Edited by Jared Lobdell
Published (paperback): 1975
Read: November 2019
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Partial Synopsis: Contributors analyze Gollum’s character transformation, the psychological journey of Bilbo, the regime set up by Saruman at the end of Lord of the Rings and its parallels to fascism, the books’ narrative technique, and Tolkien’s rich use of myth and symbol.
List of Essays
Contents courtesy of the ISFDB entry for this edition (“Publication: A Tolkien Compass,” n.d.):
- 1 • Introduction (A Tolkien Compass) • essay by Jared Lobdell
- 9 • Gollum’s Character Transformation in The Hobbit • essay by Bonniejean Christensen
- 29 • The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins • essay by Dorothy Matthews
- 43 • The Fairy-tale Morality of The Lord of the Rings • essay by Walter Scheps
- 57 • The Corruption of Power • essay by Helen Hill and Agnes Perkins
- 69 • Everyclod and Everyhero: The Image of Man in Tolkien • essay by Deborah C. Rogers
- 77 • The Interlace Structure of The Lord of the Rings • essay by Richard C. West
- 95 • Narrative Pattern in The Fellowship of the Ring • essay by David M. Miller
- 107 • “The Scouring of the Shire”: Tolkien’s View of Fascism • essay by Robert Plank
- 117 • Hell and The City: Tolkien and the Traditions of Western Literature • essay by Charles A. Huttar
- 143 • Aspects of the Paradisiacal in Tolkien’s Work • essay by U. Milo Kaufmann
- 155 • Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings • essay by J. R. R. Tolkien
My Favorite Essays
I found most of the essays collected in A Tolkien Compass to be intriguing and thought provoking. At least three of them added twenty new books, journals and articles to my to-be-read queue. The notes alone on a couple of the essays were three or four pages in length and sent me down fantastic research rabbit holes. I can’t decide which essay is my absolute favorite, so I’ll list my top five here (in author alpha order):
- Huttar, Charles A. “Hell and the City: Tolkien and the Traditions of Western Literature”
- Miller, David M. “Narrative Pattern in The Fellowship of the Ring“
- Rogers, Deborah C. “Everyclod an Everyhero: The Image of Man in Tolkien”
- Scheps, Walter “The Fairy-tale Morality of The Lord of the Rings“
- West, Richard C. “The Interlace Structure of The Lord of the Rings“
Honorable Mentions include Agnes Perkins’ “The Corruption of Power” and U. Milo Kaufmann’s “Aspects of the Paradisiacal in Tolkien’s Work”
My Thoughts
A Tolkien Companion, originally published in 1975, amazed me with the depth of insight and scholarship gleaned from the then available works published by Tolkien and about Tolkien’s writing. I saw at least one reference to the manuscripts archived at Marquette University in Wisconsin. Yet, these essays still pre-date the publication of The Silmarillion and the volumes of The History of Middle-earth. Unlike Master of Middle-earth, however, I did not gain any new revelations about Tolkien’s Legendarium, but I did experience profound and thought provoking moments. If I had to choose my favorite essay from the collection, it would probably be Richard West’s “The Interlace Structure of The Lord of the Rings” because I had to restrain myself from recording the entire essay as an audio excerpt.
I recommend this to people interested in delving deeper into Tolkien’s writing.
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