Overview

World first publication of a previously unknown short satirical fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, and accompanied by illustrations from the author together with an essay, The Origin of Bovadium, by Richard Ovenden OBE. As Christopher Tolkien notes in his Introduction, The Bovadium Fragments was a ‘satirical fantasy’ written by his father, which grew out of a planning controversy that erupted in Oxford in the late 1940s, when J.R.R. Tolkien was the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. Written initially for his own amusement, Tolkien’s tale was a private academic jest that poked gentle fun at such things as 'the pomposities of archaeologists' and 'the hideousness of college crockery'. However, it was at the same time expressing a barbed cri de coeur against the inexorable rise of motor transport and 'machine-worship' that was overwhelming the tranquillity of his beloved city. Enriched by a selection of illustrations by the author, and enhanced by Christopher Tolkien's notes and commentary, readers can enjoy at last this tale of an imagined Oxford viewed through the lens of future (and not wholly reliable) academic study. Richard Ovenden's accompanying essay paints a vivid portrait of Oxford during that time. He also provides rich background to the casus belli which led to the furore that Tolkien witnessed first-hand, as the embers of debate between town planners and the university colleges were fanned into flame. Playful, erudite, and ultimately tragically moving, The Bovadium Fragments is like nothing else that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, and its themes remain both provocative and timely. Within its lines may be found a concern for the fragility of our natural world, a love of which that was shared by both father and son. As Christopher Tolkien’s final presentation of his father’s work, it is therefore perhaps fitting that The Bovadium Fragments should be their coda.

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9780008737764

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Reviews

‘Tolkien was a storyteller of genius’ Literary Review

Author Information

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide. Christopher Tolkien, born on 21 November 1924, is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm as a pilot. At the end of the war he returned to Oxford University and became a Fellow and Tutor in English of New College in 1964, lecturing in the University on early English and northern literature. Appointed by J.R.R. Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself since his father's death in 1973 to the editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion and Beowulf, and the collections entitled Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth. Since 1975 he has lived in France with his wife Baillie.

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