Tolkien's Lost Chaucer
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Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien worked between 1922 and 1928 on his Clarendon edition Selections from Chaucer's Poetry and Prose, and though never completed, its 160 pages of commentary reveals much of his thinking about language and storytelling when he was still at the threshold of his career as an epoch-making writer of fantasy literature. Drawing upon other new materials such as his edition of the Reeve's Tale and his Oxford lectures on the Pardoner's Tale, this book reveals Chaucer as a major influence upon Tolkien's literary imagination.
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The most interesting book about Tolkien I've read in a long, long time. Covering both Tolkien's exploration of Chaucer in his academic career as well as the apparent influence of Chaucer on Tolkien's own writings, it's incredibly in depth and compelling. While some arguments are quite a stretch, overall it is convincing and well articulated.
It is worth knowing that the book assumes the reader has prior knowledge of Chaucer alongside The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion as well as parts of The History of Middle-earth.
