Faculty Publications

Doors into Elf-mounds: J.R.R. Tolkien's Introductions, Prefaces, and Forewords

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Tolkien Studies

Volume

15

First Page

177

Last Page

195

Abstract

Tolkien wrote many forewords, prefaces, and introductory notes over his long career, both to his own and to others' works. This "paratextual" material is often overlooked but is quite interesting in its own right when examined as a body. Writing an introduction for another's work is what Diana Pavlac Glyer (adopting terms from the work of Karen Burke LeFevre) would call the act of a "resonator"—a form of collaboration (in the broadest sense of collaboration) that encourages, supports, and promotes the work of another writer (68–69) and is especially valuable coming from an established scholar sponsoring the work of someone relatively new to the field. In Tolkien's case, for many of these works he was also an "editor," even if not acknowledged as such on the title page, who took care to read the manuscript carefully and "offer feedback or advice that result[ed] in very specific changes" (101), in some instances even working with the author over a period of years. Much of this work was with editions of primary texts, and as Tom Shippey points out, "In the modern academic world, editing [a primary text] is often regarded as a low-prestige occupation, not requiring the literary skills for a successful monograph. [But] Editing is the foundation, the most important part of bringing ancient works and forgotten authors back to life. All the rest is merely superstructure." Editing for Tolkien was therefore not only a form of collaboration with the person creating the edition, but with the long-dead original author or transcriber of the piece as well. The paratextual material associated with his own writing then takes us to another level of collaboration, where the author steps outside his own work to play the role of pseudo-editor.

Department

Rod Library

Original Publication Date

1-1-2018

DOI of published version

10.1353/tks.2018.0009

Link to Full Text

Comments?

Share

COinS