Smith of Wootton Major

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Il fabbro di Wootton Major è un racconto di J.R.R. Tolkien pubblicato nel 1967, l'ultima opera mentre l'autore era ancora in vita. Romanticamente potremmo considerarla una sorta di commiato dell'autore al mondo di Faerie, una fiaba per bambini ben ponderata (come dimostrano le diverse stesure e gli appunti dell'autore a riguardo) ed equilibrata piuttosto che uno spontaneo volo d'immaginazione. La novella avrebbe dovuto essere parte della prefazione di Tolkien a The Golden Key, storia di fate di George MacDonald, ma si sviluppò come racconto a sé.

But there were things he did not forget, and “ they remained in his mind as wonders and mysteries that he often recalled”. One of such memories was an occasion when he “ came at last to a desolate shore and saw a great ship cast high upon the land, and the eleven mariners passed over him and went away into the echoing hills”. While reading Smith of Wootton- every time Tolkien would mention the Star, my mind flashed to something along the lines of Paul Stanley.Smith "never bakes a Great Cake"; Tolkien "never produced a major full-length work on medieval literature" In addition, Long sees Shippey's identification of birch and oak with philology and criticism as correct, but differs about what Tolkien wanted to say here. In Long's view, the birch "represents the sharp critique of most of his philological colleagues who supposed that Tolkien had squandered years of his life on a worthless piece of fantasy literature—a place he didn’t belong, or so they thought." In other words, he writes, the dispute was inside the philological community; far from fighting literary criticism, Tolkien had done much to heal the split between the critics and the philologists at Oxford. [9] Visit to Faërie [ edit ] The point of the story is that one can see and experience enchantment without needing to understand its reason for being, or else go too far in a realm where there are ‘pitfalls for the unwary’ and ‘dungeons for the overbold’. The nature of Faery Brutal Honesty: Alf is diplomatic with Nokes during his apprenticeship, but after Nokes retires he tells him what a vain, lazy bastard he thinks he actually is. When the time came Nokes made the Great Cake. He decided to astonish children and put into the Cake different things: little trinkets and silver coins. He also put in there a little star which he had found among the things of the former Cook. Young apprentice warned Notes not to put the star, as it was from Faery, but Nokes did not listen to him.

The Cook let Smith decide who would receive the star the next, and Smith chose a boy named Tim. At the Feast Smith saw Tim swallow his piece of cake, and noticed how the boy changed – became merrier and radiant. Thus, the journey of the star and its new owner began. Update this section! i. The Book of Lost Tales: Part One · ii. The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two · iii. The Lays of Beleriand · iv. The Shaping of Middle-earth · v. The Lost Road and Other Writings · vi. The Return of the Shadow · vii. The Treason of Isengard · viii. The War of the Ring · ix. Sauron Defeated · x. Morgoth's Ring · xi. The War of the Jewels · xii. The Peoples of Middle-earth · Index) · Our Fairies Are Different: Discussed. Nokes has a typical modern view of fairies as fictional little sprites, which, this being Tolkien's verse, is far from the reality. However, the Faery Queen appreciates being remembered in some form. La trama è semplice, e pur non essendo collegata in nessun modo alla Terra di Mezzo, riecheggia il leif motiv di molte opere dell'autore, soprattutto l'attacco dei Racconti ritrovati: nel paese di Wootton Major, immaginario ma indubbiamente anglosassone, ogni ventiquattro anni si tiene una festa a cui partecipano ventiquattro bravi bambini. Per l'occasione, il Maestro Cuoco serve una torta, ma in quella preparata da Nokes e dal suo apprendista Alf c'è una sorpresa: una pietra scintillante nascosta nella torta insieme ad altri ninnoli, che viene inconsapevolmente ingoiata dal figlio del Fabbro. La pietra si incastona nella fronte del bambino, e si rivela un vero e proprio lasciapassare (nonché protezione) per i reami di Faerie, che Fabbro esplora in lungo e in largo. Smith of Wootton Major was first published in the United States by Houghton Mifflin the same year. [T 3] It was reprinted in 1969 by Ballantine together with Farmer Giles of Ham. [T 4]Smith of Wootton Major, first published in 1967, is a novella by J. R. R. Tolkien. It tells the tale of a Great Cake, baked for the once in twenty-four year Feast of Good Children. The Master Cook, Nokes, hides some trinkets in the cake for the children to find; one is a star he found in an old spice box. A boy, Smith, swallows the star. On his tenth birthday the star appears on his forehead, and he starts to roam the Land of Faery. After twenty-four years the Feast comes around again, and Smith surrenders the star to Alf, the new Master Cook. Alf bakes the star into a new Great Cake for another child to find.

Smith of Wootton Major is not connected to the Middle-earth, except by the thematic "Faery" motif of the traveler who journeys to a land that lies beyond the normal world and is usually beyond the reach of mortals. (Smith can thus be likened to Beren in the realm of Thingol, or Eärendil journeying to Valinor, or Ælfwine's visit to Tol Eressëa.) Connected All Along: It turns out that the Master Cook who brought Alf into the town is actually Smith's grandfather.The Road to Middle-earth · The Keys of Middle-earth · The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion · Smith of Wootton Major" is my favorite of the two and in it Tolkien gives us a more intimate view of Faery Land than in his other works. Faery remains mysterious, beautiful, and dangerous but we are treated to more interactions with the King and Queen of Fairy than in any other story. It is a story that is both happy and sad, which is fitting for any treatment of Faery Land. Un commento all'edizione: Il fabbro di Wootton Major è inserito anche nella raccolta Albero e foglia, ed è di quella che consiglio l'acquisto. Le pagine di quest'edizione in particolare - dal costo spropositato giustificato solo in parte dalla bellezza delle edizioni deluxe Bompiani - sono quasi interamente dedicate ad appunti di Tolkien, correzioni, apparati critici, tanto che la fiaba in sé occupa solo quaranta delle sue centoquaranta pagine, illustrazioni (di Pauline Baynes, le stesse dell'edizione originale) comprese.

The time came for another Feast of Good Children. Smith had possessed his gift for most of his life, and the time had come to pass it on to some other child. So he regretfully surrendered the star to Alf, and with it his adventures into Faery. King of Faery, who had become Master Cook long before, baked it into the festive cake once again for another child to find. After the feast, Alf retired and left the village; and Smith returned to his forge to teach his craft to his now-grown son. a b Flieger, Verlyn; Shippey, Tom (2001). "Allegory Versus Bounce: Tolkien's 'Smith of Wootton Major' ". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 12 (2 (46)): 186–200. JSTOR 43308514. Roger Lancelyn Green, who noted in the Sunday Telegraph for 3 December 1967 that, “To seek for the meaning is to cut open the ball in search of its bounce.” Tolkien treasured the comment, and wrote Green to thank him.”After my sixth reading, it still grabs me as (usually) only real fairy tales do. Most modern fantasy seems so contrived. Tolkien had a grasp for what really works. This expanded edition includes the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes as well as notes concerning the writing and revisions of the original. An excellent companion for "On Fairy Stories"* from The Tolkien Reader, since Smith of Wootton Major is just such a fairy story.