A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages
(Paperback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages
By (Author) J. R. R. Tolkien
Edited by Dimitra Fimi
Edited by Andrew Higgins
HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins
30th September 2020
9th July 2020
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)
401
Physical Properties
Paperback
224
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 20mm
200g
Description
First ever critical study of Tolkiens little-known essay, which reveals how language invention shaped the creation of Middle-earth and beyond, to George R R Martins Game of Thrones.
J.R.R. Tolkiens linguistic invention was a fundamental part of his artistic output, to the extent that later on in life he attributed the existence of his mythology to the desire to give his languages a home and peoples to speak them. As Tolkien puts it in A Secret Vice, the making of language and mythology are related functions.
In the 1930s, Tolkien composed and delivered two lectures, in which he explored these two key elements of his sub-creative methodology. The second of these, the seminal Andrew Lang Lecture for 19389, On Fairy-Stories, which he delivered at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, is well known. But many years before, in 1931, Tolkien gave a talk to a literary society entitled A Hobby for the Home, where he unveiled for the first time to a listening public the art that he had both himself encountered and been involved with since his earliest childhood: the construction of imaginary languages in full or outline for amusement.
This talk would be edited by Christopher Tolkien for inclusion as A Secret Vice in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays and serves as the principal exposition of Tolkiens art of inventing languages. This new critical edition, which includes previously unpublished notes and drafts by Tolkien connected with the essay, including his Essay on Phonetic Symbolism, goes some way towards re-opening the debate on the importance of linguistic invention in Tolkiens mythology and the role of imaginary languages in fantasy literature.
Reviews
Anyone who has interest in language, linguistics, storytelling, or simply just fantasy in general should add this to their top shelf
5* Amazon Reviewer
An absolute MUST HAVE for any Tolkien fan!
5* Amazon Reviewer
Author Bio
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.
