Verlyn Flieger est une auteure, éditrice et professeure d'anglais à l'Université du Maryland à College Park. Elle enseigne la mythologie comparée, la littérature médiévale et les œuvres de J. R. R. Tolkien. Ses travaux explorent des archétypes profonds et des structures narratives qui résonnent à travers les cultures et les siècles. Par son expertise, elle offre aux lecteurs une exploration captivante des royaumes du mythe et de la légende.
Tolkien's concern with time - past and present, real and faerie - captures the wonder of travel into other worlds and other times. This work shows that he was not just a mythmaker and writer of escapist fantasy but a man whose relationship to his own century was troubled and critical.
A new expanded edition of Tolkien's most famous, and most important essay, which defined his conception of fantasy as a literary form, and which led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Accompanied by a critical study of the history and writing of the text.
Flieger attempts to illuminate the structure of The Silmarillion, allowing the reader to appreciate its broad, overarching design and its careful, painstaking construction.
Unavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published for the first time with Tolkien’s ‘Corrigan’ poems and other supporting material, including a prefatory note by Christopher Tolkien.Set ‘In Britain’s land beyond the seas’ during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (‘Aotrou’ and ‘Itroun’) and the tragedy that befalls them when Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose between betraying his marriage and losing his life.Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the two shorter ‘Corrigan’ poems that lead up to it and are also included here, was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien’s life when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, and particularly Breton, myth and legend.Written in 1930, this early but seminal work is an important addition to the non-Middle-earth portion of his canon alongside Tolkien’s other retellings of myth and legend, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The Fall of Arthur and The Story of Kullervo, a small but important corpus of his ventures into ‘real-world’ mythologies, each of which would be a formative influence on his own legendarium.
J. R. R. Tolkien is perhaps best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it is in The Silmarillion that the true depth of Tolkien's Middle-earth can be understood. The Silmarillion was written before, during, and after Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A collection of stories, it provides information alluded to in Tolkien's better known works and, in doing so, turns The Lord of the Rings into much more than a sequel to The Hobbit, making it instead a continuation of the mythology of Middle-earth. Verlyn Flieger's expanded and updated edition of Splintered Light, a classic study of Tolkien's fiction first published in 1983, examines The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning. Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's use of Barfield's concept throughout the fiction, showing how his central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-earth.
The powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father. The Story of Kullervo - published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes and lecture- essays on its source-work, The Kalevala, is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world.
Exploring Tolkien's deep connection to fairy stories and the enchanting realm of faërie, this collection of essays delves into his lifelong fascination with myth-making. The essays examine how Tolkien not only created but also inhabited this magical world, highlighting the unique elements that define it. Through thoughtful analysis, the work reveals the significance of fairy tales in shaping Tolkien's narratives and the broader implications of his storytelling.
With the release of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and forthcoming film version of The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien's popularity has never been higher. In Green Suns and Faerie, author Verlyn Flieger, one of world's foremost Tolkien scholars, presents a selection of her best articles- some never before published-on a range of Tolkien topics.