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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Individual ratings:
Roverandom: **
Farmer Giles of Ham: ***/*
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: ****
Smith of Wootton Major: ***
Leaf by Niggle: ***/*
On Fairy-stories: **
Roverandom: **
Farmer Giles of Ham: ***/*
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: ****
Smith of Wootton Major: ***
Leaf by Niggle: ***/*
On Fairy-stories: **
Ada sedikit manusia beruntung yang bisa melancong ke negeri-negeri lain; sementara sebagian manusia harus puas hanya dengan membaca kisah-kisah para pengelana.
—Tales from the Perilous Realm, hlm. 432
Yah, sementara ini saya akui saya termasuk kedalam kategori “sebagian manusia harus puas hanya dengan”. Semoga suatu hari nanti saya bisa masuk ke dalam kategori “sedikit manusia beruntung” itu :)
Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien. Kalau mendengar buku Tolkien, pikiran saya langsung melayang ke Middle Earth dan para penghuninya yang ada di dalam The Hobbit atau The Lord of The Ring. Walaupun saya masih ingat bagaimana susahnya menamatkan The Lord of The Ring, saya tetap kepengen membeli buku ini, cover-nya cakep sih, judulnya juga asik. Terus isinya?. Errr….lumayan asik lah ;D.
Ada 5 cerita di buku ini, yaitu Roverandum, Petani Penakluk Naga, Petualangan Tom Bombadil, Pandai Besi dari Wootton Major, dan Daun Karya Niggle.
Favorit saya mungkin Petani Penakluk Naga dan Pandai Besi dari Wootton Major. Kisah-kisahnya di luar dugaan saya. Di Petani Penakluk Naga, saya membayangkan si petani adalah seseorang yang sangat pemberani. Seseorang yang rela maju menantang naga jahat demi menyelamatkan penduduk desa. Tapi ternyata, tidak persis seperti itu. Dalam kisah Pandai Besi dari Wootton Major, saya membayangkan ceritanya lebih kepada pandai besi, eh tidak tahunya malah cenderung ke koki XD. Tapi saya suka dengan suasana fantasi yang ada di kedua cerita ini. Naga dan dunia Faery. Saya jadi merasa kisahnya memang benar-benar terasa seperti kisah-kisah yang berasal dari Negeri Penuh Bahaya.
Untuk Roverandom, saya suka dengan pesan yang setidaknya, menurut saya, berhasil saya tangkap. Saya terkesan dengan kemauan dan usaha si anjing untuk meminta maaf kepada si tukang tenung. Walaupun Rover minta maaf karena ada maunya ^_^
Untuk Petualangan Tom Bombadil dan Daun Karya Niggle, jujur saya tidak terlalu paham dengan kisahnya. Jadi no comment aj deh, ahaha. *kenatabok*.
Setelah 5 kisah di atas, masih ada lagi semacam esai dari Tolkien tentang dongeng peri. Esainya lumayan panjang dan saya lagi-lagi kurang paham.
Jadi ya sudahlah, saya kasih 3 bintang untuk buku ini. I liked it. *lalungumpet*.
The Perilous Realm of the title is Faerie Land, but Tolkien has not people it with diaphanous butterfly-winged sprites, but by dangerous and enchanting elves, dragons and giants. The four branches of the book are each different from each other, despite the thematic connection.
Farmer Giles of Ham is the most straight-forward of the stories, the tale of a "little man" (though of great girth!) who is reluctantly forced into a heroic role. It is a humorous and somewhat satirical tale, easily enjoyed by children for the adventure, and by adults for the characterisations.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is not a story, but rather a collection of poetry. The conception is that they represent poetry and rhymes written by Hobbits in The Shire, so they are intimately linked to Tolkien's Middle-earth but do not necessarily deal with scenes from the Legendarium. The quality is uneven, but that is deliberately so as they are intended range from more deliberately crafted works to pieces of folk-rhyme
Easily the best, in my view, is the title poem, but Errantry is excellent, too, and all the poems have something to recommend them.
Leaf by Niggle is an unusual choice for inclusion, as I don't really consider that Faerie enters into it at all. For me, this was the most surprising story in the collection as it is utterly unlike anything else I've read by Tolkien. It has a dystopian and Kafka-like opening and is set in an industrialised society, not at all a legendary, Dark Age or Medieval locale. It later moves onto more metaphysical, even theological, ground. Despite Tolkien's avowed dislike of allegory, that's what this story seems to be. I really liked it. If Tolkien had not been consumed by his Middle-earth conception, could stories of this nature have been what he was known for?
Smith of Wootton Major is the most faerie-tale-like of the four branches. Smith's journeys into Faerie are haunting and the sense of lurking mortal peril is the most pronounced in this story. It put me somewhat in mind of the works of [a:Lord Dunsany|9172|Lord Dunsany|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207165592p2/9172.jpg] and [a:George MacDonald|2413|George MacDonald|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201019294p2/2413.jpg].
The thing I missed from this particular edition of the stories was the illustrations of [a:Pauline Baynes|25523|Pauline Baynes|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1339339682p2/25523.jpg], which I had constantly in mind as I was reading.
Farmer Giles of Ham is the most straight-forward of the stories, the tale of a "little man" (though of great girth!) who is reluctantly forced into a heroic role. It is a humorous and somewhat satirical tale, easily enjoyed by children for the adventure, and by adults for the characterisations.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is not a story, but rather a collection of poetry. The conception is that they represent poetry and rhymes written by Hobbits in The Shire, so they are intimately linked to Tolkien's Middle-earth but do not necessarily deal with scenes from the Legendarium. The quality is uneven, but that is deliberately so as they are intended range from more deliberately crafted works to pieces of folk-rhyme
Easily the best, in my view, is the title poem, but Errantry is excellent, too, and all the poems have something to recommend them.
Leaf by Niggle is an unusual choice for inclusion, as I don't really consider that Faerie enters into it at all. For me, this was the most surprising story in the collection as it is utterly unlike anything else I've read by Tolkien. It has a dystopian and Kafka-like opening and is set in an industrialised society, not at all a legendary, Dark Age or Medieval locale. It later moves onto more metaphysical, even theological, ground. Despite Tolkien's avowed dislike of allegory, that's what this story seems to be. I really liked it. If Tolkien had not been consumed by his Middle-earth conception, could stories of this nature have been what he was known for?
Smith of Wootton Major is the most faerie-tale-like of the four branches. Smith's journeys into Faerie are haunting and the sense of lurking mortal peril is the most pronounced in this story. It put me somewhat in mind of the works of [a:Lord Dunsany|9172|Lord Dunsany|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207165592p2/9172.jpg] and [a:George MacDonald|2413|George MacDonald|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201019294p2/2413.jpg].
The thing I missed from this particular edition of the stories was the illustrations of [a:Pauline Baynes|25523|Pauline Baynes|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1339339682p2/25523.jpg], which I had constantly in mind as I was reading.
Don't know if short stories are my kinda thing since they're too long to be over with quickly (the ones in this book are) and too short to be a book by themselves.
Leaf by Niggle was my favourite story and now I wanna see it as a play.
Leaf by Niggle was my favourite story and now I wanna see it as a play.
This collection of Tolkien's short fiction and poetry is a mixed bag. "Roverandom" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" are enjoyable fairy-stories for children, but I, as an adult, didn't get very much out of them. Further, the "Tom Bombadil" poems are, with a few exceptions, of pretty average quality. By contrast, "Smith of Wooton Major" is a magical little tale that evokes Hope Mirlees's wonderful "Lud-in-the-Mist", and "Leaf by Niggle" is surprisingly poignant, bittersweet, and lovely.
My favourite part of this collection is, however, Tolkien's famous essay "On Fairy-Stories", which is included in the appendix of this collection. It is an important and intriguing piece of fairy-tale scholarship that I very much enjoyed re-visiting here.
In short, this collection of literary "deep cuts" is perfect for the die-hard Tolkien fan (which I certainly am) or for younger children. Others looking to read beyond "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" may do better to try "The Children of Hurin", "Beren and Luthien" or "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth".
My favourite part of this collection is, however, Tolkien's famous essay "On Fairy-Stories", which is included in the appendix of this collection. It is an important and intriguing piece of fairy-tale scholarship that I very much enjoyed re-visiting here.
In short, this collection of literary "deep cuts" is perfect for the die-hard Tolkien fan (which I certainly am) or for younger children. Others looking to read beyond "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" may do better to try "The Children of Hurin", "Beren and Luthien" or "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth".
Cute and interesting reads, though I can't really comment on them individually as I put this book down for so long the bookmark caused foxing
Index:
Roverandom
Farmer Giles of Ham
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Smith of Wootton Major
Leaf by Niggle
On Fairy Stories
Roverandom
Farmer Giles of Ham
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Smith of Wootton Major
Leaf by Niggle
On Fairy Stories
Really enjoyed some of these stories and slogged through others. Tolkien’s essay on Faerie Stories has some golden moments and had me lost some of the time as well. Sir Giles of Ham was my favorite. Leaf, by Niggle was also intriguing.
Well, we're certainly coming to the middle of my "read ALL the Tolkien".
Ive heard these shorter works referenced before, but never read them. Roverandom reminds me of the Hobbit in tone and content and it's delightful, Farmer Giles and Smith are both really interesting and fun visions of what Tolkien sees in the history of England and, of course, I adore Leaf by Niggle.
Also, Derek Jacobi does a great job reading.
Ive heard these shorter works referenced before, but never read them. Roverandom reminds me of the Hobbit in tone and content and it's delightful, Farmer Giles and Smith are both really interesting and fun visions of what Tolkien sees in the history of England and, of course, I adore Leaf by Niggle.
Also, Derek Jacobi does a great job reading.