Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics

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The name Beowulf refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Beowulf (disambiguation).
Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics, 1937 edition

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics is the title of a lecture by J.R.R. Tolkien and its shortened publication in book-form. Note that the original and much longer manuscript of the lecture was published as Beowulf and the Critics in 2002, edited by Michael D.C. Drout. Drout has described the lecture as "possibl[y] ... the single most influential essay in the history of literary studies in the twentieth century".[1]

The lecture

The lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" was the Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture for 1936. Tolkien delivered it to the British Academy on 25 November 1936 and again two weeks later to the Manchester Mediaeval Society.

Publications

Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics, c.1969 edition

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics has been published in several different editions.

1937: First Edition

In 1937, the first edition of Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics was issued in the Proceedings of the British Academy (vol. 22, 1936, pr. 1937, pp. [245]-295).[2] It was also published separatey by Humphrey Milford (London) for the British Academy ([1 July]. 56 pp. 500 copies printed. ISBN: N/A). Altogether six impressions (2.-5. impressions 1958-1971 by the Oxford University Press; 6th impression 1977, by the British Academy) were printed.[3]

c. 1969: Booklet

Around 1969, booklets of Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (undated and unknown publisher and place of publication), appeared.[4]

1983: The Monsters and the Critics

In 1983, the lecture was included in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

2002: Beowulf and the Critics

In 2002 was published Beowulf and the Critics, edited by Michael D.C. Drout. The volume contains the text of the lecture and the lecture series on which the lecture was based.[5]

References

  1. Drout, Michael D.C. "'Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics': The Brilliant Essay that Broke Beowulf Studies", The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza, April 25, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  2. Bertenstam, Åke: Chronological Bibliography of the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien
  3. Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (TolkienBooks.net)
  4. Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. 1969? (TolkienBooks.net)
  5. Beowulf and the Critics. 2002 (TolkienBooks.net).