Tolkien as a Literary Artist

This book takes a fresh look at Tolkien s literary artistry from the points of view of both linguistics and literary history, with the aim of shedding light on the literary techniques used in
The Lord of the Rings
. The authors study Tolkien s use of words, style, narrative techniques, rhetoric and symbolism to highlight his status as literary artist. Dirk Siepmann uses a corpus stylistic approach to analyse Tolkien s vocabulary and syntax, while Thomas Kullmann uses discourse theory, literary history and concepts of intertextuality to explore Tolkien s literary techniques, relating them to the history of English fiction and poetry. Issues discussed include point of view, speeches, story-telling, landscape descriptions, the poems inserted into the body of the narrative, and the role of language in the characterization of the novel s protagonists. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of literature, corpus linguistics and stylistics, as well as Tolkien fans and specialists.

Chapter 1: Introduction. - Chapter 2: Tolkien as a Stylist: Key Words and Key Collocations. - Chapter 3: The Narrative Syntax of
The Lord of the Rings
. - Chapter 4: Points of View. - Chapter 5: Landscape Descriptions. - Chapter 6: Speeches and Declarations. - Chapter 7: Storytelling. - Chapter 8: Poems and Songs. - Chapter 9: Language and Character. - Chapter 10: Tolkien s Position in Literary History.