Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity

by Carl Phelpstead

Tolkien once wrote: 'I love Wales - and especially the Welsh language'. This book explores how that love influenced Tolkien's ideas about language, many aspects of his creative writing, and his sense of an English identity. It describes more fully than before the extent and depth of Tolkien's debt to Welsh language and literature, and argues that Tolkien's love of Wales and Welsh is inseparable from his love of, and sense of belonging to, England. The book gives detailed attention to both Tolkien's fiction and his scholarly writings, including some relatively neglected texts. Wales and Welsh were seminal influences on the writings of the twentieth century's most popular writer and this book reveals the range and depth of these influences.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2011

Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of stress on Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon and Norse sources for his writing in Tolkien scholarship (including in my own research), and Carl Phelpstead offers another view on it, pointing out the influence of Welsh language and culture, and including a chapter on the influence of Arthuriana. He also has an appendix detailing the Welsh books Tolkien owned, which is very useful in itself.

Well worth it, if you're interested.

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently there has been a wellspring of books around Tolkien scholarship that have opened up new areas of exploration into the life and works of J.R.R Tolkien. Scholars like Dimitra Fimi, John Garth and Arne Zettensten (to name just three) have taken up the mantle from such legends as Tom Shippey and Verlyn Flieger to explore the legendarium from new perspectives especially now that we have much more of Tolkien's narrative and linguistic materials. I would count this book in this category. Indeed Phelpstead builds upon the landmark work done by Dr Fimi in Tolkien Race and Cultural History to explore Tolkien's use of Celtic tradion and language in the development of the legendarium. There are some really intriguing (albeit too short) chapters on Tolken's thoughts on linguistic aesthetics and his use of the Welsh language system to develop one branch of the languages on the legendarium (Goldogrin, Noldorian and ultimately Sindarin). I was very intrigued by his chapter on Breton influences and Tolkien's work with the editor of The Welsh Review Gwyn Jones who published Tolkien's "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" and was going to publish A yet to be seen by work by Tolkien SELLIC SPELL which is said to be a prose tale about the folktale background to Beowulf (this like Tolkien's The Passing of Arthur is yet to be seen).

I did have a bit of a chuckle when reading the notes around the language chapter and Phelpstead referring to another Carl - Carl Hostetter - as "the doyen of Tolkenian linguistics" Carl if you are reading this I have always thought of you more as a grand master.

Phelpstead includes a very useful list of the Welsh related Books Tolkien owned which are now in Oxford either at the Bodleian or English Faculty Libraries.

This is an important work of Tolkien scholarship which I highly recommend.

[Nathan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who's paid much attention to the worldbuilding behind Tolkien's epic works "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" should be aware of the various influences upon his writing, particularly the Welsh language. The erudite among us should also recognize elements drawn from elsewhere. In this short, but dense, book, Phelpstead shares his conglomeration of the relationship between Tolkien, and all the ways Welsh and Wales--from ethnicity to linguistics to Arthurian legend to Breton poetry--influenced not only his writing, but also his thinking, his scholarship, and his personal identity. While highly fascinating, the reader should be prepared for stiffly academic writing, which somehow manages not to be nearly as dry as one might expect. If you're not used to reading Academicese, you might feel constrained to digest this book in short reading sessions and allow the material to percolate.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This is an interesting and esoteric overview of Tolkien's Welsh influences, even if much of what's said here isn't exactly revelatory.