PLMET:

click here to follow the link

Title:

The Book of Lost Tales from oral to written myth.

Subject and Keywords:

J.R.R. Tolkien   mythopoeia   myth   orality   Kalevala   William Morris   epics

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the genesis of the characteristics of thestyle of J.R.R. Tolkien. The mythopoeic activity of Tolkien had its rootsin his first efforts to deal with mythical beliefs, and his assumption thatthe true mythical narrative should be a story. His first full expressionof such a belief may be found in the form and content of ’The Bookof Lost Tales’. However, before Tolkien began to create his own ’private’mythology, he first tried to convert the mythology of Kalevalaaccording to his mythopoeic taste. ’The Story of Kullervo’, as his firstmythical narrative, is an attempt to convert to prose one of the mythicalthreads of Kalevala, the one dedicated to the tragedy of Kullervo.When drafting it, Tolkien had formed the first characteristics of hisstyle. One can easily find almost the same style in the chapters of ’TheBook of Lost Tales’. The author shaped the stories on the canvas ofpast events, in which the narrators refer to the ’historical’ memoriesin their perspective. The tension between history, myth, written textand poetic impressions produces the base of Tolkien’s ‘early’ characteristicsin style.

Publisher:

Pracownia Badań nad Tradycją Oralną

Date:

2016

Date issued:

2016

Resource Type:

text

Detailed Type:

article

Format:

application/pdf

Identifier:

ISSN 2449–8181

DOI:

10.23734/QO.2016.2.2.119.145

Language:

pol   eng

Rights holder:

Copyright by Andrzej Szyjewski