Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: With Pearl and Sir Orfeo is a published set of translations made by J.R.R. Tolkien of three classic Middle English tales, first released by George Allen & Unwin in 1975. The first of them, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" from Arthurian legend, was (alongside that of Beowulf) a significant, perpetual task of Tolkien's academic life.
The book was republished by Del Rey in 1979, and again, by HarperCollins, in 1996 and 2021.
Contents[]
- Preface
- Introduction
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- W.P. Memorial Lecture on Sir Gawain
- Notes
- Pearl
- Sir Orfeo
- Glossary
- Gawain's Leave-taking
Background[]
In 1925, J.R.R. Tolkien and colleague E.V. Gordon published a scholarly edition of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". A second edition of this translation was prepared by Norman Davis and published in 1967. The book, featuring a text in Middle English with extensive scholarly notes, is frequently confused with the translation into Modern English that Tolkien prepared alongside those of Pearl and Sir Orfeo, later in his life. Many editions of the latter work, first published in 1975, shortly after his death, list Tolkien on the cover as author rather than translator.[1] It is therefore common to see Sir Gawain erroneously ascribed to Tolkien as the original author.[2]
External links[]
- 1979 & 2021 releases at Bookshop.org
- Amazon.com
- 1996 release at AbeBooks
References[]
- ↑ Michael White, Tolkien: A Biography. New American Library, 2003 (ISBN 0-451-21242-8)
- ↑ See for example: Tolkien, J. R. R.. Old Poetry: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien. Oldpoetry.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.