ISSUE 16 ANOR ISSUE 16 �. Contents I 1 Editorial 2 TI1e Layman's Guide To Advanced Tolkien Studies Monica Gale 6 Uncle r-.Iike's Book Comer 8 Mike \Vhitaker 8 !v1idclle-Earth Revisited Susan Foord 9 RivencleU Susan Foord 11 Cambridge Tolkien Workshop 1988 Inn Alexander 12 Foreyule Feast 1987 Bablu Sin ha 13 The Mines of :Moria- a comment Ted Crawford 15 Page Fifteen Palantir 16 Comment 18 1987 Oxonmoot Report Ian Alexander 20 Announcement Editorial First of all, a grovelling apology or two. Yes, I know this issue is late -no excuses apart from being a busy m an , guv. Secondly, apologies once more for this issue not being as '!lash' as the 1vlacimosh is capable of. but I s1ill haven't fathomed out why the Lascr\Vriter at work won't believe in hG!f the pretty typcfaces I ask it for! Response to the cover design appeal can best be described as swggering. I wa · staggered by how fe,,· entries I received, namely a vote to keep the old one and : rulllollr that someone had actuallv drawn one �omcwhere. Since this counts as on vote each way f shall cast i\IY vote ... sometime! If anyone else wants to express; opinion , I'm still listening. In this issue , you'll find another instalment of the Layman's Guide - there : still a couple mL)re poten tial articles in this series to come , I think, so dust off y Tolkien collections and !:'et crackin!:'. When the Lavman's Guide finally finis]" though, it might be h:111d:7if we had sm11ething to rcp.laL·e it with. Suggestions·? l those amongst you who hadn't realised, the Ltyman's Guide is all a fiendish hatched by the r\nor editors to ensure they get sonte rn:neria! each issue.] Also in this issue, you'll find some music. councsy of Susan Foorc! - more c same from anyone will be welcomed. 1l1at's enough from me for now - enjoy the issue, and start writing stuff f, next one. 'I11e deadline is April ]St [no. setious!y! ). - l - The Lawnan's Guide to Advanced Tolkien ./ Studies Tree and Leaf/Smith of Wooton l\Iajor/The Homecoming of Bcorhtnoth Farmer Giles of Ham/The Adventures ut' Tom Uombadil. ll1cse two "slim volumes" bring together six short works of v::trious periods �md genres. all of which are (for a change!) complete. Taken together, they bear witness to the impressive range of Tolkien's talent, since the contents vary from light verse to sombre alliterative poetry, from the wity tale of "Fam1er Gilcs of Ham" to the wistful fairy-story "Smith of Wooton Major". While the former volume is predominantly serious and the second lighter in tone. both are very readable, and neither contains extensive introductions, notes or indices! Tree and Leaf 1l1is section in fact consists of two related works, the essay "On Fairy Stories" (originally delivered at the university of St. Andrews in 1938) and the short story "Leaf by 1\igglc", which are linked by the theme of what Tolkien calls "sub­ creation" and defines as the construction "of a secondary world which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he [the author] relates is "true": it accords with the laws of that world". Thus the essay in particular is of some relevance to Tolkien's other works, and provides interesting insights into his aims and methods, at the same time succeeding admirably in its avowed purpose of exploring the nature and "use" of the genre "fairy-tale". Tolkien tackles three main questions: what are fairy stories? what is their origin? what is the use of them? He begins by dismissing the mistaken conception which would limit the definition of "fairies" to "supernatural beings of diminutive size", and distin�ui�hin� fairv-tales from traveller's tales, "dream-stories" (like "Alice in \Vonderla�d") and bea�t-fables, goes on to state his definition of the fairy story as "one which touches on or uses Faerie [which, he goes on to explain, can be loosely translated as 1\'lagic. although of a peculiar kind], whatever its own main purpose may be ... " Next. he deals with the origins of fairy-tale, suggesting that they are intimately connected with language itself. since the very possibility of saying, for example, "the green grass", combined with the capacity of the human mind for abstraction. implies the possibility of forming a concept such as "the green sun" and the subsequent desire to create a world in which such a phenomenon is plausible. 1l1irdly, he considers the purpose and effects of fairy-tale: having dismissed the idea that such stories have an inherent appeal to children, on the grounds that they were not ori�inallv so intended at all. and onlv became associated with children because the,:- fell out of favour w·ith their ori�inal adult audience. he �oes on to associate th�ir role with fantasy and the desire for sub-creation, escapii;11 (\\hich. he emph:1�ises. is not necess:uiiy a bad thing) and the "recovery" afforded by seeing f:lmiliar objects from an unusual angle (as an example. he claims that "by the making of Pegasus, horses were ennobled") and finally with the joy "poignant as grief' glimpsed in the "eucatastrophe" or sudden "tum" which brings about a Happy Ending. A clear picture of Tolkien's view of fairy-tale emerges from the study: it is seen to involve a kind of "lvlagic "of a peculiar mood and power, at the funhest from the vulgar devices of the .. , magician"; to create a world which is self-consistent, whik depicting things not present in the "primary" world; to spring from and partially to satisfy certain fundamental human desires, such a; the wish to converse with other living things; ancl, through the device of the Happy Ending, to give "a fleeting glimpse of joy,joy beyond the walls of the world". 1l1e essay is written in a lively and lucid style throughout, and enhanced by Tolkien's gift for the use of apt metaphors (such as the Tree of Tales and the "soup" of historical and other elements from which an individual story is made). The essay is followed by the short story "Leaf by Niggle", which is about "a little man called Niggle, who had a long joumey to make". Niggle is a painter, whose life's work is a painitng of a tree, which becomes gradually more and more complex as he strives to finish it despite various interruptions, especially the demands of his disliked neighbour, Parish. He keeps postponing his "joumey" until he is hauled off forciblv, and it graduallv becomes clear that this is in fact the - joumey from this world to the next, where Niggle passes through the "workhouse", in which he is made to perfonn various laborious tasks, and finally reaches a very idiosyncratic heaven, where his Tree (but as he imagined it rather than as he had imperfectly painted it) is part of "reality". The story conl.bines allegory with reflection on the creative (or sub-creative) process and, while it may not be to everyone's taste, contains some interesting ideas presented in a most unusual way. Smith of Wooton i\Iajor 1l1is storv, which is rather lon!!er than "Leaf bv Ni!2!2le", also makes an interestin!! compani�n to "On Fairy Stories", being Toikie1;s own fairy tale. It concems Smith, who, as a boy, becomes the posessor of a "fay star", which enables him to travel in the realms of Faery, \\'here, during the subsequent years, he has various strange and marvellous experiences. ll1e tale is beautifully told, and has a haunting, wistful quality, which is perhaps exemplified by the reaction of Smith's son to a silver boy which his father brings back from his last visit to Faery: " ... there is a scent in the bells; a scent that reminds me of, reminds me, well, of something I've forgotten." f The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth 1l1e final item in this volume is an alliterative poem in aromatic fom1. As Tolkien explains in a short introduction, Beorhtnoth son of Beorhthelm was an Anglo­ Saxon duke who was killed fightin!! the Vikin!!S at the Battle of Malckn in 991, as described in a contemporary poem� part of \�T1ich survives. His defeat and death " - .J - were due in part to his own misguided chivalry and desire for glory, and this theme is in the background of Tolkicn's poem. in which t\\"O of the duke's servants have been sent to the battle-field the following- dav' to recover their master's mutilated body. The vocabulary of the poem is colloquial (relatively) modem English, which Tolkien combines skillfully with the alliterative metre to produce a vivid and atmospheric poem. 1l1e two ch:�rncwrs. the young idealistic Torthclm and his older, more experienced and down to earth companion Ticlwald, also form an effective contrast, interweaving the themes of hope and resignation ("ever war and work till the world passes"). Appended to the poem is an epilogue analysing the conflict between desire for personal glory and responsibility to one's followers which Tolkien sees in the Anglo-Saxon peot's appraisal of Beorhtnoth's end, and which is an underlying theme of his own poem. Farmer Giles of Ham As a complete contrast, "Farmer Giles" is a thoroughly light-hearted piece. It is an account of the "rise and wonderful adventures" of the hero, a fat, red-bearded farmer, not over-bold. and his clog Gam, who succeeds in getting his master into all kinds of trouble.