The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 1: Chronology. Christina Scull

Tolkien’s ‘apology’ states that The Fall of Gondolin is the only one of his tales ‘that has so far been revised at all’, this is not strictly true: the tales of Beren and Lúthien and of Túrin Turambar had also been rewritten. It may be that Tolkien means recently revised; an extant slip giving directions for the shortening of The Fall of Gondolin when delivered orally is almost certainly related to this reading, and alterations on similar slips show developments in the mythology subsequent to the work apparently completed in June (The Book of Lost Tales).

      ?March or later 1920 Tolkien writes a short prose work, Ælfwine of England (*Eriol and Ælfwine), in part reusing the paper of letters sent to him in February 1920. ‘Ælfwine’ (‘Elf-friend’) now, for a time, is the name of the mariner of his tales, who was still called ‘Eriol’ in the deleted introductory remark to The Fall of Gondolin mentioned above (10 March 1920). A related plot-outline for the work dates from around the same time, and not long after writing the first version of Ælfwine of England Tolkien rewrites it, introducing much new matter. ‘It seems likely that Ælfwine of England was to be the beginning of a complete rewriting of the Lost Tales’ (Christopher Tolkien, The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two, p. 322). Two outline schemes for The Book of Lost Tales, in both of which the mariner is called Ælfwine, apparently also belong to this time: one scheme is cursory though not without additions, while the other seems to be a projected (but unrealized) revision of the Lost Tales, preserving their general plan but with notes that some tales should be abridged or recast, with the names of certain characters changed and Tol Eressëa no longer identified with England, and with the role of the mariner diminished.

      13 March 1920 Hilary Full Term ends.

      17 March 1920 Tolkien replies to a request from a Miss Duncan at Somerville College, Oxford for guidance on questions that she might face in the Old English paper of her examination. He sends her fifty possible questions, many taken from past papers. He remarks that he hopes some time to produce a select bibliography, but will have no time to do so in the forthcoming vacation.

      25 April 1920 Trinity Full Term begins.

      Trinity Term 1920 Tolkien teaches a class on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Saturdays at 10.00 a.m. at 40 Broad Street, beginning 1 May. See note. – He is an honorary member of the Exeter College Essay Club.

      11 May 1920 Oxford University grants women full membership. They are now eligible for all degrees except the Bachelor of Divinity and the Doctor of Divinity. Attempts to exclude women dons from faculty boards and from acting as examiners are overwhelmingly defeated.

      End of May 1920 Tolkien ceases to work for the Oxford English Dictionary.

      June 1920 Tolkien’s poem The Happy Mariners (first composed in July 1915) is published in the Stapeldon Magazine for June 1920, with only a few minor changes from the version rewritten on 9 September 1915. – Probably some time this month, informed of the opening by Kenneth Sisam, Tolkien applies for the post of Reader in English Language at the University of *Leeds.

      Late June 1920 Tolkien goes to Leeds to be interviewed for the Readership. He is met at the station by *George S. Gordon, the Professor of English. While travelling by tram to Gordon’s house they talk about Sir Walter Raleigh, Professor of English Literature at Oxford. ‘As (still) a stiff-necked young philologist, I did not in fact think much of Raleigh – he was not, of course, a good lecturer; but some kind spirit prompted me to say that he was “Olympian”. It went well; though I only really meant that he reposed gracefully on a lofty pinnacle above my criticism’ (Tolkien, draft letter to R.W. Chapman, 26 November 1941, Letters, p. 56). The Committee on the Readership, consisting of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gordon, and Professor Strong, consider Tolkien as well as three other candidates.

      ?Second half of 1920–?1921 Either while in Oxford or not long after he moves to Leeds in the autumn, Tolkien writes prose fragments which postdate The Book of Lost Tales. One such fragment, *Turlin and the Exiles of Gondolin, appears to be the beginning of a new version of The Fall of Gondolin. Another, describing the return of the Gnomes to the Great Lands, fills in part of the gap in The Book of Lost Tales which should contain the (unwritten) tale told by Gilfanon (earlier Ailios), The Travail of the Noldoli (see *‘The Gnomes Come to the Great Lands’). Both fragments show some development in the evolution of the mythology, the emergence of new characters, and inevitably changes of name (*‘Flight of the Gnomes’). On a slip of paper Tolkien makes brief notes developing The Flight of the Noldoli. But then he seems to give up any idea of continuing the mythology in prose. He begins *The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin in rhyming couplets, but abandons it after writing 130 lines.

      1 July 1920 Tolkien’s appointment as Reader in English Language is recommended at a meeting of the Committee at Leeds.

      21 July 1920 Tolkien’s appointment is ratified at a meeting of the University of Leeds Council.

      27 July 1920 Tolkien has lunch with George S. Gordon in Oxford.

      Summer 1920 The Tolkien family go on holiday to a cottage near Trwyn Llanbedrog on the coast of Cardigan Bay in North Wales. Edith Tolkien, now in the later stages of her second pregnancy, is upset by spiders that fall on her bed; she and her husband will later tell their second son, Michael, that Michael’s fear of spiders might be due to this incident. – Tolkien draws two views of the Welsh coast.

      October 1920 Tolkien’s poem Goblin Feet is included, with a colour illustration by Warwick Goble, in The Book of Fairy Poetry, ed. Dora Owen. – Tolkien inscribes ‘Oct. 1920’ in his copy of Peredur ab Efrawc, edited by Kuno Meyer (Leipzig, 1887). He will annotate this while reading the text against a copy of the manuscript facsimile edited by Rhŷs and Evans.

      1 October 1920 Tolkien takes up the Readership in English Language at the University of Leeds at a salary of £600 per year (see note). Edith will stay in Oxford for the birth of their second child, due very soon, and until Tolkien can find a suitable place for them to live in Leeds. With George S. Gordon’s help, Tolkien finds a place to stay during the week in Leeds, at 21a St Michael’s Road, Headingley; otherwise he spends as much time as he can in Oxford with his family. The staff of the School of English Language and Literature at Leeds, in addition to Gordon and Tolkien, consists of only two Assistant Lecturers and one Tutor in English Composition.

      Autumn term 1920 Tolkien applies, by invitation, for two professorships of English Language: the Baines Chair at the University of Liverpool, and the new De Beers Chair at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. – Beginning this term, Tolkien actively assembles a personal library related to his teaching and studies. In addition to works concerned with Old English, Middle English, Icelandic, and other Germanic languages, he acquires many books on the various Celtic languages and literatures (Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, and Irish).

      Late 1920–1923 At some time during this period Tolkien rewrites the poem Tinfang Warble (first composed in April 1915), doubling its length from the original eight lines. He will later note on a typescript: ‘Rewritten Leeds 1920–23’.

      Late 1920–1925 While at Leeds Tolkien writes an untitled, unfinished alliterative poem (‘Lo! the flame of fire || and fierce hatred’), almost certainly a lay of Eärendel (see *‘Lay of Eärendel’), which begins with the destruction of Gondolin and breaks off with refugees in the Land of Willows. – He also produces a typescript Qenya Phonology and a manuscript Qenya grammar (*Qenya: Descriptive Grammar of the Qenya Language). He begins to make a typescript fair copy of the grammar, which he expands in the process but does not complete.

      4 October 1920 University of Leeds term begins.

      Leeds academic year 1920–1921 George S. Gordon, not long retired from military service, is just beginning to revise the English syllabus at Leeds by