New Tolkien Books:updates

[Child of the 7th Age]

Davem

I have that Croft book on Middle-earth and war and am just beginning to read it now. I'll let you know my impressions when I finish.

Has anyone read this or do you know anything about it? The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien by Stuart Lee, published december 2005, Palgrave MacMillan.

At first glance, I thought it was just another beginner's text that publishes excerpts from medieval lit and tries to tie them in with Tolkien. There are several of those and I could defnitely pass that by. But one of the reviews on UK Amazon mentions that Tolkien's unpublished lecture notes are quoted. I am always interested in texts that give us access to archival material that is either hard to get hold of or even impossible to see because of restrictions on access. Plus Palgrave MacMillan has put out some decent stuff.

Here is one part of the review on this book:,

As well as taking you through some of the basics of medieval literature (Tolkien's academic background of course), what I found fascinating about this book was the material from Tolkien's unpublished lecture notes. This gives a new insight into his work as a scholar, and occasionally (as with the piece about the Rohirrim and their possible link to the Anglo-Saxons) a new insight into his thinking. It really does bridge the gap between his mythology and his studies.....

The link between the A-S and the Rohirrim is definitely mentioned in other places, so I am not sure how significant that reference is. But I am intrigued by his mention of lecture notes, which I've not seen elsewhere. Anyone know anything about these original lecture notes or this particular book?