There is so much going on these days! Books by Tolkien get republished, new books about J.R.R. Tolkien appear, the Annual Tolkien Diary has just been released, the second and final volume of the fascinating The History of the Hobbit has just arrived …  and I almost forgot to tell that on April 15, 2007 we saw the release of Tolkien Sudies Volume IV. Luckily I had pre-ordered it and was reminded all about it when it arrived this morning. This is a journal of Tolkien scholarship which every serious Tolkien fan should buy, read and enjoy!

“Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review” is an annual journal of scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien and his works. Since the publication of The Hobbit in 1937, the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien have been admired throughout the world. With the publication in the 1950s of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's fantasy writing began to attract academic attention in both the classroom and the world of scholarship. Most recently, Peter Jackson's three-part movie adaptation has added film-study scholars to those fascinated by Tolkien's work.

“Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review” is the first scholarly journal published by an academic press for the purpose of presenting and reviewing the growing body of critical commentary and scholarship about Tolkien's writings.

The author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien was also an Oxford scholar deeply versed in medieval literature. Articles in Tolkien Studies reflect that dual capacity, with writers studying Tolkien’s narratives and academic work, along with recent movie adaptations and international translations.

I’m happy to see that Volume IV has reprinted “The Name 'Nodens',” by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published int the Appendix to "Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire", Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, in 1932; and now also in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, Vol. 4, 2007. This is great, since the original version can be hard to find and is a real collectors item.

Inside the new volume is a wonderful collection of book reviews. The greatest Tolkien scholars have reviewed all serious new books about J.R.R. Tolkien. The founding editors--Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D. C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger-- and the members of the editorial board--David Bratman, Carl F. Hostetter, Tom Shippey, Richard C. West, and Marjorie Burns--are all distinguished Tolkien scholars.

The new volume has the following content:

- Editors' Introduction (Douglas A. Anderson , Michael D. C. Drout and Verlyn Flieger)- Conventions and Abbreviations- Tolkienian Linguistics: The First Fifty Years (Carl F. Hostetter)- A Checklist (Carl F. Hostetter and Douglas A. Anderson)- Tolkien’s "'Celtic' type of legends": Merging Traditions (Dimitra Fimi)- Greek and Latin Amatory Motifs in Éowyn's Portrayal (Miryam Libran Moreno)- The Curious Incident of the Dream at the Barrow: Memory and Reincarnation in Middle-earth (Verlyn Flieger)- J.R.R. Tolkien's Medieval Scholarship and its Significance (Michael D. C. Drout)      Notes and Documents:

- The Name "Nodens" (J. R. R. Tolkien)- Walter E. Haigh, Author of A New Glossary of the Huddersfield Dialect (Janet Brennan Croft)- The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth: Philology and the Literary Muse (Thomas Honegger)- Tracking the Elusive Hobbit; In Its Pre-Shire Den (Marjorie Burns)- "Elves (and Hobbits) always refer to the Sun as She": Some Notes on a Note in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (Yvette L. Kisor)- SAURON, Mount Doom, and Elvish Moths: The Influence of Tolkien on Modern Science (Kristine Larsen)

Book Reviews:

- The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J.R R. Tolkien as Writers in Community (review by Dale Nelson)   - Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (review by Patrick Curry)- From Hobbits to Hollywood: Essays on Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings", and: The Lord of the Rings: Popular Culture in Global Context (review by Kristin Thompson)      - The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, Volume I: Chronology, and: Volume II: Reader's Guide (review by John Garth)- J.R R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment (review by Kelley M. Wickham-Crowley)    - The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien (review by John R. Holmes)  - Lord of the Rings 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder (review by Brian Rosebury) - The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview behind "The Lord of the Rings" (review Matthew A. Fisher)- The Plants of Middle-earth: Botany and Sub-creation (review by Amy Amendt-Raduege)- The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings (review by Mike Foster)- Reading "The Lord of the Rings": New Writings on Tolkien's Classic (review by Patrick Curry)- The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary (review by Douglas A. Anderson)- The Rise of Tolkienian Fantasy (review by Matthew T. Dickerson)- The Roots of Tolkien's Middle Earth (review by T.A. Shippey)- A Tolkien Mathomium: A Collection of Articles about J.R.R. Tolkien and His Legendarium (review by Sandra Ballif Straubhaar)- Tolkien's Modern Middle Ages (review by Robin Anne Reid)     

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