The History of the Hobbit
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Product Description
A major new examination of how J.R.R.Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece 'The Hobbit', including his complete unpublished draft version of the story, and many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps by Tolkien himself. The History of the Hobbit presents for the first time, in two volumes, the complete unpublished text of the original manuscript of J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff's lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. As well as recording the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, it examines -- chapter-by-chapter -- why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien's ever-growing concept of Middle-earth. The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its successor, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that "grew in the telling", and many characters and story threads in the published text are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads". As well as reproducing the original version of one of literature's most famous stories, both on its own merits and as the foundation for The Lord of the Rings, this new book includes many little-known illustrations and previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive annotations and commentaries on the date of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings. Like Christopher Tolkien's The History of The Lord of the Rings before it, this is a thoughtful yet exhaustive examination of one of the most treasured stories in English literature. Long overdue for a classic book now celebrating 70 years in print, this companion edition offers fascinating new insights for those who have grown up with this enchanting tale, and will delight those who are about to enter Bilbo's round door for the first time.
About the Author
John D. Rateliff moved to Wisconsin in 1981 in order to work with the Tolkien manuscripts at Marquette University. He has been active in Tolkien scholarship for many years, delivering papers on Tolkien and the Inklings. While at Marquette, he assisted in the collation of their holdings with those Christopher Tolkien was editing for his History of Middle-earth series. A professional editor, he lives in the Seattle area with his wife and three cats, only one of whom is named after a Tolkien character.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent insights,
By
This review is from: Mr. Baggins: 1 (History of the Hobbit) (Hardcover)
Rateliff has done a thorough job in researching the sources of the original mauscripts of The Hobbit. His revelations provide much pause for thought when looking at the alleged originality of Tolkien's earliest published novel. There are discussions relating to the sources of each name that Tolkien uses, each location, each people, each myth. Rateliff's analysis of the relationship between Tolkien's myths and those of Greece, Rome, Celtic and Norse origin is enlightening and very much adds to the enjoyment of the original work.An adult response to a childhood story. Much welcomed. Now I am off to read the second half of Rateliff's academic work: Return To Bag End
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for fanatics and fantasists,
By PanamaHat (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mr. Baggins: 1 (History of the Hobbit) (Hardcover)
You don't - in theory - have to be a Tolkien fan to find value in this book (and its continuation in part 2). Its main thrust is a step by step, academically rigorous examination of the process of composition, starting from the first manuscript and including the notes and memoranda Tolkien made for himself. As such, it provides an insight into the development of storyline and characters which should interest any writer. It shows that, in the case of The Hobbit, while much of the published narrative was as originally conceived, significant changes took place as the novel grew: the names of three major characters were changed, many inconsistencies were ironed out, some elements were abandoned and others introduced, often taking the story in a new direction.The format is to reproduce Tolkien's original manuscript chapter by chapter, including the abbreviations, crossings out, insertions and so on that he made at the time; this is supplemented by 'Text Notes' which identify his sources, point out the process of change as the story moved from manuscript to typescript to printer's proofs to publication, and shed sidelights based on Tolkien's correspondence and other writings. Following each chunk of text and notes is a commentary (also supplemented by its own notes) on selected themes introduced in that chapter. Again there's a lot here that's of interest on a general level: Tolkien, for example, didn't - as most readers might suppose - make up all The Hobbit's character and place names; many of them come from sources in Nordic mythology; various others are carefully constructed from obscure or archaic English, Celtic, etc. Nor - despite Tolkien's lifelong attempt to construct a fantasy world with its own 'legendarium' - is the back story entirely drawn from his own imagination; there are echoes throughout of existing mythologies, of real incidents which happened in Tolkien's childhood, etc. Where John Rateliff is likely to lose all but the most committed Tolkien junkie is when he debates the possible roots of those names which definitely are made up, arguing which of the invented languages Tolkien proposed for his imaginary peoples provides the derivation. That's not analysis, just anal. One final quibble. If Mr Rateliff (an American, who to judge by some of his explanatory glosses of everyday UK English words writes very much with the American reader in mind) is so meticulous as to transcribe obvious literals that Tolkien committed in the heat of first-draft composition, why the careless or wilful inclusion of Americanisms such as 'labor' and 'plow' ?
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The History of Middle Earth - an addendum,
By
This review is from: The History of the Hobbit: Part One: Mr Baggins: Mr Baggins v. 1 (Paperback)
Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle Earth, in twelve volumes, glaringly omits any reference to The Hobbit; apparently because it is 'not part of the legendarium'. John Ratliffe's two books make good the lack. The presentation is tremendously scholarly: there are text footnotes and commentary footnotes, sometimes with footnotes of their own! You need at least two bookmarks if you are to keep track, and a good memory. As to the content, if you are familiar with Tolkien's modus operandi, it will come as no surprise that there were substantial, overlapping, often-incomplete waves of revision; that his cavalier approach to deadlines left his publisher's nerves frazzled; and that he was still reworking it at the end of his life. The Hobbit started off as a free-standing children's story, but it was gradually infected with the matter of Amman & Beleriand, still his private property at that time. Tolkien was an early victim of the internal-coherence obsession that bedevilled Isaac Asimov in his later days, and is a perennial nuisance in Larry Niven's Known Space. The moral is, if you want internal consistence within your oevre, apply it ab initio!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
