The New Arrival: GREEN SUNS

So, last week (Tuesday) brought my copy of Verlyn's latest book, GREEN SUNS AND FAERIE: ESSAYS ON J. R. R. TOLKIEN. I'd had this on order from amazon.com for months last year, until they finally cancelled; you'd think they'd have added it back in on my 'recommended' list when it finally became available. Apparently not. Given that, once I heard from the MythSoc list (for which thanks) that it was now out, I decided to order it directly from Kent State.
Wow what a book. Haven't had time to read it yet, but I already know a number of these pieces from having heard Verlyn present them at conferences and workshops over the years (some of them dating back to when we first met, over twenty-eight years ago now!) For some reason, the amazon.com entry seems to lack a Table of Contents, so here's what all's in this book [N.B.: the essay numbering is not in the original, being added by me here to help differentiate between the sometimes-lengthy essay titles*]:
PART ONE: TOLKIEN SUB-CREATOR1. Fantasy and Reality: JRRT's World and the Fairy-story Essay2. The Music and the Task: Fate and Free Will in Middle-earth3. Tolkien and the Idea of the Book4. Tolkien on Tolkien: OFS, THE HOBBIT, and LotR5. When Is a Fairy Story a Faerie Story?: SWM6. The Footsteps of AElfwine7. The Curious Incident of the Dream at the Barrow: Memory and Reincarnation in Middle-earth8. Whose Myth Is It?
PART TWO: TOLKIEN IN TRADITION9. Tolkien's Wild Men from Medieval to Modern10. Tolkien and the Matter of Britain11. Frodo and Aragorn: The Concept of the Hero12. Bilbo's Neck Riddle13. Allegory Versus Bounce: Tolkien's SWM [Flieger vs. Shippey]14. A Mythology for Finland: Tolkien and Lonnrot as Mythmakers15. Tolkien, KALEVALA, and 'The Story of Kullervo'16. Brittany and Wales in Middle-earth17. The Green Knight, the Green Man, and Treebeard: Scholarship and Invention in Tolkien's Fiction18. Missing Person
PART THREE: TOLKIEN AND HIS CENTURY19. A Cautionary Tale: Tolkien's Mythology for England20. The Mind, the Tongue, and the Tale21. A Post-modern Medievalist22.Taking the Part of Trees: Eco-conflict in Middle-earth23. Gilson, Smith, and Baggins24. The Body in Question: The Unhealed Wounds of Frodo Baggins25. A Distant Mirror: Tolkien and Jackson in the Looking-glass

I also found it interesting that when I read the blurbs on the back cover, for once I didn't think they exaggerated at all. Here are a few representative snippets:
"No one knows Tolkien's oeuvre better than Flieger, or presents it more accessibly" --Tom Shippey
"It is not often that a new book makes me want to stand up and shout 'Hallelujah!'"--Diana Pavlac Glyer
"essential reading, not just for scholars but for all readers who want to understand Middle-earth and its development"--Michael Drout
"a book of insights and delights"--Marjorie Burns

and finally my personal favorite, the one that says it all:
"these essays track a major scholar's deepening understanding of the work of the master of fantasy"

--I know that, for my part, I'm going to be savoring these, one at a time, for weeks to come. --JDR










*many of these's topics are self-evident from their titles, although this is not the case with some ("Whose Myth Is It?" being about the Athrabeth while "Missing Person" suggests no Christ is coming to Middle-earth).