Tom Shippey (Author of The Road to Middle-Earth)

Tom Shippey鈥檚 Followers (163)

Tom Shippey

Born

in Kolkata, India

September 09, 1943

Website

Genre

History, Nonfiction

edit data

Thomas Alan Shippey is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien about whom he has written several books and many scholarly papers. His book The Road to Middle-Earth has been called "the single best thing written on Tolkien".

Shippey's education and academic career have in several ways retraced those of Tolkien: he attended King Edward's School, Birmingham, became a professional philologist, occupied Tolkien's professorial chair at the University of Leeds, and taught Old English at the University of Oxford to the syllabus that Tolkien had devised.

He has received th ...more

Combine Editions
Tom Shippey鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.97 · 16,908 ratings · 964 reviews · 56 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology 3.95 avg rating — 6,100 ratings — published 1982 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century 3.88 avg rating — 5,648 ratings — published 2000 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories by Tom Shippey (Editor), H.G. Wells (Contributor), Francis Pollock (Contributor) 4.11 avg rating — 479 ratings — published 1992 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings 3.99 avg rating — 265 ratings — published 2018 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories (Oxford Books of Prose) 3.75 avg rating — 177 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien 4.47 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beowulf: Translation and Commentary by Tom Shippey (Translator), Leonard Neidorf (Editor) 4.80 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beowulf and the North before the Vikings 4.73 avg rating — 48 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shadow-Walkers: Jacob Grimm's Mythology of the Monstrous 4.43 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beowulf: The Critical Heritage (Critical Heritage Series) by Tom Shippey (Editor ), Andreas Haarder (Editor) 4.35 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Tom Shippey…

Quotes by Tom Shippey (?)

“The cry that 'fantasy is escapist' compared to the novel is only an echo of the older cry that novels are 'escapist' compared with biography, and to both cries one should make the same answer: that freedom to invent outweighs loyalty to mere happenstance, the accidents of history; and good readers should know how to filter a general applicability from a particular story.”
― Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology

tags: fantasy, fiction, tolkien, tom-shippey, writing

13 likes

“When people say that this kind of fantasy fiction is escapist and evading the real world, well I think that鈥檚 an evasion. It鈥檚 actually trying to confront something that most people would rather not confront.”
― Tom Shippey

9 likes

“While persistence offers no guarantees, it does give 'luck' a chance to operate.”
― Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology

tags: luck, persistence, tolkien

7 likes

See all Tom Shippey's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
J.R.R. Tolkien Ep...: Chapter 19-24	71	36	May 09, 2017 08:24PM
Around the Year i...: Heidi's "I want to read that one too!" 2017 plan DONE	1	38	May 23, 2017 04:37AM
Mount TBR 2020: Alanna Focuses on Formulas	47	48	Feb 04, 2020 07:18PM
J.R.R. Tolkien: Tolkien scholars	12	188	Apr 28, 2021 04:52PM
Catching up on Cl...: Buddy Read? Requests here!	2090	1303	Oct 16, 2021 08:15AM
SciFi and Fantasy...: What Else Are You Reading in 2021?	2229	1479	Dec 31, 2021 12:09PM
Books2Movies Club: Books at Bargain Price	177	270	May 22, 2022 03:32AM
Books2Movies Club: TOLKIEN 11-12: Author of the Century and the Whole Wide World	1	4	Nov 06, 2022 09:46AM
欧宝娱乐 Librari...: (DONE) Book issues (Slavic editions). v.8	972	976	Dec 14, 2022 09:12AM
The Mystery, Crim...: * Books you've just bought or are thinking of buying?	1721	1479	Jan 06, 2024 08:04AM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Tom to 欧宝娱乐.

欧宝娱乐

Tom Shippey鈥檚 Followers (163)

Tom Shippey

Combine EditionsTom Shippey鈥檚 books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Tom Shippey鈥檚 books