Tolkien as a Literary Artist: Exploring Rhetoric, Language and Style in The Lord of the Rings

Description

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. Acknowledgements Contents About the Authors List of Tables 1: Introduction 1.1 Tolkien’s Status in Literary History 1.2 Corpus Stylistics 1.3 Metaphor and Metonymy15 1.4 Intertextuality32 Works Cited Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 2: Tolkien as a Stylist: Key Words and Key Collocations in The Lord of the Rings 2.1 Characterizing Tolkien’s Style 2.2 Methodology 2.3 Key Words in The Lord of the Rings2 2.3.1 Key Words Shared with Nineteenth-Century Fiction 2.3.2 Key Words Shared with Modern Fiction 2.3.3 Key Words Shared with Tolkien’s Translation of Beowulf 2.3.4 Key Words Exclusive to The Lord of the Rings 2.4 Key Collocations in The Lord of the Rings 2.5 Key N-Grams in The Lord of the Rings 2.6 Frequent Semantic Fields in The Lord of the Rings 2.7 Tolkien as a Stylist: Conclusion Appendix Key Words Exclusive to The Lord of the Rings Negative Key Words Works Cited Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 3: The Narrative Syntax of The Lord of the Rings 3.1 Background and Method 3.2 Dispreferred Constructions 3.2.1 Word Level 3.2.2 Phrase Level 3.2.3 Clause Level 3.3 Overused Constructions 3.3.1 Word Level 3.3.2 Phrase Level 3.3.3 Clause Level 3.4 Narrative Syntax: Conclusion and Two Sample Paragraphs Works Cited Primary Text: Critical Works Cited: 4: Points of View Works Cited Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 5: Landscape Descriptions Works Cited Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 6: Speeches and Declarations Works Cited Fiction, Poetry and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 7: Storytelling Works Cited Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 8: Poems and Songs Works Cited Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 9: Language and Character Works Cited Fiction, Poetry, and Other Primary Texts Critical Works Cited 10: Tolkien’s Position in Literary History Works Cited Primary Text Critical Works Cited Index