Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

=== Publications ===
{{further|J. R. R. Tolkien bibliography}}

==== "''Beowulf'': The Monsters and the Critics" ====
{{Main|Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics}}

In addition to writing fiction, Tolkien was an author of academic literary criticism. His seminal 1936 lecture, later published as an article, revolutionized the treatment of the Anglo-Saxon epic ''[[Beowulf]]'' by literary critics. The essay remains highly influential in the study of Old English literature to this day.<ref name="Niles">{{cite book |last=Niles |first=John D. |title=A ''Beowulf'' Handbook |date=1998 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0-8032-6150-0 |editor-last=Bjork |editor-first=Robert E. |editor-link=John D. Niles |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |page=5 |chapter=''Beowulf'', Truth, and Meaning |quote=Bypassing earlier scholarship, critics of the past fifty years have generally traced the current era of ''Beowulf'' studies back to 1936 [and Tolkien's essay]. |author-link=John Niles (scholar) |editor-last2=Niles |editor-first2=John D.}}</ref> ''Beowulf'' is one of the [[Beowulf in Middle-earth|most significant influences upon Tolkien's later fiction]], with major details of both ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' being adapted from the poem.<ref>{{harvnb|Shippey|2005|pp=66–74}}</ref>

==== "On Fairy-Stories" ====
{{Main|On Fairy-Stories}}
This essay discusses the fairy-story as a literary form. It was initially written as the 1939 Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Tolkien focuses on [[Andrew Lang]]'s work as a folklorist and collector of fairy tales. He disagreed with Lang's broad inclusion, in his [[Lang's Fairy Books|Fairy Book]] collections, of traveller's tales, beast fables, and other types of stories. Tolkien held a narrower perspective, viewing fairy stories as those that took place in [[Fairyland|Faerie]], an enchanted realm, with or without fairies as characters. He viewed them as the natural development of the interaction of human imagination and human language.<ref>{{harvnb|Shippey|2005|pp=56–57}}</ref>

==== Children's books and other short works ====
In addition to his [[mythopoeia|mythopoeic]] compositions, Tolkien enjoyed inventing fantasy stories to entertain his children.<ref>{{cite news |last=Phillip |first=Norman |year=2005 |title=The Prevalence of Hobbits |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-mag67.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411062440/http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-mag67.html |archive-date=11 April 2009}}</ref> He wrote annual Christmas letters from [[Father Christmas]] for them, building up a series of short stories (later compiled and published as ''[[The Father Christmas Letters]]'').<ref name="travels">{{cite news |date=22 December 2002 |title=Grand Tours: Who Travels the World in a Single Night? |work=[[The Independent on Sunday]] |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P2-1716622/travel-etc-grand-tours-who-travels-the-world-in |url-status=live |access-date=22 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921073323/http://www.questia.com/read/1P2-1716622/travel-etc-grand-tours-who-travels-the-world-in |archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref> Other works included ''[[Mr. Bliss]]'' and ''[[Roverandom]]'' (for children), and ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]'' (part of ''[[Tree and Leaf]]''), ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'', ''[[Smith of Wootton Major]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''. ''Roverandom'' and ''Smith of Wootton Major'', like ''The Hobbit'', borrowed ideas from his legendarium.<ref name="A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien ch13">{{cite book |last=Artamonova |first=Maria |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=15 April 2014 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-65982-3 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |at=Chapter 13 |chapter='Minor' Works |doi=10.1002/9781118517468 |s2cid=160570361}}</ref>

==== ''The Hobbit'' ====
{{Main|The Hobbit}}

Tolkien never expected his stories to become popular, but by sheer accident a book called ''[[The Hobbit]]'', which he had written some years before for his own children, came in 1936 to the attention of Susan Dagnall, an employee of the London publishing firm [[George Allen & Unwin]], who persuaded Tolkien to submit it for publication.<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> When it was published a year later, the book attracted adult readers as well as children, and it became popular enough for the publishers to ask Tolkien to produce a sequel.<ref>{{ME-ref|DB|pp=8–23}}</ref>

==== ''The Lord of the Rings'' ====

{{main|The Lord of the Rings}}

The request for a sequel prompted Tolkien to begin what became his most famous work: the epic novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (originally published in three volumes in 1954–1955). Tolkien spent more than ten years writing the primary narrative and appendices for ''The Lord of the Rings'', during which time he received the constant support of the [[Inklings]], in particular his closest friend [[C.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Lewis]], the author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''. Both ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are set against the background of ''The Silmarillion'', but in a time long after it.<ref name="The New Hobbit">{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=187–208}}</ref>

Tolkien at first intended ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be a children's tale in the style of ''The Hobbit'', but it quickly grew darker and more serious in the writing.<ref>{{cite news |date=5 June 1955 |title=Oxford Calling |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-oxford.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411062443/http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-oxford.html |archive-date=11 April 2009}}</ref> Though a direct sequel to ''The Hobbit'', it addressed an older audience, drawing on the immense [[backstory]] of [[Beleriand]] that Tolkien had constructed in previous years, and which eventually saw posthumous publication in ''The Silmarillion'' and other volumes.<ref name="The New Hobbit" /> Tolkien strongly influenced the [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]] genre that grew up after the book's success.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2020 |publisher=[[Wiley Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-65602-9 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |pages=335–349 |chapter=Later Fantasy Fiction: Tolkien's Legacy |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |orig-date=2014}}</ref>

''The Lord of the Rings'' became immensely popular in the 1960s and has remained so ever since, ranking as one of the most popular works of fiction of the 20th century, judged by both sales and reader surveys.<ref>{{cite news |last=Seiler |first=Andy |date=16 December 2003 |title='Rings' comes full circle |work=[[USA Today]] |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-12-12-lotr-main_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019074732/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-12-12-lotr-main_x.htm |archive-date=19 October 2012}}</ref> In the 2003 "[[Big Read]]" survey conducted by the BBC, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was found to be the UK's "Best-loved Novel".<ref>{{cite web |date=April 2003 |title=BBC – The Big Read |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031065136/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |archive-date=31 October 2012 |access-date=2 November 2012 |website=BBC}}</ref> Australians voted ''The Lord of the Rings'' "My Favourite Book" in a 2004 survey conducted by the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|Australian ABC]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Cooper |first=Callista |date=5 December 2005 |title=Epic trilogy tops favorite film poll |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1523327.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116213130/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1523327.htm |archive-date=16 January 2006 |website=ABC News}}</ref> In a 1999 poll of [[Amazon (company)|Amazon.com]] customers, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium".<ref>{{cite web |last=O'Hehir |first=Andrew |date=4 June 2001 |title=The book of the century |url=http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/04/tolkien/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213000712/http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/04/tolkien/ |archive-date=13 February 2006 |website=Salon}}</ref> In 2002 Tolkien was voted the 92nd "[[100 Greatest Britons|greatest Briton]]" in a poll conducted by the BBC, and in 2004 he was voted 35th in the [[SABC3's Great South Africans]], the only person to appear in both lists. His popularity is not limited to the English-speaking world: in a 2004 poll inspired by the UK's "Big Read" survey, about 250,000 Germans found ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be their favourite work of literature.<ref>{{cite news |last=Diver |first=Krysia |date=5 October 2004 |title=A lord for Germany |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/04/1096871805007.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817074109/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/04/1096871805007.html |archive-date=17 August 2007}}</ref>

==== ''The Silmarillion'' ====

{{Main|The Silmarillion}}

Tolkien wrote a brief "Sketch of the Mythology", which included the tales of Beren and Lúthien and of Túrin; and that sketch eventually evolved into the ''[[Quenta Silmarillion]]'', an epic history that Tolkien started three times but never published. Tolkien desperately hoped to publish it along with ''The Lord of the Rings'', but publishers (both [[Allen & Unwin]] and [[HarperCollins|Collins]]) declined. Moreover, printing costs were very high in 1950s Britain, requiring ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be published in three volumes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hammond |first=Wayne G. |title=J.R.R. Tolkien: a descriptive bibliography |date=1993 |others=Douglas A. Anderson |publisher=Oak Knoll Books |isbn=1-873040-11-3 |location=Winchester |oclc=27013976}}</ref> The story of this continuous redrafting is told in the posthumous series ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'', edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien. From around 1936, Tolkien began to extend this framework to include the tale of ''[[The Fall of Númenor]]'', which was inspired by the legend of [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nagy |first=Gergely |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2020 |publisher=[[Wiley Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-65602-9 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |pages=107–118 |chapter='The Silmarillion': Tolkien's Theory of Myth, Text, and Culture |author-link=Gergely Nagy (scholar) |orig-date=2014}}</ref>

Tolkien appointed his son Christopher to be his [[literary executor]], and he (with assistance from [[Guy Gavriel Kay]], later a well-known fantasy author in his own right) organized some of this material into a single coherent volume, published as ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' in 1977. It received the Locus Award for Best Fantasy novel in 1978.<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web |title=1978 Award Winners & Nominees |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709212409/http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |website=Worlds Without End}}</ref>

==== ''Unfinished Tales'' and ''The History of Middle-earth'' ====
In 1980, Christopher Tolkien published a collection of more fragmentary material, under the title ''[[Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth]]''. In subsequent years (1983–1996), he published a large amount of the remaining unpublished materials, together with notes and extensive commentary, in a series of twelve volumes called ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''. They contain unfinished, abandoned, alternative, and outright contradictory accounts, since they were always a work in progress for Tolkien and he only rarely settled on a definitive version for any of the stories. There is not complete consistency between ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'', the two most closely related works, because Tolkien never fully integrated all their traditions into each other. He commented in 1965, while editing ''The Hobbit'' for a third edition, that he would have preferred to rewrite the book completely because of the style of its prose.<ref>{{cite web |last=Martinez |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Martinez (Tolkien scholar) |date=27 July 2002 |title=Middle-earth Revised, Again |url=http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay122 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617122627/http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/michaelmartinezsuite101essay122 |archive-date=17 June 2008 |website=Michael Martinez Tolkien Essays}}</ref>

==== Works compiled by Christopher Tolkien ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date !! Title !! Description
|-
| 2007 || ''[[The Children of Húrin]]'' || Tells the story of [[Túrin Turambar]] and his sister [[Nienor]], children of [[Húrin Thalion]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Grovier |first=Kelly |date=27 April 2007 |title=In the name of the father |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,,2067804,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824151048/http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,,2067804,00.html |archive-date=24 August 2007 |access-date=22 September 2007 |publisher=[[The Observer]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2009 || ''[[The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún]]'' || Retells the legend of [[Sigurd]] and the fall of the [[Niflungs]] from Germanic mythology as a [[narrative poem]] in [[alliterative verse]], modelled after the [[Old Norse]] poetry of the [[Elder Edda]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Allen |first=Katie |date=6 January 2009 |title=New Tolkien for HarperCollins |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/73781-new-tolkien-for-harpercollins.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430090505/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/73781-new-tolkien-for-harpercollins.html |archive-date=30 April 2009 |access-date=6 January 2009 |publisher=The Bookseller}}</ref>
|-
| 2013 || ''[[The Fall of Arthur]]'' || A narrative poem that Tolkien composed in the early 1930s, inspired by high medieval Arthurian fiction but set in the Post-Roman [[Migration Period]], showing Arthur as a [[Sub-Roman Britain|British]] [[warlord]] fighting the [[Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain|Saxon invasion]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=9 October 2012 |title=New JRR Tolkien epic due out next year |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/09/jrr-tolkien-new-poem-king-arthur |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202023157/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/09/jrr-tolkien-new-poem-king-arthur |archive-date=2 December 2016 |website=guardian.co.uk}}</ref>
|-
| 2014 || ''[[Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary]]'' || A prose translation of ''[[Beowulf]]'' that Tolkien made in the 1920s, with commentary from Tolkien's lecture notes.<ref>{{cite news |date=20 March 2014 |title=JRR Tolkien's Beowulf translation to be published |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-26662761 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415081413/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-26662761 |archive-date=15 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=26 May 2014 |title=Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-544-44278-8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905170548/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-544-44278-8 |archive-date=5 September 2014 |website=[[Publishers Weekly]]}}</ref>
|-
| 2015 || ''[[The Story of Kullervo]]'' || A retelling of a 19th-century Finnish poem that Tolkien wrote in 1915 while studying at Oxford.<ref>{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=12 August 2015 |title=JRR Tolkien's first fantasy story to be published this month |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/12/jrr-tolkiens-first-fantasy-story-to-be-published-this-month |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202024432/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/12/jrr-tolkiens-first-fantasy-story-to-be-published-this-month |archive-date=2 December 2016}}</ref>
|-
| 2017 || ''[[Beren and Lúthien]]'' || One of the oldest and most often revised in Tolkien's legendarium; a version appeared in ''The Silmarillion''.<ref name="edition2017">{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=19 October 2016 |title=JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth love story to be published next year |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/19/jrr-tolkiens-middle-earth-love-story-published-beren-and-luthien |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161209023052/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/19/jrr-tolkiens-middle-earth-love-story-published-beren-and-luthien |archive-date=9 December 2016}}</ref>
|-
| 2018 || ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]'' || Tells of a beautiful, mysterious city destroyed by dark forces; Tolkien called it "the first real story" of [[Middle-earth]].<ref name="TolkienSociety2">{{cite news |last=Helen |first=Daniel |date=30 August 2018 |title=The Fall of Gondolin published |publisher=Tolkien Society |url=https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/08/the-fall-of-gondolin-published/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204145208/https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/08/the-fall-of-gondolin-published/ |archive-date=4 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=10 April 2018 |title=The Fall of Gondolin, 'new' JRR Tolkien book, to be published in 2018 |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/10/the-fall-of-gondolin-new-jrr-tolkien-book-to-be-published-in-2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413110856/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/10/the-fall-of-gondolin-new-jrr-tolkien-book-to-be-published-in-2018 |archive-date=13 April 2018}}</ref>
|}