely by Tolkien; also unfounded, that Frodo was saved at the Ford of books to which Tolkien contributed, or which he edited or Rivendell "by Gandalf the wizard, whose possession of translated; his contributions to periodicals, except letters; one of the Elven Rings is sufficient to fill the black horses published letters and extracts from letters, in books, peri with madness" (p.