Editing Smith of Wootton Major

{{Short description|1967 novella by J. R. R. Tolkien}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{infobox book|
| name              = Smith of Wootton Major
| image             = JRRTolkien SmithOfWoottonMajor.jpg
| caption           = First edition front cover; the illustration extends over the spine to the back cover.
| author            = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
| illustrator       = [[Pauline Baynes]]
| country           = United Kingdom
| language          = English
| genre             = [[Fantasy]] novella
| publisher         = [[George Allen & Unwin]]
| release_date      = 9 November 1967<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scull |first1=Christina |author1-link=Christina Scull |last2=Hammond |first2=Wayne G. |author2-link=Wayne G. Hammond |year=2006 |title=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |volume=Chronology |page=711 |isbn=978-0-618-39113-4}}</ref>
| media_type        = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages             = 224
| preceded_by       = [[The Road Goes Ever On]]
| followed_by       = [[Bilbo's Last Song]] (posthumous)
}}

'''''Smith of Wootton Major''''', first published in 1967, is a novella by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]. It tells the tale of a Great Cake, baked for the once in twenty-four year Feast of Good Children. The Master Cook, Nokes, hides some trinkets in the cake for the children to find; one is a star he found in an old spice box. A boy, Smith, swallows the star. On his tenth birthday the star appears on his forehead, and he starts to roam the [[Fairyland|Land of Faery]]. After twenty-four years the Feast comes around again, and Smith surrenders the star to Alf, the new Master Cook. Alf bakes the star into a new Great Cake for another child to find.

Scholars have differed on whether the story is an [[allegory]] or is, less tightly, capable of various allegorical interpretations; and if so, what those interpretations might be. Suggestions have included autobiographical allusions such as to Tolkien's profession of [[philology]], and religious interpretations such as that Alf is a figure of Christ. The American scholar [[Verlyn Flieger]] sees it instead as a story of [[Fairyland|Faërie]] in its own right.

This was Tolkien's last major work published before his death in 1973.

== Background ==

{{further|J. R. R. Tolkien}}

[[J. R. R. Tolkien]] was a scholar of English literature, a [[philologist]] and [[medievalist]] interested in language and poetry from the [[Middle Ages]], especially that of [[Anglo-Saxon England]] and Northern Europe.<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#131 to [[Milton Waldman]], late 1951 }}</ref>{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=146–149}}

''Smith of Wootton Major'' began as an attempt to explain the meaning of [[Faery]] by means of a story about a cook and his cake, and Tolkien originally thought to call it ''The Great Cake''.{{sfn|Carpenter|1977|p=244 "Headington"}} It was intended to be part of a preface by Tolkien to [[George MacDonald]]'s fairy story ''[[The Golden Key (MacDonald book)|The Golden Key]]''.{{sfn|Carpenter|1977|p=244 "Headington"}}

== Plot summary ==

The village of Wootton Major was well known around the countryside for its annual festivals, which were particularly famous for their culinary delights. The biggest festival of all was the Feast of Good Children. This festival was celebrated only once every twenty-four years:  twenty-four children of the village were invited to a party, and the highlight of the party was the Great Cake, a career milestone by which Master Cooks were judged. In the year the story begins, the Master Cook was Nokes, who had landed the position more or less by default; he delegated much of the creative work to his apprentice Alf. Nokes crowned his Great Cake with a little doll jokingly representing the Queen of Faery.  Various trinkets were hidden in the cake for the children to find; one of these was a star the Cook discovered in the old spice box.

The star was not found at the Feast, but was swallowed by a blacksmith's son. The boy did not feel its magical properties at once, but on the morning of his tenth birthday the star fixed itself on his forehead, and became his passport to Faery. The boy grew up to be a blacksmith like his father, but in his free time he roamed the Land of Faery. The star on his forehead protected him from many of the dangers threatening mortals in that land, and the Folk of Faery called him "Starbrow". The book describes his many travels in Faery, until at last he meets the true Queen of Faery.  The identity of the King is also revealed.

The time came for another Feast of Good Children. Smith had possessed his gift for most of his life, and the time had come to pass it on to some other child. So he regretfully surrendered the star to Alf, and with it his adventures into Faery.  Alf, who had become Master Cook long before, baked it into the festive cake once again for another child to find. After the feast, Alf retired and left the village; and Smith returned to his forge to teach his craft to his now-grown son.

== Publication history ==

[[File:Smith_and_his_family_by_Pauline_Baynes.jpg|thumb|upright|Black and white illustration, as requested by Tolkien,<ref name="Hasirci 2021"/> by [[Pauline Baynes]] of Smith and his family for the first edition, 1967.{{efn|Baynes presented the original illustration of Smith and his family to the Tolkien scholars [[Wayne G. Hammond]] & [[Christina Scull]] for their engagement.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author1-link=Wayne G. Hammond |author2-link=Christina Scull |title=Our Collections: Pauline Baynes |url=https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/our-collections-pauline-baynes/<!--two famous Tolkien scholars, see their Wikipedia articles--> |website=Too Many Books and Never Enough |access-date=25 July 2023 |date=9 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602134809/https://wayneandchristina.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/our-collections-pauline-baynes/ |archive-date=2 June 2015}}</ref> }}]]

The story was first published in the United Kingdom as a stand-alone book by [[George Allen & Unwin]] on 9 November 1967, with 11 black and white illustrations and a coloured jacket illustration by [[Pauline Baynes]].<ref name="Tolkien Flieger 2005" group="T"/> Tolkien had asked Baynes to limit her palette to black and white, as she had done for ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''; he was pleased with the result.<ref name="Hasirci 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Hasirci |first1=Baris |title=An Examination of Fantasy Illustration and the Illustrations of Pauline Baynes and John Howe Through the Writings of J. R. R. Tolkien |journal=Journal of Social Research and Behavioral Sciences |date=2021 |volume=7 |issue=14 |url=http://www.sadab.org/FileUpload/bs701867/File/3.an_examination_of_fantasy_illustration_and_the_illustrations_1.pdf |issn=2149-178X |doi=10.52096/jsrbs.7.14.3 |page=44}}</ref>

''Smith of Wootton Major'' was first published in the United States by [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] the same year.<ref group="T">{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |title=Smith of Wootton Major |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] |date=1967 |oclc=849891109 }}</ref> It was reprinted in 1969 by [[Ballantine Books|Ballantine]] together with ''Farmer Giles of Ham''.<ref name="Tolkien 1969" group="T">{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |title=Smith of Wootton Major: and Farmer Giles of Ham |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |date=1969 |isbn=978-0-3453-3606-4 |oclc=2949056}}</ref>

The 2005 edition, edited by [[Verlyn Flieger]], includes a previously unpublished essay by Tolkien, explaining the background and just why the elf-king spent so long in Wootton Major. It also explains how the story grew from this first idea into the published version.<ref name="Tolkien Flieger 2005" group="T">{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |last2=Flieger |first2=Verlyn |author2-link=Verlyn Flieger |title=Smith of Wootton Major |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-00-720247-8 |page=Jacket}}</ref>

The story was republished in 2021 together with ''Farmer Giles of Ham'', ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'', and "[[Leaf by Niggle]]" as ''[[Tales from the Perilous Realm]]''.<ref group="T">{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |title=Tales from the Perilous Realm |date=2021 |publisher=[[Mariner Books]] |isbn=978-0-3586-5296-0}}</ref>

== Analysis ==

=== Allegory ===

{{further|Leaf by Niggle#Allegory}}

The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] writes that "defeat hangs heavy" in the story,{{sfn|Shippey|2005|p=315 "On the Cold Hill's Side"}} while Tolkien called it "an old man's book", with presage of bereavement.<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter 299 to [[Roger Lancelyn Green]], 12 December 1967 }}</ref> Shippey adds that when Tolkien presents images of himself in his writings, as with Niggle, the anti-hero of "[[Leaf by Niggle]]" and Smith, there is "a persistent streak of alienation".<ref name="Shippey 2004">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |chapter=Tolkien and the Appeal of the Pagan: Edda and Kalevala |editor-last=Chance |editor-first=Jane |editor-link=Jane Chance |title=Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader |title-link=Tolkien and the Invention of Myth |year=2004 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-2301-1 |pages=163–178}}</ref> While Tolkien had stated that the story was "not '[[allegory]]'", he had immediately added "though it is capable of course of allegorical interpretation at certain points".{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=309–319 "On the Cold Hill's Side"}} Shippey presents evidence in support of the claim.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=309–319 "On the Cold Hill's Side"}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ [[Tom Shippey]]'s analysis of "Smith of Wootton Major" as an [[allegory]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=309–319 "On the Cold Hill's Side"}}
|-
! Story element !! Allegorical meaning !! Evidence
|-
| Nokes || Unsympathetic literary critic (as opposed to [[philologist]]s like Tolkien) || [[Noke, Oxfordshire]], from [[Middle English]] *''atten okes'' (at the oaks);<br/>Nokes's family all with nunnated names, Nell, Nan, Ned for Ell[en], Ann, Ed[ward];<br/>Tolkien had arranged teaching at the [[University of Leeds]] into [[Bagme Bloma#Analysis|an A-scheme (literature) and a B-scheme (philology)]];<br/>for Tolkien, A meant [[Old English]] ''ac'' ([[oak]]), B meant ''beorc'' ([[birch]])
|-
| Nokes's Great Cake || Literary study, offering "not much food for the imagination" || "no bigger than was needed ... nothing left over" 
|-
| "Old books of recipes left behind by previous cooks" || Old philology || 
|-
| Old Cook || Philologist || 
|-
| The fay-star || "Vision, receptiveness to fantasy, [[Mythopoeia|mythopoeic]] power" || 
|- 
| Smith || Tolkien himself || Smith "never bakes a Great Cake"; Tolkien "never produced a major full-length work on medieval literature"
|-
| Alf || [[Elf]], reassuring guide to Faërie || Old English ''ælf'' (elf); Alf is eventually revealed as King of Faërie
|-
| Wootton Major || The "wood of the world" where people wander "bewildered" || Old English ''wudu-tún'' ("town in the wood")
|}

=== Capable of allegorical interpretation ===

{{further|Christianity in Middle-earth}}

[[File:Workshop of Della Robbia family - The Virgin of the Lilies - Walters 27217.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Josh B. Long likens the Faery Queen with lilies to the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref name="Long 2021"/> Glazed terracotta plaque ''The Virgin of the Lilies'', [[Luca della Robbia|Della Robbia]] family workshop, 16th century]]

Josh B. Long, in ''[[Tolkien Studies]]'', states that for Tolkien, "allegorical interpretation" was not the same as allegory, as interpretations come from a free interchange between text and reader, whereas allegory is imposed by the author. Long sees both religious "undertones" in the story, and autobiographical elements. He notes that the Catholic writer [[Joseph Pearce]] took the story as a [[parable]],<ref name="Long 2021"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |title=Tolkien: Man and Myth |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |year=1998 |page=170}}</ref> and that Flieger accepts "a level of allegory" but not the philological version proposed by Shippey.<ref name="Long 2021"/><ref name="Flieger 2001">{{cite book |last=Flieger |first=Verlyn |author-link=Verlyn Flieger |chapter=Pitfalls in Faërie |title=A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to Faërie |title-link=A Question of Time (book) |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-87338-699-X |pages=227–253}}</ref> Instead, the Hall would be the church, Cook would be the parson, and cooking would be "personal religion".<ref name="Long 2021"/> Or, [[Matthew Dickerson]] and [[Jonathan Evans (scholar)|Jonathan Evans]] suggest, Alf is a figure of Christ, the king of a heavenly realm who arrives as a child and grows to be a man.<ref name="Long 2021"/> [[Martin Sternberg (scholar)|Martin Sternberg]] sees the story as religious<!--"not necessarily Christian", in Long's words-->, with experiences of the numinous and "traditional mystical ideas and motifs".<ref name="Long 2021"/>

Long presents his own religious interpretation, likening the story's Faery Queen to the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]], with the lilies "near the lawn" as her symbol; Alf as Christ; the Great Cake perhaps as a Twelfth-cake for [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]; Nokes as a fool or "a kind of anti-Tolkien"; Smith, a "[[Laity|lay]] Christian".<ref name="Long 2021"/>

In addition, Long sees Shippey's identification of birch and oak with philology and criticism as correct, but differs about what Tolkien wanted to say here. In Long's view, the birch "represents the sharp critique of most of his philological colleagues who supposed that Tolkien had squandered years of his life on a worthless piece of fantasy literature—a place he didn’t belong, or so they thought." In other words, he writes, the dispute was inside the philological community; far from fighting literary criticism, Tolkien had done much to heal the split between the critics and the philologists at Oxford.<ref name="Long 2021">{{cite journal |last=Long |first=Josh B. |title=Faery, Faith, and Self-Portrayal: An Allegorical Interpretation of Smith of Wootton Major |journal=Tolkien Studies |date=2021 |volume=18 |pages=93–129 |doi=10.1353/tks.2021.0007}}</ref>

=== Visit to Faërie ===

Flieger opposes viewing ''Smith of Wootton Major'' as an allegory, instead seeking comparisons with Tolkien's other fantasies.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=309–319 "On the Cold Hill's Side"}}<ref name="Flieger Shippey 2001">{{cite journal |last1=Flieger |first1=Verlyn |author1-link=Verlyn Flieger |last2=Shippey |first2=Tom |author2-link=Tom Shippey |title=Allegory Versus Bounce: Tolkien's 'Smith of Wootton Major' |journal=[[Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts]] |volume=12 |issue=2 (46) |year=2001 |pages=186–200 |jstor=43308514}}</ref> She argues that the story had sufficient "bounce" that no allegorical explanation was necessary, and indeed that such explanation detracts from the story of travels in the land of "Faery" and the element of mystery.<ref name="Flieger Shippey 2001"/> She likens the "first Cook" to a whole series of "Tolkien's far-traveled characters", namely [[The Notion Club Papers#Time travel|Alboin Errol]], [[The Notion Club Papers#Structure and plot|Edwin Lowdham]], [[Frodo Baggins]], [[Eärendil and Elwing|Eärendil]], [[Ælfwine]]-Eriol "and of course Tolkien himself—all the Elf-friends."<ref name="Flieger 2001"/> <!--David Doughan also opposes the allegory view-->

Further, Flieger sees "thematic connections" between the story and the "dark power and ... echoes of a past too deep to forget" of his poem "[[The Sea-Bell]]" (1962, with a history going back to his 1934 "Looney"). The two works share a distinctive feature: a "prohibition against the return to Faërie."<ref name="Flieger 2001"/> She states, however, that the two works describe the prohibition in differing moods and at different times. "The Sea-Bell" was written at the beginning of Tolkien's career, "cry[ing] for lost beauty"; ''Smith of Wootton Major'' almost at its end, "an autumnal acceptance of things as they are".<ref name="Flieger 2001"/> She comments, too, that "The Sea-Bell" could be a "corrective" reply to [[J. M. Barrie]]'s 1920 play ''[[Mary Rose (play)|Mary Rose]]''; and that ''Smith of Wootton Major'' could then be a reply, much later, to his own poem.<ref name="Flieger 2001"/> Whether or not that was the intention, she writes, Tolkien sought to "create a true fairy-tale quality without the use of a traditional fairy-tale plot."<ref name="Flieger 2001"/>

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

== References ==

=== Primary ===

{{reflist|30em|group="T"}}

=== Secondary ===

{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{ME-ref|Carpenter}}  <!--Carpenter, 1977-->
* {{ME-ref|Letters}}  <!--Carpenter, 1981-->{{ME-ref|Road}}<!--Shippey, 2005-->

== External links ==

* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130706161116/http://www.tolkien-online.com/smith-of-wootten-major.html Introduction and overview of ''Smith of Wootton Major'']}} at Tolkien-online.com

{{J. R. R. Tolkien}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Books by J. R. R. Tolkien]]
[[Category:1967 books]]
[[Category:Fantasy short stories]]
[[Category:1967 short stories]]
[[Category:British novellas]]
[[Category:Allen & Unwin books]]