Kirjahaku

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring J.R.R. Tolkien was the author of two of the most extraordinary, most original, and most popular books of the twentieth century: The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. The encounter with his works has had profound and far-reaching consequences for millions of readers, who have experienced a form of re-enchantment in the midst of the modern world. Tolkien's works have opened a door to myth, folklore, and fairy tale, and to the discovery of what we now call fantasy literature. He is also a writer who has changed our common culture. This Very Short Introduction by Matthew Townend offers an accessible and authoritative guide to the full range of Tolkien's extensive writings, including his academic and posthumously published work. It places Tolkien's writing in the time and context of their composition, and it takes a thematic approach by exploring recurrent ideas and preoccupations in his writings. Throughout the author offers new ideas and insights on Tolkien. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Victorians and English Dialect tells the story of the Victorians' discovery of English dialect, and of the revaluation of local language that was brought about by the new, historical philology of the nineteenth century. Regional dialects came to be seen not as corrupt or pernicious, but rather as venerable and precious. The book examines the work of the ground-breaking collectors of the 1840s and 1850s, who first alerted their contemporaries to the importance of local dialect - and also to the perils that threatened it with extinction.It traces the connection between dialect and literature, in the flourishing of dialect poetry and the foregrounding of regional voices in Victorian fiction. It explains how the antiquity of regional dialects cast light on the national past - the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings - and how dialect study was also at the heart of the discovery of local folklore and oral culture: old words, old customs, old beliefs. And it tells the story of the three great monuments of Victorian dialect study that marked the apogee of regional philology: the 80 publications of the English Dialect Society (1873-96), an organization run by a committee of journalists and local historians in Manchester; the nationwide survey of The Existing Phonology of English Dialects (1889), which listened in on local speech in market squares and third-class railway carriages; and the multi-volume English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905), which collected all the previous labours together, and made an enduring record of Victorian dialect.