"A Wilderness of Dragons": Tolkien's Treatment of Dragons in Roverandom and Farmer Giles of Ham
2015; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 34; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-9339
Autores Tópico(s)Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
ResumoIn this paper will examine Tolkien's treatment of dragons in his writings for children (excluding the Hobbit), starting briefly with his on Dragons (which will be contrasted with Tolkien's Beowulf essay) and then going on discuss the treatment of the Sea Serpent and the White Dragon in Roverandom, and of Chrysophylax in Farmer Giles of Ham. will also be looking at medieval and renaissance parallels in Beowulf and the Volsunga Saga and Book of Spenser's Fairie Queene, as possible sources for the largely comic treatment of dragons in the works am considering. As is well known, Tolkien's interest in dragons as child when he first read the story of Sigurd and the Volsungs in Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book. He was even inspired write story in verse about a green great when he was about six or seven: I remember nothing about it except philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one [...] had say 'a great green dragon' (Letters 214, 221). (1) In his 1936 Andrew Lang Lecture On Fairy-stories, Tolkien tells us about the impact of his own childhood reading: But the land of Merlin and Arthur was better than these, and best of all the nameless North of Sigurd of the Volsungs, and the prince of all dragons. Such lands were pre-eminently desirable. never imagined that the dragon was of the same order as the horse. And that was not solely because saw horses daily, but never even the footprint of worm. dragon had the trade-mark Of Faerie written plain upon him. In whatever world he had his being it was an Other-world. Fantasy, the making or glimpsing of Other-worlds, was the heart of the desire of Faerie. desired dragons with profound desire. Of course, in my timid body did not wish have them in the neighbourhood, intruding into my relatively safe world, in which it was, for instance, possible read stories in peace of mind, free from fear. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fafnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever cost of peril. (On Fairy-stories [OFS] 134-35) (2) Later on, while attending King Edward's School in Birmingham, he pursued his philological interests, studying Old English, Old Norse and Gothic on his own. He would also delight his high school friends by reciting from Beowulf, Pearl, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and recounting horrific episodes from the Norse Volsungasaga, with passing gibe at Wagner whose interpretation of the myths he held in contempt (Carpenter 46). (3) While attending Oxford as an undergraduate, Tolkien continued be interested in dragons. In letter written in 1964, Tolkien explained that he was primarily scientific philologist and that he began the construction of languages in early boyhood [...]. But was also interested in traditional tales (especially those concerning dragons); and writing (not reading) verse and metrical devices. These things flow together when was an undergraduate the despair of my tutors and near-wrecking of my career (Letters 345). It was at this time, while he was composing the Book of Lost Tales, starting in about 1915-16, that Tolkien wrote his earliest stories involving dragons: The Fall of Gondolin and The Tale of Turambar and the Foaloke (History of Middle-earth II: 69-220). THE LECTURE ON DRAGONS AND THE BEOWULF ESSAY There are two Tolkien texts that are especially important for understanding his knowledge of medieval dragon-lore: the first is the famous essay Beowulf. Monsters and the Critics, first published in 1936; the other is the unpublished on Dragons, delivered in 1938 and discussed by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond in their J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide [C&G] (II:219-221). (4) will begin with the second text because of its more general import. In his on Dragons, presented an audience of children at the University Museum in Oxford, on 1 January 1938, (shortly after the publication of Hobbit) besides discussing the dragon fight in Beowulf and the fight between Sigurd and Fafnir in the Volsunga Saga, Tolkien also related the legend of Thor and the Midgard Serpent, and briefly referred to Chinese dragons, Merlin and the red and white dragons in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, and St. …
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