Tolkien Books published in December 2006 - The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, ... (03.12.06)

Tolkien Books Published in December 2006: The Company They Keep & More

We reach the last month of the year 2006 and it seems a very silent period. There is only one interesting publication this month and it seems no re-issues are being released either. I suppose all important works are on the market now (the 50th anniversary editions of Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion,...) and people can choose from the many wonderfull titels that appeared this year! It is time to do the Christmas shopping. Even more so I feel that everyone is now waiting for the release of the Children of Hurin and Tolkien collectors are waiting to buy the deluxe edition.

Still, there are some books that are released this month! The first is the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide by Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull by Houghton Mifflin in the US; we saw the publication of the UK version last month. A nice fact is that now Houghton Mifflin has been sold to an Irish company (River Deep) it will probably be the last Tolkien related book(set) with the Houghton Mifflin logo; from January 2007 the company will be called Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group, and the logo will probably change.

The second is Diana Glyer's book "The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien As Writers in Community". Fans of Tolkien, Lewis, Charles Williams, and the other lesser-known Inklings will be excited by this book... This important study challenges the standard interpretation that Lewis, Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and the other Inklings had little influence on one another’s work, drawing on the latest research in composition studies and the sociology of the creative process. Diana Glyer invites readers into the heart of the group, examining diary entries and personal letters and carefully comparing the rough drafts of their manuscripts with their final, published work.

Her analysis not only demonstrates the high level of mutual influence that characterized this writers group but also provides a lively and compelling picture of how writers and other creative artists challenge, correct, and encourage one another as they work together in community.

Diana Glyer is intrigued by the creative process, particularly the way that creativity thrives within small groups and creative clusters. She holds degrees in art, education, literature, and composition. She has published extensively on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Joy Davidman, and the Inklings.

Diana Pavlac Glyer is professor of English at Azusa Pacific University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and now lives in California. In 1997 she received the Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant. This endowed award is presented annually by the Steering Committee of the Marion E. Wade Center to a scholar engaged in a publishable project related to one of the seven Wade authors. The intention of the award is both to recognize scholarly contributions and also to assist the work of those who use the resources of the Wade Center. Glyer received the Research Grant for the book that will be published this month, "The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien As Writers in Community".

J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
by Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull

Designed to be the essential reference works for all readers and students, these volumes present the most thorough analysis possible of tolkien's work within the important context of his life.
The Reader's Guide includes brief but comprehensive alphabetical entries on a wide range of topics, including a who's who of important persons, a guide to places and institutions, details concerning tolkien's source material, information about the political and social upheavals through which the author lived, the importance of his social circle, his service as an infantryman in World War I -- even information on the critical reaction to his work and the "Tolkien cult."
The Chronology details the parallel evolutions of tolkien's works and his academic and personal life in minute detail. Spanning the entirety of his long life including nearly sixty years of active labor on his Middle-earth creations, and drawing on such contemporary sources as school records, war service files, biographies, correspondence, the letters of his close friend C. S. Lewis, and the diaries of W. H. Lewis, this book will be an invaluable resource for those who wish to gain a complete understanding of tolkien's status as a giant of twentieth-century literature.

CHRISTINA SCULL and WAYNE G. HAMMOND are the authors of J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator as well as the editors of tolkien's Roverandom and the fiftieth anniversary edition of Farmer Giles of Ham. They have been honored three times with the prestigious Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inkling Studies.