Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien

In J.R.R. Tolkien's books women play an important, though limited, role. There are no female characters at all in The Hobbit (actually causing Peter Jackson to create one for his movie version), and while there are a number of important women in The Lord of the Rings, the characters who are present in every chapter are all male. This has led some critics to label Tolkien misogynistic or merely schoolboyish. This collection of essays does much to demonstrate that women's roles in Middle-earth, as well as Tolkien's own attitudes towards females, are much more varied and complex than popular belief would have it.The 14 essays are divided into five groups: Historical Perspectives, Power of Gender, Specific Characters, Earlier Literary Contexts, and Women Readers. As a former history teacher myself I most enjoyed two of the essays in the first section: John D. Rateliff's "The Missing Women," which challenges the conception that Tolkien spent his life in masculine society by detailing the women with whom he had family, social, and professional connections and by emphasizing his strong, and at the time unusual, support for women's higher education; and also Sharin Schroeder's "She Who Must Not Be Ignored," which examines gender and genre in both The Lord of the Rings and in such Victorian "boy's books" as H.R. Haggard's "She," which Tolkien is known to have read and enjoyed. I also liked "Power in Arda," by Edith L.Crowe and "The Fall and Repentence of Galadriel" by Romuald I. Lakowski in the second and third sections for their insights into Tolkien's ever changing conceptions about his sub-creation. And again because of my background in history I really liked Melissa A. Smith's "At Home And Abroad," on Eowyn as a war bride! The fourth section's "The Valkyrie Reflex" by Leslie A. Donovan makes some fascinating analyses of Galadriel, Eowyn, Arwen, and (!) Shelob while Maureen Dunn's "Hidden in Plain View" makes some fascinating comparisons between Shakespeare and Tolkien's female characters. The fifth section has one essay, Una McCormack's "Finding Ourselves in the "(Un)Mapped Lands," which describes some intriguing fanfictions on some of Tolkien's lesser known female characters like Ioreth and Lothiriel (as well as some Middle-earth women created by the fanfiction writers themselves).As with any good collection of critical essays readers will find much with which to agree and disagree, but every selection is well worth reading. Most importantly, readers' appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien's work will be enhanced by the insights and conclusions to be found within Perilous And Fair.

Enjoying this volume assumes reasonable familiarity with the World of Arda JRR Tolkien created as represented in the Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings and perhaps Unfinished Tales. In the World of Tolkien Studies and criticism the novice might find within the essays collected a compelling case that this can be an enriching adventure. For those readers (or DVD bonus material watchers) familiar with Thomas Shippey and Humphrey Carpenter these essays give a taste of the great depth and diversity in the field and will probably lead on a journey into the world of Tolkien Studies that is available on-line in journals and websites. If all of that sounds like one step too far this would be an appropriate volume to sample and be satisfied that you can be content reading among the very many volumes of Tolkien's writings or simply re-read The Lord of the Rings one more time with a new point of view and not need to dive more deeply into vision by those others inspired by the sheer vast wonder of this place. I doubt anyone would regret the purchase.

I may not be the target audience, as I am a fan, not a professor. Still enough of the essays here were interesting and reasonably free of litcrit jargon. (I'm very very tired of hearing about agency, though.) Particularly interesting to me were the analysis of "The feminine principle", Luthien, Galadriel and the one of Eowyn as war bride.I picked this up partly for the last essay, the one that discussed fanfiction, which greatly disappointed me. Eyebrows went up first when the author started talking about her own work - that's rarely been a good sign in my experience when they bring it up prominently early on - and then I realized what the author wanted to discuss and see wasn't anything that interested me. A shame.

Extremely useful. I write a fair amount of non-fiction related to Tolkien's body of work and not only did I buy the book as a "must read," but I greatly enjoyed on a personal level. I particularly liked the essay by Una McCormack. I cracked up at her remark, “It came as a point of interest to me— if not exactly a surprise— to learn, at a recent conference on Tolkien, that there are more named horses than named women in The Lord of the Rings.”

As one wanting to write on feminism and Tolkien, this book is indispensable. The articles in it are varied across subjects in relation to feminism and Tolkien, across time of Tolkien scholarship. What really helped me too was the bibliographic essay at the beginning because it gave me titles of other essays not covered in this work to start digging for as well! The editor did a fantastic job with this and my most recent paper would not have been as great without it. I look forward to using its resources in the future!

From its beautifully illustrated cover worthy of the book's title to the index at the end, Perilous and Fair is a scholarly and comprehensive investigation of the beloved author's views on women and portrayal of them in his literature. The fourteen articles reach deep into the subject and include the Tolkien scholars' opinions as well as their research. Rich information here, including (new for me) the concept of "fanfiction."

I love it. Great book, very smart.

Happy with this book which illuminates a sometimes overlooked aspect of Tolkien's work.