Tolkien's Lost Chaucer

by John M. Bowers

Overview

Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked between 1922 and 1928 on his Clarendon edition Selections from Chaucer's Poetry and Prose, and though never completed, its 160 pages of commentary reveals much of his thinking about language and storytelling when he was still at the threshold of his career as an epoch-making writer of fantasy literature. Drawing upon other new materials such as his edition of the Reeve's Tale and his Oxford lectures on the Pardoner's Tale, this book reveals Chaucer as a major influence upon Tolkien's literary imagination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198842675
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John M. Bowers, Professor of English, University of Nevada Las Vegas

John M. Bowers is an internationally known scholar of medieval English literature with books on Chaucer, Langland, and the Gawain Poet. Educated at Duke, Virginia, and Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar, he taught at Caltech and Princeton before settling at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and the Great Courses released his lecture series The Western Literary Canon in Context.

Table of Contents

1. Prologue: Concerning Chaucer 2. Unexpected Journeys 3. Four Chaucerians: Walter W. Skeat, Kenneth Sisam, George Gordon, and C.S. Lewis 4. Tolkien as Editor: Text and Glossary 5. The Chaucerian Incubus: The Notes 6. Tolkien as Chaucerian: The Reeve's Tale 7. Chaucer in Middle-Earth Appendices Works Cited

Editorial Reviews

"This book admirably fills in one of the last remaining gaps in our understanding of Tolkien's life and work that we are likely ever to be able to fill." — T. S. Miller, The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

"Tolkien's Lost Chaucer provides not only an accessible introduction to Tolkien and his work on Chaucer and Middle English studies, but also an accessible induction into Chaucer that may spark readers' curiosity and tempt them to venture into the exciting field of Middle English...It comes as no surprise that Tolkien's Lost Chaucer was shortlisted for the Tolkien Society Best Book award. In this day and age, it is hard to come by works which incorporate freshly unearthed material from Tolkien's past, let alone a beautifully written monograph on a whole box of unpublished pages." — Andoni Cossio, English Studies

"... Bowers recounts the history of the Clarendon Chaucer, beginning with the circumstances under which it was commissioned and running up to the moment of its rediscovery. This is a surprisingly gripping story - Bowers does an impressive job of immersing us in the ups and downs, starts and stops that attended this ill-fated project." — The Times Literary Supplement

"Bowers, an established scholar of Middle English, combines his considerable professional expertise with a keen appreciation for Tolkien as both writer and scholar. The result is a thoughtful and engaging book aimed at an audience of Tolkien enthusiasts and scholars that contains much of value for Medievalists at a cheap price." — Benjamin Weber, Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center

"We can be grateful for what Bowers has done: given us new insight into Tolkien's scholarly career and made available a portion of Tolkien's never-before published material." — Tolkien Studies

"Bowers's knowledge of Tolkien's works is as thorough and impressive as his extensive knowledge of Chaucer's poetry, and the result is that he is able to draw lines of comparison and suggest provocative influences that make one think a little differently about Chaucer as well as Tolkien. This is an elegantly written and accessible book that shines an informative light on a shadowy corner of Tolkien's scholarship and that will bring Chaucer, a poet Tolkien hugely admired, before a popular audience, perhaps for the first time. Ultimately, indeed, Bowers does as great a service to Chaucer as to Tolkien." — Tim William Machan, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Volume 42, 2020

"The surviving material of the 'lost Chaucer' is fairly slight and in places very technical, but Bowers demonstrates neatly that even the most arcane philological detail could act as creative inspiration for Tolkien. It is refreshing that he discusses how this aborted edition displays Tolkien's weaknesses as a scholar ... as well as his superb literary skill ... The book also offers a fascinating, at times startling, insight into medieval studies in thefirst half of the 20th century ... The appetite for Tolkien's works, however fragmentary, seems to continue unabated. This book is a very welcome addition to the ever-growing library of his unfinished tales." — History Today

"For anyone seriously interested in either Tolkien or Chaucer, Bowers' book will be indispensable. For others, it is a meticulous, elegant, and at times moving look into how one great author read another ... Bowers' book is insightful and enjoyable: a fitting testament to the two writers with whom it is concerned." — Daniel Sutton, The Oxonian Review

"Bowers' book is full of such insights for the Tolkien aficionado. And if you're a Chaucer fan or scholar, you'll also find much to admire in Tolkien's detailed and sometimes illuminating work on the great poet." — Oliver Tearle, Interesting Literature

"Having explored Middle Earth attentively and with deep appreciation, [Bowers] provides a welcome, fresh foray into both medieval and modern lore..." — Spectrum Culture

From the Publisher