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Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode
Professor J.R.R.Tolkien is most widely known as the author of The Lord of the Rings, but he was also a scholar in the field of Mediaeval English language and literature.
The story of Finn and Hengest, two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe, is told both in Beowulf and in a fragmentary Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Fight at Finnsburg, but so obscurely and allusively that its interpretation had been a matter of controversy for over 100 years. Bringing his unique combination of philological erudition and poetic imagination to the task, however, Tolkien revealed a classic tragedy of divided loyalties, of vengeance, blood and death. The story has the added attraction that it describes the events immediately preceding the first Germanic invasion of Britain which was led by Hengest himself.
The story of Finn and Hengest, two fifth-century heroes in northern Europe, is told both in Beowulf and in a fragmentary Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Fight at Finnsburg, but so obscurely and allusively that its interpretation had been a matter of controversy for over 100 years. Bringing his unique combination of philological erudition and poetic imagination to the task, however, Tolkien revealed a classic tragedy of divided loyalties, of vengeance, blood and death. The story has the added attraction that it describes the events immediately preceding the first Germanic invasion of Britain which was led by Hengest himself.
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
15 people are currently reading
1207 people want to read
About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
786 books77.4k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 28, 2021
Odmah moram reci da je ovo bilo jedno zahtevno citanje!
Impozantno je koliko je Tolkin otisao daleko u tumacenju ove "balade".
A opet sa druge strane, sto on vise razlaze i analizaira ono malo sacuvanog, originalnog teksta, to je citalac u vecem problemu. To kazem jer vam je za lagodno citanje i potpuo razumevanje potrebno kakvo takvo poznavanje istorije severa. Ra razliku od pregrsti fantasticnih motiva kojima obiluje Beowulf, "Finn and Hengest" se moze podvesti pod istorijski dogadjaj.
Neki ce u ovoj knjizi maksimalno uzivati, dok ce je drugi naci kao suvoparnu i tesku.
Kao neko ko sebe moze svrstati u sredinu izmedju ova dva moram vam reci da sam uzivao u njoj i da sam naucio da vise cenim moc jedne jedine reci, jer nekada ta jedna rec ili jedno ime mogu biti svet za sebe. Jos na kraju da kazem da je u globalu, i sto se konkrento same radnje "balade" tice, ova knjiga jedno veliko blago za svakog ljubitelja EPSKOG!
Impozantno je koliko je Tolkin otisao daleko u tumacenju ove "balade".
A opet sa druge strane, sto on vise razlaze i analizaira ono malo sacuvanog, originalnog teksta, to je citalac u vecem problemu. To kazem jer vam je za lagodno citanje i potpuo razumevanje potrebno kakvo takvo poznavanje istorije severa. Ra razliku od pregrsti fantasticnih motiva kojima obiluje Beowulf, "Finn and Hengest" se moze podvesti pod istorijski dogadjaj.
Neki ce u ovoj knjizi maksimalno uzivati, dok ce je drugi naci kao suvoparnu i tesku.
Kao neko ko sebe moze svrstati u sredinu izmedju ova dva moram vam reci da sam uzivao u njoj i da sam naucio da vise cenim moc jedne jedine reci, jer nekada ta jedna rec ili jedno ime mogu biti svet za sebe. Jos na kraju da kazem da je u globalu, i sto se konkrento same radnje "balade" tice, ova knjiga jedno veliko blago za svakog ljubitelja EPSKOG!
January 28, 2024
This is Tolkien’s attempt to reconstruct the story behind the Finnsburh episode in Beowulf and the Finnsburh fragment, the only two remaining bits of evidence about the saga.
Most of what Tolkien said in this book went right over my head. The depth of knowledge and mastery of many languages, the etymological connections between them, and the entirety of the body of literature from that era were utterly baffling. I knew that Tolkien had this knowledge and mastery, but to see it in action was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
What seems to set Tolkien apart from the other scholars he references who have attempted the same project is that they understand the languages, but Tolkien knows how stories are built. Because he understands this as well as the languages and history, he is able to put together a proposed backstory which is far more convincing than any of the other attempts.
Most of what Tolkien said in this book went right over my head. The depth of knowledge and mastery of many languages, the etymological connections between them, and the entirety of the body of literature from that era were utterly baffling. I knew that Tolkien had this knowledge and mastery, but to see it in action was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
What seems to set Tolkien apart from the other scholars he references who have attempted the same project is that they understand the languages, but Tolkien knows how stories are built. Because he understands this as well as the languages and history, he is able to put together a proposed backstory which is far more convincing than any of the other attempts.
September 7, 2011
A masterpiece of pure Tolkien. Not always the easiest book to follow but the rewards it gives is like discovering a cave on hidden treasures. Makes one wishes that one could go back in time and be in those lectures with e Professor himself!!!
October 25, 2011
Don't pick up Finn and Hengest expecting a story -- not even in the same sense as Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. It's mostly a collection of notes and lectures, edited for coherence, in which Tolkien pulled out the threads of what we know of Finn and Hengest from the fragments we have of poems referencing them, and tried to reconstruct the historical events being referred to.
It's very interesting work, and really fills me with awe at Tolkien's scholarship -- even more so than his work on Beowulf as a whole. And it's readable, too.
The volume includes both the Old English poetry, and at the back, a facing translation; in terms of Tolkien's notes, it includes a glossary of names, including analysis, an almost line-by-line commentary, and a reconstruction. If only Tolkien had prepared it for publication himself!
It's very interesting work, and really fills me with awe at Tolkien's scholarship -- even more so than his work on Beowulf as a whole. And it's readable, too.
The volume includes both the Old English poetry, and at the back, a facing translation; in terms of Tolkien's notes, it includes a glossary of names, including analysis, an almost line-by-line commentary, and a reconstruction. If only Tolkien had prepared it for publication himself!
May 11, 2025
The publishers delved too greedily and too deep…
and they unearthed this gem, edited by Alan Bliss.
A trip to medieval literature, starring a poem and an excerpt, their connections and tons of notes on both.
and they unearthed this gem, edited by Alan Bliss.
A trip to medieval literature, starring a poem and an excerpt, their connections and tons of notes on both.
January 24, 2025
Another good read by J. R. R. Tolkien, but credit must also be given to Alan Bliss for an excellent editotial.
June 7, 2020
Finn and Hengest is a thoroughtoful research about two Old English poems that are the only account of a debatable historical even known as “The fight at a Finnesburg”.
The book is mainly an edition of JRR Tolkien’s notes on a series of lectures about the subject.
The book contains a big deal of ideas and hypothesis about the origin of the poems, characters, relationship about the ones featuring it and some other stuff.
It is mainly a collection of notes, organized to be coherent and explains topics as names, warring factions, historical context, among others. It is a very in-detail investigation, even analizing the poems line by line and comparing words of Old English with other germanic languages to obtain some unique results.
Finally and after examining every tid and bit of the poems, Tolkien delivers his translations and his reconstruction of the events, explaining in his opinion how things happened (all speculative but supported by all the previous pages). Also, the work is finished with some very interesting apendixes about the historical context.
Okay, so who should read this? If you are into early germanic history, you’ve enjoyed Beowulf, the Sagas, Waldhere, etc.; or you have a language academical background, this may be your book. If not, you might not appreciate all the efforts that Tolkien did when lecturing this topic. If that the case, i suggest you to read everything except the textual commentary (where is the most heavy part of the book).
For me, it was a good read after all but all the language study was very dense. Despite this, I was happy to explore the more academical side of Tolkien.
The book is mainly an edition of JRR Tolkien’s notes on a series of lectures about the subject.
The book contains a big deal of ideas and hypothesis about the origin of the poems, characters, relationship about the ones featuring it and some other stuff.
It is mainly a collection of notes, organized to be coherent and explains topics as names, warring factions, historical context, among others. It is a very in-detail investigation, even analizing the poems line by line and comparing words of Old English with other germanic languages to obtain some unique results.
Finally and after examining every tid and bit of the poems, Tolkien delivers his translations and his reconstruction of the events, explaining in his opinion how things happened (all speculative but supported by all the previous pages). Also, the work is finished with some very interesting apendixes about the historical context.
Okay, so who should read this? If you are into early germanic history, you’ve enjoyed Beowulf, the Sagas, Waldhere, etc.; or you have a language academical background, this may be your book. If not, you might not appreciate all the efforts that Tolkien did when lecturing this topic. If that the case, i suggest you to read everything except the textual commentary (where is the most heavy part of the book).
For me, it was a good read after all but all the language study was very dense. Despite this, I was happy to explore the more academical side of Tolkien.
July 2, 2023
It was really clear that the editor was trying to pad this out into a book-length manuscript, because there were duplicates of things, an insane amount of line-by-line commentary, extensive lists of character names, and multiple introductions. The fragment and episode themselves were interesting, but they were so short that I don't think they merited an entire book. I think a book of Tolkien translations/retellings that included other short (or micro, in the case of the fragment) works would have been more appropriate.
August 28, 2011
Now I know why I am not a philologist. This book is not an easy read, with many sections just detailing names and correspondences, but the end result of illuminating the possible background to the fight at Finnesburg is informative, brings the history to life. A valuable adjunct to Beowulf and helping one to see the depth in the allusions within the larger epic.
December 30, 2020
Probably the most technical nerdy thing I’ve read this year. This is no less than an detailed, academic, textual critique of two readings of the same story. One of which is an independent Old English fragment, and also one episode in the Beowulf narrative that is believed to be a separate and independent, if not also related, story. Of course my level of interest in this is driven by the text critic in question, J. R. R. Tolkien. My brief analysis of this book is that it’s the deepest of dives into Tolkien’s academic specialty, Old English philology and culture. This book is another philologist’s attempt to make sense of Tolkien’s notes on this story post mortem, annotating and commenting on them as Tolkien himself only lectured on the material and never published them. It’s a 5th century story, historic in parts while also legendary, capturing an episode in the volatile politics of competing Saxon, Jute, Dane, and broadly Germanic conquests and conflicts. My comment regarding the significance of this to a Tolkien fan is to consider the depth from which the mind that created Middle Earth was drawing. As related to all else in life, we are not more in tuned, in love, or consumed by something we shut off our intellect toward. Tolkien’s cultivated and precise knowledge of language and history were the well that watered Middle Earth, and we’d all be better for such efforts in our own domains, and with our faith. 180 pages of Old English etymology, history, and culture.
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March 24, 2024χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 40 δευτερόλεπτα
Το πρώτο βιβλίο της χρονιάς. Κι απ’ τα πιο βαρετά. Οι ήρωες του τίτλου είναι του 5ου μ.Χ αιώνα. Ανήκουν στα γερμανικά φύλα που αποίκησαν την Βρετανία και έδωσαν στην Αγγλία στους Άγγλους τη γλώσσα και το όνομά τους.
Την πρώτη ύλη για τη γλώσσα που ξέρουμε ως αγγλικά.
Για αυτούς τους 2 τον Φιν και τον Χένγκεστ μαθαίνουμε αποσπασματικά από δυο πηγές. Το έπος Μπέογουλφ που τους αφιερώνει 100 σχεδόν στίχους και 50 περίπου στίχους, όσοι δηλαδή σώθηκαν από ένα παλιό άσμα.
Ένα ενδιαφέρον θέμα που όμως η ακαδημαϊκή και εξονυχιστικά αναλυτική ανάλυση του Τόλκιν το κάνει πιο στεγνό κι από μνι καλόγριας.
40 σελίδες γλωσσάριο ονομάτων όπου αναλύονται ετυμολογικά, καμιά 60ριά σελίδες σχολιασμός, παραρτήματα και περεταίρω ανάλυση έκανε την ανάγνωση αυτού του βιβλίου, των 180 σελίδων, να μοιάζει με ανάγνωση του Λεξικού του Μπαμπινιώτη.
Ενδιαφέρον ναι, αλλά όχι και ό,τι πιο διασκεδαστικό.
April 11, 2013
Ok, this is the kind of thing I want to do! Only, as the fella who wrote the introduction says, I have to make sure Tolkien hasn't already written exhaustively on my particular Saxony topics. (The guy presented a brilliant paper at a conference only to have everyone there tell him "Tolkien already wrote that.")
I just translated Sermo Lupi from the OE. I'm getting there!
I just translated Sermo Lupi from the OE. I'm getting there!
September 13, 2019
Interesting and useful for me, who am interested in almost all things Anglo-Saxon.
A well-structured edition by Alan Bliss.
A well-structured edition by Alan Bliss.
February 22, 2025
This is a difficult book to recommend, but I enjoyed it immensely. Tolkien takes about 148 lines of Old English verse — between the isolated Fragment and the Episode from Beowulf — and sets to decoding their true meaning. To a lot of people, this will seem like an overly academic exercise, but I found it deeply enjoyable to read through Tolkien’s work solving this puzzle. And his eventual reconstruction is genuinely revelatory, and (in combination with editor Alan Bliss’ Appendix C) gives valuable new insight into the colonization of the kingdom of Kent in Southeast England. The Fragment and Episode are dense and puzzling; Tolkien works magic in pulling out their original meaning and it’s a joy to follow along with his reasoning.
A recommendation to readers: Alan Bliss assumes you have some familiarity with either Old English, the text of the Fragment and Episode, or both. As a result, he does not present an English translation of the Fragment and the Episode until he gives Tolkien’s translation on page 146. If you’re new to these texts (like me), do yourself a big favor and start by reading those translations, and flag the page because you’ll be referring back to them often.
A recommendation to readers: Alan Bliss assumes you have some familiarity with either Old English, the text of the Fragment and Episode, or both. As a result, he does not present an English translation of the Fragment and the Episode until he gives Tolkien’s translation on page 146. If you’re new to these texts (like me), do yourself a big favor and start by reading those translations, and flag the page because you’ll be referring back to them often.
October 27, 2022
This is another one of Tolkien’s works that focuses on an epic poem from Britain’s history and brings it to a new audience as well as discussing not only what the poem is about but also explaining the context and the history behind it, so that the reader leaves the text feeling much more confident and aware of the poem as a whole.
Reading these sorts of books by Tolkien, I can almost imagine how it would be to sit in a lecture by him and watch him in his element. Seeing the fragments and the context essays that follow, this has all the markings of being a perfect teaching guide that Tolkien would have absolutely smashed. I’m jealous of everyone who did have him as a lecturer.
But I will just have to accept this book instead, and hope that it fills me with the same feeling when I go back to it. But I am glad that I’m still able to carry on my Tolkien education by reading pieces by him that I had never even heard of before now. That’s always exciting.
Reading these sorts of books by Tolkien, I can almost imagine how it would be to sit in a lecture by him and watch him in his element. Seeing the fragments and the context essays that follow, this has all the markings of being a perfect teaching guide that Tolkien would have absolutely smashed. I’m jealous of everyone who did have him as a lecturer.
But I will just have to accept this book instead, and hope that it fills me with the same feeling when I go back to it. But I am glad that I’m still able to carry on my Tolkien education by reading pieces by him that I had never even heard of before now. That’s always exciting.
June 16, 2021
This is an excellent book for those seeking to better understand the legendary origins of the Anglo-Saxons and their place in a broader historical context of north-western Europe during the migration period. Tolkien's own work is insightful enough, but for me the commentary by Alan Bliiss that expanded on his theories, looking into the royal house of Kent and the possible historical bases for Hengist and Horsa right down to their real names, as well as the significance of the relationship between the Danes, Jutes and Frisians, was particularly interesting and as useful as Tolkien's text itself if not more so. This also helps explain Hengist's actions at Finnesburg, providing us with a compelling and dramatic backstory for the Jutes and the legendary invaders of Britain that stretches right back to the historical basis for Hamlet.
October 30, 2018
Old English masterclass
Curated and introduced by Alan Bliss, the book is a thorough display of JRRT literary and historical forensic abilities. Far from the creative and inventive author of Middle-Earth, professor Tolkien dons here the role of the college researcher and digs deep in the verses of the cryptic episode in Beowulf and the Finnesburg fragment, to philologically reconstruct a forgotten page in English history in an amazing lecture. It would be better for the reader to brush up any Old English knowledge she/he may have… or at the least read Tolkien’s Beowulf translation before starting this book: this read need scholar preparation!!
Curated and introduced by Alan Bliss, the book is a thorough display of JRRT literary and historical forensic abilities. Far from the creative and inventive author of Middle-Earth, professor Tolkien dons here the role of the college researcher and digs deep in the verses of the cryptic episode in Beowulf and the Finnesburg fragment, to philologically reconstruct a forgotten page in English history in an amazing lecture. It would be better for the reader to brush up any Old English knowledge she/he may have… or at the least read Tolkien’s Beowulf translation before starting this book: this read need scholar preparation!!
October 9, 2025
Tolkien's Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode (edited by Alan Bliss) is a dense yet fascinating exploration of the enigmatic 'Finnsburh' episode in Beowulf and the fragmentary 'Fight at Finnsburg.' He pursues a bold 'Jutes-on-both-sides' hypothesis to account for the puzzling ethnic terminology and ambiguous loyalties in the texts, and reconstructs a dramatic narrative that seeks to unify scattered evidence about Hnæf, Finn, Hildeburh, and Hengest.
While the depth of philological detail and Tolkien’s intricate footnoting may make the volume challenging outside a specialist audience, the work rewards persistent readers with a vivid sense of the tragedy’s cultural stakes and Tolkien’s erudite imagination at work in Old English scholarship.
While the depth of philological detail and Tolkien’s intricate footnoting may make the volume challenging outside a specialist audience, the work rewards persistent readers with a vivid sense of the tragedy’s cultural stakes and Tolkien’s erudite imagination at work in Old English scholarship.
January 15, 2018
This book shows probably more than any other that Tolkien wrote what a master in Linguistics he was. Truely a testament to his intellect. The astaunding amount of conclusions and information he can gather from a pair of texts that is in total not even 5 pages long just blows my mind.
This book is probably not suited for anyone who is looking for another LoTR from The Man himself.
Also my greatest respects to Mr. Bliss. Who whould have toyed with the idea that he could come so far from fixing broken cars to putting together this masterpiece. Well done. It shows that not only the elderly Christopher Tolkien is suited to finish his father's work.
Excuse me for the pun ;)
This book is probably not suited for anyone who is looking for another LoTR from The Man himself.
Also my greatest respects to Mr. Bliss. Who whould have toyed with the idea that he could come so far from fixing broken cars to putting together this masterpiece. Well done. It shows that not only the elderly Christopher Tolkien is suited to finish his father's work.
Excuse me for the pun ;)
July 29, 2021
This isn't for everybody. Tip:. Flip towards the back and read the translation first. Then you may or may not be interested in the rest of the book. There are details of every name in what's about a 5 page old English poem. Then the other half is a breakdown of basically the entire translation and why it was translated that way. It's very academic bit if you get passed that, there's some really interesting stuff hidden.
December 14, 2022
I wish I knew more about linguistics as a study, most of the breakdown of grammar and context went over my head, but the reconstructed fragment and Tolkien's explanation of the historical context and his extrapolation on the greater story the fragments are from was enjoyable, as was just peeking into his passion for language and the kind of car and dedication he put into constructing his languages just as he deconstructed the fragment and episode of Finn.
September 13, 2020
Dense and difficult, this is an example of how far truly gifted and careful scholars—Tolkien is only the most famous—can go with fragments as small as these two. A fascinating tour through speculation, and some of the clearest examples in of all Tolkien to see him employing the detective capabilities of philology.
Best read as an aside from the study of Beowulf rather than on its own.
Best read as an aside from the study of Beowulf rather than on its own.
November 3, 2021
Tolkien has his own interpretation of who and how related the principal characters in the fragment are, Frisians and Danes. He speculates what issue is resolved between them, which is an alternate take on others reconstruction of the vengeful attack.
Difficult to keep straight and requires revisiting Tolkien's take and at the very least the Wikipedia outline every few years.
Difficult to keep straight and requires revisiting Tolkien's take and at the very least the Wikipedia outline every few years.
July 4, 2022
Required reading for insomniacs.
November 24, 2022
Difficult!
March 30, 2023
Kind of amazing to see the amount of work that goes into solving a historical puzzle like this.
April 30, 2023
This took me back to my Old English literature classes in college, struggling to read Beowulf and understand those words. I loved the challenge and loved the reminder of all the history...
August 8, 2023
A very interesting perspective on Finn and Hengest, both part of Beowulf.
July 8, 2024
I have beef with Mr. Alan Bliss as an editor, and where is why:
- Mr. Bliss did everything he possibly could to make Tolkien's text big enough to be a book, including writing a preface and an editor's introduction (there is also an author's introduction), and putting the original texts twice. I feel like if there's only 50 pages' worth of stuff, we could just make the book 50 pages.
- For some reason the translation was put after the textual commentary, which made little sense.
- Said textual commentary as well as the glossary of names should have been edited better (or at all). On the whole, Christopher Tolkien did a much superior job with his father's notes on Beowulf.
- The most interesting part of the book was the few pages of Tolkien's reconstructions (in my opinion), AKA the appendices, but for some reason another appendix was added by Mr. Bliss, which I thought a tad random; I'm not saying his theory wasn't interesting, but it didn't belong there, he should maybe have published his papers on their own and not mixed the two.
- Also, despite stretching the text as much as he could, for some reason he could not be bothered to translate the latin quotes in his own paper.
Tl;dr: Alan Bliss should have just gone ahead and written his own book. Christopher should have taken this one.
- Mr. Bliss did everything he possibly could to make Tolkien's text big enough to be a book, including writing a preface and an editor's introduction (there is also an author's introduction), and putting the original texts twice. I feel like if there's only 50 pages' worth of stuff, we could just make the book 50 pages.
- For some reason the translation was put after the textual commentary, which made little sense.
- Said textual commentary as well as the glossary of names should have been edited better (or at all). On the whole, Christopher Tolkien did a much superior job with his father's notes on Beowulf.
- The most interesting part of the book was the few pages of Tolkien's reconstructions (in my opinion), AKA the appendices, but for some reason another appendix was added by Mr. Bliss, which I thought a tad random; I'm not saying his theory wasn't interesting, but it didn't belong there, he should maybe have published his papers on their own and not mixed the two.
- Also, despite stretching the text as much as he could, for some reason he could not be bothered to translate the latin quotes in his own paper.
Tl;dr: Alan Bliss should have just gone ahead and written his own book. Christopher should have taken this one.
March 25, 2018
There are things in this book that WILL fly over your head, unless you happen to be some sort of scholar in Old English. It is also very much a scholarly essay, not a narrative, and will reference sources that you are unfamiliar with, assume you can read and understand Old English, and try your patience with subject matter that may require some Googling.
Even if you have none of the skills above, there is still much to be gained from this book. With enough patience and a willingness to ignore the snatches that are unintelligible to all us rubes, what we get is a discernible look into scholarship concerning an obscure episode in history notable mostly for it's connection to the epic poem Beowulf. Tolkien's logic and opinions are fascinating, and you will learn much about Anglo-Saxon culture from a man who loved it. And now we know a little more about what that long aside in Heorot was all about.
Even if you have none of the skills above, there is still much to be gained from this book. With enough patience and a willingness to ignore the snatches that are unintelligible to all us rubes, what we get is a discernible look into scholarship concerning an obscure episode in history notable mostly for it's connection to the epic poem Beowulf. Tolkien's logic and opinions are fascinating, and you will learn much about Anglo-Saxon culture from a man who loved it. And now we know a little more about what that long aside in Heorot was all about.
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