Tolkien and Wales Reviewed by Damien Bador [This review
originally appeared in Mythprint 48:7 (#348) in July 2011.] With
this work, Carl Phelpstead corrects a flagrant injustice. Many
books have studied the influence of Germanic or Finnish language
and literature upon J.R.R. Tolkien, and rightly so, but nothing
similar had yet been attempted for Wales, also a major source of
inspiration for Tolkien, both for his academic and his literary
works. Phelpstead’s book focuses on Welsh language, literature,
and identity in the British Islands. A short chronology
mentioning events linked to Tolkien’s interest for Wales, and a
description of Tolkien’s Welsh library, now hosted in the
University of Oxford, complete his study. Examining the
annotations left by Tolkien in his books is one of the strengths
of Tolkien and Wales, as these annotations provide crucial
evidence of Tolkien’s interest in Welsh. Hence, the description
of his Welsh library is particularly useful. The first section
of the book deals with Tolkien’s