Splintered Light: Logos And Language In Tolkien's World (Revised Edition) by Verlyn Flieger

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Splintered Light: Logos And Language In Tolkien's World (Revised Edition) by Verlyn Flieger

Pub: The Kent State University Press. 196 page enlarged paperback. Price: $19.00 (US). ISBN: 0-87338-744-9.

Check out website: www.kentstateuniversitypress.com

The core of 'Splintered Light' is an exploration of the intimate relationship between light and language - not just as seen in Tolkien's work, but also in the wider arena of life as a whole.

That's very much a simplification of the aim of the book, which is (and I quote from the blurb on the back) an examination of 'The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning... how [Tolkien's] central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-Earth'.

I must point out that this book is primarily concerned with 'The Silmarillion' although not exclusively, since all of Tolkien's Middle-Earth material is bound together within his mythological framework. However, having a nodding acquaintance with the Silmarillion - or at least access to a copy - is essential for the reader to fully appreciate the subject matter.

Several key notions flow intertwined throughout this book: the idea of original undivided and perfect light splintered and fragmented; the idea of an original language fragmented into many and Tolkien's own deeply held Roman Catholicism, belief in The Fall, and his echoing of the same in his writing.

Parallels with the Biblical story of the Creation and Fall are readily apparent, though not a precise reiteration. Eru - 'the One' - is the Creator in Tolkien's mythology, essentially God. The Ainur (Holy Ones) are the offspring of Eru's thought ('powers and principalities' p.51).

Eru proposes a musical theme to the Ainur and invites them to elaborate upon it to create a Great Music (out of which all of the world will be born). Melkor ('the greatest of the Ainur and in his nature and potential the closest to Eru' p.57) rebels and adds his own theme instead, which brings evil into being even before the world is created: fragmentation of purpose is apparent even at this early stage.

And once the world was created, light was needed for growth: Varda (queen of that group of Ainur called the Valar, the Powers of the World) filled two lamps with light to create changeless day - lamps that were destroyed by Melkor, bringing darkness to the world. Later, the Valar Yavanna creates two trees to provide the necessary light: Melkor destroys the trees, yet again bringing darkness to the world.

The sun and moon (created from the last light of the dying trees) appear later, with the emergence of Men. At each stage there is a lessening and diminution of the light.
Logos - for the ancient Greeks, word, speech, reason, creative ability, organising principle - and light are both 'agents of perception' (p.44). Without light, we cannot see, and nothing can grow or develop. Without logos, thought and mental understanding remains unformed, undefined. Later, of course, the Logos became a central feature of Christianity, symbolising and denoting Christ, the Word of God made flesh.

And for Tolkien, 'the Word is Light, enlightenment' (p.44).
Tolkien's field was philology, 'the history of words and their chronological development' (p.5). He believed that in order to fully understand the meaning of language the words used must be perceived as the original users understood them: as Owen Barfield (1898-1997) said, to understand 'the historical forms and meanings of words as interpreters both of the past and of the workings of men's minds' (History in English Words p.14).

Or, more poetically, 'Words may be made to disgorge the past that is bottled up inside them, as coal and wine, when we kindle or drink them, yield up their bottled sunshine' (HEW p.13).

Barfield's work exerted a profound influence upon Tolkien. To find more, you could try checking out the website devoted to his work at www.owenbarfield.com

There is a great deal of information here, ranging from Anthroposophy through Christian Mysteries to quantum physics, far more than can be dealt with in a brief review.

In Tolkien's worldframe, as over time the original peoples of Middle-Earth split into differing 'tribes', the original language fragmented into different tongues, each becoming more complex and sophisticated, the words having more precise meaning and nuance.

This has distinct parallels with the development of the vast number of different but linked languages from the original Proto-Indo-European language, although as far as I'm aware Proto-Indo-European, while undoubtedly incredibly ancient, does not account for every human language - to take the example with which most people may be familiar, Basque bears no resemblance to any other living language.

There seems to be, in human beings, an almost irresistible, instinctive urge towards unification, to find an ultimate, single force or form from which all things devolved. It can be found in physics in the search for a unified field theory, in linguistics in the hunt for the original language, in all monotheistic religions - including, of course, Tolkien's own faith.
Tolkien's Catholicism slanted everything he wrote.

He may have written 'a' mythology of Britain but it is, to a large extent, a mythology of Christian Britain. Only a very few of the original pre-Christian deities can be found in his work - Tom Bombadil, for example, a Green Man if ever there was one, and the Valar and Maiar, apparent elemental beings. How far a mythology so heavily dependent on an imported religion can truly be called British is, in my opinion, open to debate...

'Splintered Light' is a scholarly book, well-researched, massively detailed - I've barely scratched the surface with this review - although I would have liked to have a brief chronology ('The Silmarillion' covers a large expanse of time) and a little more detail about Tolkien's languages, perhaps in tabular form for easy comparison, would have been useful.

It's also a surprisingly easy book to just dip into. It is, however, very much a specialist read. If your Tolkien is that of high adventure, magic and the heroic travails of Elves, Dwarves, Wizards and Men, you probably neither need nor want this book.

If, however, you're interested in knowing the deeper framework around which Tolkien wove his mythology, this is an essential resource.

Joules Taylor
http://www.wordwrights.co.uk

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