Description:
A major contribution to the growing body of Tolkien scholarship
Since the release of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, J. R. R. Tolkien's popularity has remained at all-time highs. In Green Suns and Faërie, author Verlyn Flieger, one of world's foremost Tolkien scholars, presents a selection of her best articles--some never before published--on a range of Tolkien topics.
The essays are divided into three distinct sections. The first explores Tolkien's ideas of sub-creation-the making of a Secondary World and its relation to the real world, the second looks at Tolkien's reconfiguration of the medieval story tradition, and the third places his work firmly within the context of the twentieth century and "modernist" literature. With discussions ranging from Tolkien's concepts of the hero to the much-misunderstood nature of Bilbo's last riddle in The Hobbit, Flieger reveals Tolkien as a man of both medieval learning and modern sensibility--one who is deeply engaged with the past and future, the regrets and hopes, the triumphs and tragedies, and above all the profound difficulties and dilemmas of his troubled century.
Taken in their entirety, these essays track a major scholar's deepening understanding of the work of the master of fantasy. Green Suns and Faërie is sure to become a cornerstone of Tolkien scholarship.
Brief description: Verlyn Flieger is professor emerita of English at the University of Maryland where she teaches courses on Tolkien, medieval and modern literature, and comparative mythology. She has written three books on Tolkien: Splintered Light, A Question of Time, and Interrupted Music (all published by The Kent State University Press). She has also edited a critical edition of Tolkien's novella Smith of Wootton Major, and an expanded edition with notes and commentary of Tolkien's most influential theoretical essay, "On Fairy-Stories."
Review Quotes:
"Verlyn Flieger's work has long been a cornerstone of
Tolkien scholarship. Green Suns and
Faërie takes us ever deeper into Tolkien's complex theories of sub-creation
and enchantment, as well as placing him within a long myth-making tradition,
and showing his unexpected relevance even to the twenty-first century. No one
knows Tolkien's oeuvre better than Flieger, or presents it more accessibly." --Tom Shippey, author of J. R. R. Tolkien:
Author of the Century
"It is not often that
a new book makes me want to stand up and shout 'Hallelujah!' this one does. Green Suns and Faërie sheds light on
Tolkien, to be sure, but it also illuminates the entire history of Tolkien
scholarship. This is a milestone event, an incomparable collection, a cause for
celebration from one of our most perceptive and gracious and important
scholars." --Diana Pavlac Glyer, author of The
Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
"Verlyn Flieger is one of the world's elite Tolkien
scholars. Green Suns and Faërie
brings together some of her most important work on the creation, evolution and
philosophical underpinnings of what Tolkien called his 'sub-creation.' The
essays collected here are essential reading, not just for scholars, but for all
readers who want to understand Middle-earth and its development." --Michael D.
C. Drout, Professor of English, Wheaton College, Massachusetts and coeditor of Tolkien Studies
"Green Suns and Faërie is a book of
insights and delights. It's like a box of chocolate samplers. Bite into one,
finish it off, and you find yourself saying, 'Very good! I think I'll try
another!'" --Marjorie Burns, author of Perilous
Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth