Tolkien's frame stories are the narrative devices that
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
chose to use throughout his
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...
writings, especially
his legendarium, to make the works
resemble a genuine mythology written and edited by many hands over a long period of time. He described in detail how his fictional characters wrote their books and transmitted them to others, and showed how later in-universe editors annotated the material.
The
frame story
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
for both Tolkien's novels published in his lifetime, ''
The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...
'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'', is that the eponymous Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-eart ...
wrote a memoir of his adventures, which became ''
The Red Book of Westmarch''. This was continued by his relative
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as "u ...
, who carried the
One Ring
The One Ring, also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane, is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story ''The Hobbit'' (1937) as a magic ring that grants the w ...
to
Mount Doom
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to ...
, and then by Frodo's servant,
Samwise Gamgee
Samwise Gamgee (, usually called Sam) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. A hobbit, Samwise is the chief supporting character of ''The Lord of the Rings'', serving as the sidekick of the protagonist Frodo Baggins. Sam ...
, who had accompanied him. ''The Lord of the Rings'' contains an appendix, "
The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
"The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" is a story within the Appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. It narrates the love of the Man (Middle-earth), mortal Man Aragorn and the Immortality, immortal Elf (Middle-earth), Elf-maiden Arw ...
", which, being written by Men rather than Hobbits, has its own frame story.
The legendarium, the body of writing behind the posthumously-published ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'', has a frame story that evolved over Tolkien's long writing career. It centred on a character,
Aelfwine the mariner, whose name, like those of several later frame-characters, means "Elf-friend". He sails the seas and is shipwrecked on an island where the
Elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
narrate their tales to him. The legendarium contains
two incomplete time-travel novels, ''The Book of Lost Tales'' and The Notion Club Papers, which are framed by various "Elf-friend" characters who by dream or other means visit earlier ages, all the way back to the ancient,
Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
-like
lost civilisation of
Númenor
Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was the kingdom occupying a large island to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was the greatest civil ...
.
Tolkien was influenced by
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
's use of a frame story in his epic poem ''
The Earthly Paradise
''The Earthly Paradise'' by William Morris is an epic poem. It is a lengthy collection of retellings of various myths and legends from Greece and Scandinavia. Publication began in 1868 and several later volumes followed until 1870. The volumes w ...
'', in which mariners of Norway set sail for the mythical place, where they hear and narrate tales, one of them of a wanderer much like
Eärendil. Tolkien was familiar, too, with the Celtic
Imram
An immram (; plural immrama; ga, iomramh , 'voyage') is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld (see Tír na nÓg and Mag Mell). Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preser ...
sea-voyage legends such as those of
St Brendan
Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 - c.577), is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, Brendan the Bold. The ...
, who returned to tell many stories, and published a poem called "Imram" from his legendarium.
Context
Frame stories
A frame story is a tale that encloses or frames the main story or set of stories. For example, in
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
's 1818 novel ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
'', the main story is framed by a fictional correspondence between an explorer and his sister; in ''
One Thousand and One Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
'', compiled during the
Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
, the many stories are framed by a tale that
Shahrazad keeps the king from executing her by telling him a story every night, each time not completing the story by daybreak so that he spares her life for just one more day.
''The Red Book of Westmarch''
In the last chapter of ''
The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...
'', Tolkien writes of the protagonist and titular character
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-eart ...
returning from the journey to the
Lonely Mountain
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Lonely Mountain is a mountain northeast of Mirkwood. It is the location of the Dwarves' Kingdom under the Mountain and the town of Dale lies in a vale on its southern slopes.
In ''The Lord of the Rings'', ...
and composing his memoirs, to record the events described in the book. Bilbo thinks of calling his work ''There and Back Again, A Hobbit's Holiday''.
[, "The Last Stage"] Tolkien's full name for the novel is indeed ''The Hobbit or There and Back Again''.
[, Title page] In the first chapter of ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'', Bilbo's ''There and Back Again'' tale is said to be written in his red leather-bound
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
.
[, "A Long-expected Party"]
While living in
Rivendell
Rivendell ('' sjn, Imladris'') is a valley in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elvish otherworld. It is an important location in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of th ...
, Bilbo expands his memoirs into a record of the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'', including the exploits of his kinsman
Frodo Baggins
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as "u ...
and others. He leaves the material for Frodo to complete and organize.
[ "Many Partings"] Frodo writes down the bulk of the final work, using Bilbo's diary and "many pages of loose notes". At the close of Tolkien's main narrative, the work is almost complete, and Frodo leaves the task to his gardener and close friend and heir
Samwise Gamgee
Samwise Gamgee (, usually called Sam) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. A hobbit, Samwise is the chief supporting character of ''The Lord of the Rings'', serving as the sidekick of the protagonist Frodo Baggins. Sam ...
.
[, "The Grey Havens"]
The Tolkien scholar
Verlyn Flieger Verlyn Flieger (born 1933) is an author, editing, editor, and Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland at College Park, where she taught courses in comparative mythology, medi ...
writes that Tolkien, seeking to present his Middle-earth writings as a credible mythology, needed to create a "credible book tradition". He went to "elaborate lengths" to achieve this, including many mentions of Bilbo's "diary" and "Translations from the Elvish", supposedly created during his years of retirement, complete with "the masses of notes and paper in his room at Rivendell".
She observes that the simulated tradition is already in evidence,
hidden in plain sight
: ''For the book by Peter Wallison, see Peter J. Wallison#Writings''
''Hidden in Plain Sight'' ( fi, Piilottajan päiväkirja) is a non-fiction book by Juha Suoranta. The book—based on the author's journal—is about his attempt to help a min ...
, in ''The Hobbit'', whose
dust jacket
The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...
is "surreptitiously"
ornamented by Tolkien with ancient-looking
rune
Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...
s, which read:
Flieger notes that ''The Hobbit''s frame story is rather fragile, since the book's narrator often speaks in a voice that cannot be Bilbo's.
In ''The Lord of the Rings'', on the other hand, Tolkien carefully embedded the frame story in the text, from the earliest drafts. He has Bilbo talk in the
Council of Elrond
"The Council of Elrond" is the second chapter of Book 2 of J. R. R. Tolkien's bestselling fantasy work, ''The Lord of the Rings'', which was published in 1954–1955. It is the longest chapter in that book at some 15,000 words, and critical for e ...
about getting on with his book, saying that he was "just writing an ending for it", but realising that it now needed "several more chapters" because of Frodo's adventures on the way to Rivendell.
[, "]The Council of Elrond
"The Council of Elrond" is the second chapter of Book 2 of J. R. R. Tolkien's bestselling fantasy work, ''The Lord of the Rings'', which was published in 1954–1955. It is the longest chapter in that book at some 15,000 words, and critical for e ...
" She comments that Tolkien "went so far as to draw up a title page" for his Red Book, showing Bilbo's "largely unsatisfactory tries" at finding an appropriate title.
The final title is Frodo's:
[
Flieger writes that at the time of the release of the first edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1954, Tolkien had not yet included that text in the Red Book; its prologue spoke of ''The Hobbit'' as containing "a selection from the ''Red Book of Westmarch''".] Tolkien went on developing the frame story, and in the second edition he added a "Note on the Shire Records" to the prologue. It explains, in the voice of the fictional editor, that the "account" (the main text of ''The Lord of the Rings'') was taken mainly from the ''Red Book of Westmarch'', stating that this was begun as "Bilbo's private diary", continued by Frodo with an account of the War of the Ring, and extended by Sam.
Near the end of the main text, Tolkien has Frodo give the Red Book to Sam. Flieger notes that, seeing it, Sam says "Why, you have nearly finished it, Mr. Frodo!", and describes Frodo's answer as "both definitive and revealing": "'I have quite finished, Sam', said Frodo. 'The last pages are for you'." She comments that where Sam says "it", meaning the book, Frodo does not, leaving open whether he means the book or his life in Middle-earth as he has recorded in the book. She briefly considers what Sam might have been supposed to have added, if the suggestion is to be taken at all seriously. She points out that they could have been books 4 and 6 of ''The Lord of the Rings'', where Frodo is never seen without Sam, but there are times when Sam is alert while Frodo is absent or unconscious. Further, no other observer was present, especially at Mount Doom
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to ...
where Sam is the only person who sees Gollum fighting an invisible Frodo for the Ring.
Flieger observes that on the stairs of the dangerous pass of Cirith Ungol
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and ...
, Frodo and Sam talk about what a story is. Sam says "We're in one, of course, but I mean put into words, you know ... read out of a great big book with red and black letters". Frodo answers "Why Sam ... to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story were already written". Flieger writes that this is "the most self-referential
Self-reference occurs in natural or formal languages when a sentence, idea or formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some encoding. In philosop ...
and post-modern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
moment in the entire book", since it constitutes the book itself looking both back at its own creation, and forward to the printed book that the reader is holding. She compares this with a passage that Tolkien certainly knew, lines 867–874 of ''Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'', where the scop
A (
or ) was a poet as represented in Old English poetry. The scop is the Old English counterpart of the Old Norse ', with the important difference that "skald" was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most part, to designa ...
who is reciting the poem sings of a poet singing about Beowulf. In her view, Sam's "put into words, you know" is a deliberate echo of ''Beowulf''s "glorying in words".
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
chose to continue the use of the frame story of Bilbo's memoirs in his film adaptations. In his 2001 ''The Fellowship of the Ring
''The Fellowship of the Ring'' is the first of three volumes of the epic novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by ''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King''. It takes place in the fiction ...
'', Bilbo's ''There and Back Again'' provided the basis for the voiceover
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...
for the scene "Concerning Hobbits"; this was greatly extended in the Special Extended Edition. The memoirs' title became the working title for the third of Jackson's ''The Hobbit Films'' in August 2012, but in 2014 he changed it to '' The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies''.
"The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen"
''The Lord of the Rings'' contains a second frame story, for the appendix "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
"The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" is a story within the Appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. It narrates the love of the Man (Middle-earth), mortal Man Aragorn and the Immortality, immortal Elf (Middle-earth), Elf-maiden Arw ...
". The tale describes how the hero Aragorn
Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arno ...
came to marry an immortal Elf-woman, Arwen
Arwen Undómiel is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in the novel ''The Lord of the Rings''. Arwen is one of the half-elven who lived during the Third Age; her father was Elrond half-elven, lord ...
. Tolkien stated that it was "really essential" to the work. Its frame story is that the tale was written by Faramir
Faramir is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is introduced as the younger brother of Boromir of the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of the Ring and second son of Denethor, the Stewards o ...
and Éowyn's grandson Barahir after Aragorn's death, and that an abbreviated version of the tale was included in a copy of the Thain's Book made by Findegil. This in turn was annotated, corrected, and extended in Minas Tirith
Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Man (Middle-earth), Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. The third volume of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Return of the ...
.[, "Prologue: Note on the Shire Records"] The Tolkien scholar Giuseppe Pezzini writes that the "meta-textual frame ... is duly harmonised in the text through the use of formal features; the appendixes are indeed full of scribal glosses, later notes, and editorial references that are meant to match the elaborate textual history detailed in the Note on the Shire Records." The narrative voice
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deli ...
and the story's point of view are examined by the scholar Christine Barkley, who considers the main part of the tale to have been narrated by Aragorn.
Tolkien's legendarium
Tolkien thought of his legendarium, the large body of documents of many kinds that lies behind the text of the text published in 1977 as ''The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'', as a presented collection, with a frame story that changed over the years, first with an Ælfwine-type character who translates the "Golden Book" of the sages Rumil or Pengoloð; later, having the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-eart ...
collect the stories into the ''Red Book of Westmarch
The ''Red Book of Westmarch'' (sometimes the ''Thain's Book'' after its principal version) is a fictional manuscript written by hobbits, related to the author J. R. R. Tolkien's frame stories. It is an instance of the found manuscript conceit ...
'', translating mythological Elvish documents in Rivendell
Rivendell ('' sjn, Imladris'') is a valley in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elvish otherworld. It is an important location in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of th ...
.
Ælfwine
In ''The Book of Lost Tales
''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series ''The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analyses ...
'', begun early in Tolkien's writing career, the character who becomes Ælfwine the mariner is named Ottor Wǽfre (called ''Eriol'' by the Elves), and his tale serves as frame story for the tales of the Elves. He sets out from what is today Heligoland
Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...
on a voyage with a small crew, but is the lone survivor after his ship crashes upon the rocks near an island. The island is inhabited by an old man who gives him directions to Eressëa. After he finds the island, the Elves host him in the Cottage of Lost Play and narrate their tales to him. He afterwards learns from them that the old man he met was actually " Ylmir". He is taught most of the tales by the old Elf Rúmil, Eressëa's lore master.[, p. 103]
In these early versions, Tol Eressea
Valinor (Quenya'': Land of the Valar'') or the Blessed Realms is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the home of the immortal Valar on the continent of Aman, far to the west of Middle-earth; he used the name Aman mainly to me ...
is seen as the island of Britain. He earned the name Ælfwine from the Elves; his first wife, Cwén, was the mother of Hengest and Horsa
Hengist and Horsa are Germanic brothers said to have led the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in their invasion of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the first of the Jutish kings of Kent.
Most modern scholarly consensus now rega ...
; his second wife, Naimi, bore him a third son, Heorrenda, a great poet of half-Elven
A half-elf is a mythological or fictional being, the offspring of an immortal elf and a mortal human. They are often depicted as very beautiful and endowed with magical powers; they may be presented as torn between the two worlds that they inhab ...
descent, who in the fiction would go on to write the Old English epic poem ''Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
''. This weaves together a mythology for England
England and Englishness are represented in multiple forms within J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings; it appears, more or less thinly disguised, in the form of the Shire and the lands close to it; in kindly characters such as Treebeard, F ...
, connecting England's geography, poetry and mythology with the Legendarium as a plausibly reconstructed (though probably untrue) prehistory.
''The Book of Lost Tales''
The first title for ''The Book of Lost Tales
''The Book of Lost Tales'' is a collection of early stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series ''The History of Middle-earth'', in which he presents and analyses ...
'' framed the stories as a transmitted collection:
In the fiction, a series of named Elves told the "lost tales" to Eriol/Ælfwine. He transmitted them via Heorrenda's written book. As edited by Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...
, the 1983 ''Book of Lost Tales, Volume 1'' is inscribed:
''The Notion Club Papers''
In the novel's frame story, a Mr. Green finds documents in sacks of waste paper at Oxford in 2012. These documents, the Notion Club Papers of the title, are the incomplete notes of meetings of the Notion Club; these meetings are said to have occurred in the 1980s. During these meetings, Alwin Arundel Lowdham discusses his lucid dream
A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is n ...
s about Númenor
Númenor, also called Elenna-nórë or Westernesse, is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was the kingdom occupying a large island to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was the greatest civil ...
, a lost civilisation connected with Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
and with Tolkien's Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...
. Through these dreams, he "discovers" much about the Númenor story and the languages of Middle-earth
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
(notably Quenya
Quenya ()Tolkien wrote in his "Outline of Phonology" (in ''Parma Eldalamberon'' 19, p. 74) dedicated to the phonology of Quenya: is "a sound as in English ''new''". In Quenya is a combination of consonants, ibidem., p. 81. is a constructed la ...
, Sindarin
Sindarin is one of the fictional languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set in Arda, primarily in Middle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the Elves. The word is a Quenya word.
Called in Eng ...
, and Adûnaic
Adûnaic (or Adunaic) ("language of the West") is one of the fictional languages devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for his fantasy works.
One of the languages of Arda in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Adûnaic was spoken by the Men of Númenor d ...
). While not finished, at the end of the given story it becomes clear Lowdham himself is a reincarnation of sorts of Elendil
Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He is mentioned in ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'' and ''Unfinished Tales''. He was the father of Isildur and Anárion, last lord of Andúnië on the island of ...
.
Analysis
Anna Vaninskaya, in Blackwell's
Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Street, ...
2014 ''A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien
''A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien'' is a 2014 book edited by Stuart D. Lee and published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is a part of the ''Blackwell Companions to Literature'' series, which have been described as prestigious reference works, and features ...
'', notes that Tolkien was directly influenced by William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
. She suggests that the legendarium's frame story, starting from the travels of Ælfwine the mariner, was modelled on Morris's 1868–1870 epic poem ''The Earthly Paradise
''The Earthly Paradise'' by William Morris is an epic poem. It is a lengthy collection of retellings of various myths and legends from Greece and Scandinavia. Publication began in 1868 and several later volumes followed until 1870. The volumes w ...
'', whose frame story is that "mariners of Norway, having ... heard of the Earthly Paradise, set sail to find it". She notes that Morris's "wanderers" reach "A nameless city in a distant sea / White as the changing walls of faërie", where they hear and narrate legends including "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon"; Tolkien's ''Lost Tales II'' contains one of the legendarium's foundation-poems that similarly describes the "Wanderer" Earendel (forerunner of Tolkien's Eärendil), who sails "West of the Moon, east of the Sun".
Tolkien's biographer John Garth, in the same volume, writes that in 1920, Tolkien revised his frame story so that the Lonely Isle was no longer equated with England, and Eriol became the Anglo-Saxon Ælfwine; this began the process of revising the legendarium that continued throughout his life. He notes that in 1945 and 1946, Tolkien added ''The Notion Club Papers'', visiting ancient Númenor by travelling in time rather than by ship, but with a poem about St Brendan's Imram
An immram (; plural immrama; ga, iomramh , 'voyage') is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld (see Tír na nÓg and Mag Mell). Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preser ...
sea-voyages that he revised as the 1955 "Imram".
The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance Jane Chance (born 1945), also known as Jane Chance Nitzsche, is an American scholar specializing in medieval English literature, gender studies, and J. R. R. Tolkien. She spent most of her career at Rice University, where since her retirement she ha ...
describes the 1920 version of the Ælfwine story as "Tolkien's complicated penultimate version of the pseudo-historical and Anglo-Saxon frame-story", calling it important to any understanding of "Middle-earth's kernel mythology".
Dale Nelson, in ''The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
The ''J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment'', edited by Michael D. C. Drout, was published by Routledge in 2006. A team of 127 Tolkien scholars on 720 pages cover topics of Tolkien's fiction, his academic works, his ...
'', writes that Tolkien and his friend C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
admired David Lindsay's ''A Voyage to Arcturus
''A Voyage to Arcturus'' is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. An interstellar voyage is the framework for a narrative of a journey through fantastic landscapes. The story is set at Tormance, an imaginary pl ...
'', but that Tolkien "regretted" the science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
style frame story machinery that Lindsay had used – the back-rays and the crystal torpedo ship; he notes that in ''The Notion Club Papers'', Tolkien makes one of the protagonists, Guildford, criticise those kinds of "contraptions".
Notes
References
Primary
::''This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.''
Secondary
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{{Lord of the Rings
Middle-earth
Frame stories
Themes of The Lord of the Rings