The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays

The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's scholarly linguistic essays edited by his son Christopher and published posthumously in 1983.

All of them were initially delivered as lectures to academics, with the exception of "On Translating Beowulf", which Christopher Tolkien notes in his foreword is not addressed to an academic audience.

Essays

The essays are:

• "Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics" looks at the critics' understanding of Beowulf, and proposes instead a fresh take on the poem.
• "On Translating Beowulf" looks at the difficulties in translating the poem from Old English.
• "On Fairy-Stories," the 1939 Andrew Lang lecture at St Andrew's University, is a defence of the fantasy genre.
• "A Secret Vice" talks about creating imaginary languages, giving background to Tolkien's Quenya and Sindarin.
• "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a study of the medieval poem of the same name.
• "English and Welsh," the inaugural O'Donnell Memorial Lecture (1955), is a survey of the historical relationship between the two tongues, including an analysis of the word Welsh.
• "Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford", given upon his retirement in 1959.

Versions

• The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays (1983). J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien. George Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-809019-0

--- (1984) Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-35635-0

--- (1997) HarperCollins. ISBN 0-261-10263-X

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J. R. R. Tolkien

• • Bibliography
  • Letters

Poetry
and songs

• Songs for the Philologists (1936)
  • "Bagme Bloma"
• The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (1953)
• "A Walking Song" (1954)
• The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962)
  • "Errantry"
  • "Fastitocalon"
  • "The Sea-Bell"
  • "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late"
• The Road Goes Ever On (1967)
• Bilbo's Last Song (1974)
• List of Tolkien's alliterative verse

Fiction

• The Hobbit (1937)
• "Leaf by Niggle" (1947)
• The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (1945)
• Farmer Giles of Ham (1949)
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
  • The Two Towers (1954)
  • The Return of the King (1955)
• Tree and Leaf (1964)
• The Tolkien Reader (1966)
• Smith of Wootton Major (1967)

Posthumous
fiction

• The Father Christmas Letters (1976)
• The Silmarillion (1977)
• Unfinished Tales (1980)
• Mr. Bliss (1982)
• The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996)
  • The Book of Lost Tales
  • The Lays of Beleriand
  • The Shaping of Middle-earth
  • The Lost Road and Other Writings
  • The History of The Lord of the Rings
  • Morgoth's Ring
  • The War of the Jewels
  • The Peoples of Middle-earth
• Roverandom (1998)
• The Children of Húrin (2007)
• The History of The Hobbit (2007)
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (2009)
• The Fall of Arthur (2013)
• The Story of Kullervo (2015)
• Beren and Lúthien (2017)
• The Fall of Gondolin (2018)
• The Nature of Middle-earth (2021)
• The Fall of Númenor (2022)

Academic
works

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Middle English text, 1925)
• "The Devil's Coach Horses" (1925)
• "Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad" (1929)
• "Sigelwara Land" (1932–34)
• "Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale" (1934)
• "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" (1936)
• "On Fairy-Stories" (1939)
• "On Translating Beowulf" (1940)
• Sir Orfeo (1944)
• Ancrene Wisse (1962)
• "English and Welsh" (1963)
• Jerusalem Bible (as translator and lexicographer, 1966)

Posthumous
academic

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (translations, 1975)
• Exodus (1981)
• Finn and Hengest (1982)
• The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays (1983)
• Beowulf and the Critics (2002)
• Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary with "Sellic Spell" (2014)
• A Secret Vice (2016)

Scholars

Writers	Biographers Humphrey Carpenter John Garth Popular authors Lin Carter Robert Foster Glen GoodKnight J. E. A. Tyler
Christian	Stratford Caldecott Matthew T. Dickerson Colin Duriez Peter Kreeft Joseph Pearce Fleming Rutledge Ralph C. Wood
Literary critics	Douglas A. Anderson Nicholas Birns Bradley J. Birzer David Bratman Janet Brennan Croft Patrick Curry Bradford Lee Eden Dimitra Fimi Jason Fisher Verlyn Flieger Michael Foster Wayne G. Hammond Randel Helms Thomas Honegger Charles A. Huttar Paul H. Kocher Stuart D. Lee Jared Lobdell John D. Rateliff Robin Anne Reid Christina Scull Amy H. Sturgis Richard C. West
Linguists	Anthony Appleyard Helge Fauskanger Carl F. Hostetter Tom Loback David Salo Arden R. Smith
Medievalists	Marjorie Burns Jane Chance Michael D. C. Drout Gergely Nagy Tom Shippey Elizabeth Solopova Sandra Ballif Straubhaar

Related

• A Tolkien Compass
• Family
  • Francis Xavier Morgan
• Influences
• Artwork
  • J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator
• Languages constructed by Tolkien
• The Inklings
• The Keys of Middle-earth
• Mythlore
• Mythopoeic Society
  • Elvish Linguistic Fellowship
• Picturing Tolkien
• Tolkien and the Classical World
• Tolkien's impact on fantasy
• Tolkien and the modernists
• Tolkien Estate
• Tolkien fandom
• The Tolkien Society
  • Awards
  • Tolkien Reading Day
• Tolkien Studies
• Memorials
• Reception
• Tolkien research
• Works inspired by Tolkien
• J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography (1977, authorized biography)
• The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
• Master of Middle-Earth
• Perilous Realms
• Tolkien and the Great War
• The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien
• Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
• Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon
• Tolkien, Race and Cultural History
• Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England'
• Tolkien (biographical film)
• Poems and Songs of Middle Earth (album)
• Language and Human Nature
• The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
• Understanding The Lord of the Rings

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