Los monstruos y los críticos y otros ensayos

These seven essays were, with one exception, read in public on private occasions, and although almost all of them originate from Tolkien's works on medieval literature, they are nevertheless entirely accessible to those who are not professionally acquainted with these subjects. Two of the essays refer to Beowulf, including the well-known lecture that gives the book its title. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reproduces the text read at the University of Glasgow in 1953. The pages devoted to invented languages, with examples from Elvish languages, were read in 1931. These texts, then, cover a period of about thirty years, beginning with the only occasion when Tolkien spoke "scholarly" of his literary inventions (calling them a secret vice), six years before the publication of The Hobbit, and concluding at the moment when he took leave of his teaching career, five years after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.