Men, Halflings & Hero Worship
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Men, Halflings & Hero Worship |
| Publisher: | T-K Graphics |
| Editor(s): | Marion Zimmer Bradley |
| Date(s): | 1961; 1973 |
| Fandom: | Tolkien |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Men, Halflings & Hero Worship is a gen fanwork written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and illustrated by Judith Weiss.
Publication History
- 1961: first published as a pamphlet for FAPA as Astra's Tower (Special Leaflet #5)
- 1966 reprinted in Niekas #16
- 1968: "Tolkien and the Critics; Essays on J. R. R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings" edited by Neil D. Isaacs, Rose A. Zimbardo
- 1973: reprinted as a 51-page chapbook by T-K Graphics
Description
Summary from Fictionwise: "An analysis of the role of love in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings." [1]
A catalogue of early Tolkien fan publications describes it as:
An inquiry into the relationships developed in LR with various speculations about the passing of the Heroic Age in society, in literature and in the individual. Denounces Edmund Wilson's take on LR and posits that an adolescent hero worship is the main concept in close relationships between characters in the LR; the exception is the relationship between Frodo and Sam.[2]
From the 1973 Edition
By Bradley:
When this essay was first written, almost ten years ago now, it seemed sufficient to mimeograph eighty copies , running sixty-eight of them through the mailings of the FAPA (Fantasy Amateur Press Association) and sending the remaining few to friends and relatives.
I was surprised and flattered when, some months later, Ed Meskys asked me for the privilege of reprinting it in Niekas, thus giving it a circulation of several hundred.
A few years after that, it was once again re printed, this time in a sort of "casebook" on Tolkien. (TOLKIEN AND THE CRITICS by Zimbardo.) It had the distinction of being the only "amateur" contribution to their pages, most of the other contributing writers being either professional critics or teachers of literature.
However, I was never very happy with the version of the essay as printed in this book, since in cutting it rigorously to space requirements it seem ed to me that they had lost much of the original point which I was trying to make.
Therefore it gives me great pleasure to see it being reissued in the original form.
Sample Interior
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Sumner Gary Hunnewell. Tolkien Fandom Review: From its Beginnings to 1964 (accessed 7 September 2012)