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Product Description
Review
‘A haunting and successful demonstration of the qualities of faerie’
New York Times
‘The book must be read… it goes far to explain the nature of his art and justify his success’
The Cambridge Review
‘While springing from deep-rooted convictions, his art has imaginative magic of a very rare quality’
Birmingham Post
Product Description
Repackaged to feature Tolkien’s own painting of the Tree of Amalion, this collection includes his famous essay, ‘On Fairy-stories’ and the story that exemplifies this, ‘Leaf by Niggle’, together with the poem ‘Mythopoeia’ and the verse drama, ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth’, which tells of the events following the disastrous Battle of Maldon.
Fairy-stories are not just for children, as anyone who has read Tolkien will know. In his essay On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien discusses the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy and rescues the genre from those who would relegate it to juvenilia. The haunting short story, Leaf by Niggle, recounts the story of the artist, Niggle, who has ‘a long journey to make’ and is seen as an allegory of Tolkien’s life.
The poem Mythopoeia relates an argument between two unforgettable characters as they discuss the making of myths. Lastly, and published for the very first time, we are treated to the translation of Tolkien’s account of the Battle of Maldon, known as The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth.
Tree and Leaf is an eclectic, amusing, provocative and entertaining collection of works which reveals the diversity of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination, the depth of his knowledge of English history, and the breadth of his talent as a creator of fantastic fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 86 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book was originally a publishing concoction consisting of only two items, short story 'Leaf by Niggle' and essay 'On Fairy-Stories'; both have since become readily available in other editions. But even if you already have the texts in your collection, know that 'Tree and Leaf' has sprouted new branches since its first publication in 1964, as is only fitting. First, in 1988, Tolkien's poetic dialogue 'Mythopoeia' was added; this new 2001 edition also includes 'The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth' - the only sequel to another author's work by JRRT that I know of (albeit one nameless, and dead for a milennium). The four works now form a strong whole: the essay lays out the groundwork for virtually all of Tolkien's fiction and sheds much light on the value system underlining his creative choices. This is literary theory of a sort that is almost extinct in university courses nowadays - and feels like a breath of fresh inspiration after so many postmodern dead ends, frankly. 'Mythopoeia' brings this argument with modernity out in a style reminiscent of classical dialectics (in verse and quite amusing to boot); but then 'Leaf by Niggle' explodes in a flash of what the book has previously only talked about: it is the real thing, one of Tolkien's most poignant works, and the sheer concentration of emotion in it rivals his best mythological stories. 'Beorhtnoth' now gives the end of the book a sombre tone, an elegy of times and heroes gone and on the way to be forgotten - written in a prime example of Old English verse.
Maybe not meant to be experienced in this order, the four items certainly form a strong whole, one essential to the understanding of the author - more so than anything you might see in cinema these days...
Maybe not meant to be experienced in this order, the four items certainly form a strong whole, one essential to the understanding of the author - more so than anything you might see in cinema these days...
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this in my "Must read everything by Tolkien" phase having just read Lord of the Rings. It is essentially an essay on Fairy Tales, but it has some wonderful theories and concepts. When I re-read the book years later, it hit me so hard I'll never be the same, as it dawned on me just what amazing things Tolkien was saying. The ideas from this have doubled my enjoyment of every book I have read since.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Although the other texts included in "Tree and leaf" (Mythopoeia, Leaf by Niggle and the Homecoming of...) are interesting and valuable, the reason to purchase this slim volume lies in the essay "On fairy-stories": in this terse piece of writing, originally meant for a lecture, Tolkien defends the right of writers to create beautiful stories with little or no apparent connection to "The real world", and the right of readers to find consolation in the healing power of beauty. This way he doesn't only justify the work of his entire life, the creation of Middle Earth and the stories of men, hobbits and magical rings, but he claims its connection to ancient mythology and especially to the world of heroes such as Beowulf.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tree & Leaf
Hunted for a reasonably priced copy of 'Leaf by Niggle' & this was it. (All others seemed to be tied into expensive anthologies. Read more
Published 5 months ago by F. L. Baird
A glimpse of beauty
I'd totally recommend getting this if only for the short story "leaf by Niggle". Which in spite of Tolkien's professed "cordial dislike of allegory" is profoundly allegorical. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2008 by TreeFrog
Not exclusively Tolkienian
I get frustrated when reviewers of Tolkien's works (fiction or other) tend to wrap his legendarium complete with his theory in a box-like container, only applicable to Tolkien. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2008 by R.J.W89
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