{"product_id":"9780007375905_the-monsters-and-the-critics","title":"The Monsters and the Critics","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe complete collection of Tolkien’s essays, including two on Beowulf, which span three decades beginning six years before The Hobbit to five years after The Lord of the Rings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe seven essays by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this edition were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien’s work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf, including the well-known lecture whose title is taken for this book, and one with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, given in the University of Glasgow in 1953.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlso included in this volume is the lecture ‘English and Welsh’; the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959; and a paper on Invented Languages delivered in 1931, with exemplification from poems in the Elvish tongues. Most famous of all is ‘On Fairy-Stories’, a discussion of the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy, which gives insight into Tolkien’s approach to the whole genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe pieces in this collection cover a period of nearly thirty years, beginning six years before the publication of The Hobbit, with a unique ‘academic’ lecture on his invention (calling it ‘A Secret Vice’) and concluding with his farewell to professorship, five years after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"J R R Tolkien","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47267876470933,"sku":"9780007375905","price":11.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780007375905.jpg?v=1776889988","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780007375905_the-monsters-and-the-critics","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}