Reviewed by: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien, and: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien Dimitra Fimi The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Verlyn Flieger. London: Harper-Collins, 2016. xxi, 106 pp. £16.99 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-00-820213-2. The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Aleksandar Mikić, with the assistance of Elizabeth Currie. Novi Sad, Serbia: Abraka Dabra, 2015. 287 pp. €20 (hardcover, available from Snovidjenja Publishing House, snovidjenja.publishing.house@gmail.com). ISBN 978-86-918845-0-5. Writing about The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun in 2011, Carl Phelpstead observed: "The poem has never been reprinted, making it now one of Tolkien's least easily obtainable published writings" (89). In that he was right—and wrong. The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun was originally published [End Page 184] in The Welsh Review in 1945, a Welsh periodical edited by Tolkien's friend Professor Gwyn Jones. It did not become widely available to Tolkien readers and scholars until Verlyn Flieger's official 2016 edition. But it had been reprinted once before Phelpstead wrote: in a little-known bilingual Serbian-English edition published in 2002, revised and expanded in a second edition in 2015. This review will address both reprints, focusing on the second Serbian-English edition and Verlyn Flieger's official one from HarperCollins. The Serbian-English edition was prepared by Aleksandar Mikić, who also translated The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun into Serbian. The first edition included the poem in English and Serbian translation, but the accompanying essay was given only in Serbian. This second edition is bilingual throughout, with facing Serbian-English versions of the entire book (Serbian on the left, English on the right), including all introductory and commentary material. The volume begins with a reprint of the Lay as it appeared in The Welsh Review, with facing Serbian translation, which, I am afraid, I am not in a position to evaluate—though it is commended by Professor Zoran Paunovic of the University of Belgrade (see 277). The Lay itself is then followed by an extensive essay titled "Lay of Man and the Supernatural," subdivided into twelve shorter parts. The essay is a mixed bag of background information that may assist the reader in understanding and appreciating the poem, and a critical evaluation of the poem. Mikić has, consequently, veered beyond the stricter definition of an editor and into that of a literary critic. There is nothing wrong with that, in principle, but it may have been better to separate the two roles for clarity. The essay itself is of mixed quality. "Tolkien and Christianity" (123–33) gives a brief (and, consequently, rather simplified) introduction to Tolkien's faith and its reflection in his literature, mainly drawing examples from The Lord of the Rings. It is a missed opportunity not to link this discussion directly with the Lay itself, which does present a particular Christian worldview. "The Celtic Cosmos" (135–45) is rather problematic: although the author begins by dismissing the romanticized ideas of Celticity in popular culture, he goes on to provide a rather old-fashioned account of the "Celts" as a homogenous people, in which evidence from classical authors and Iron Age archaeology are linked in a linear way with medieval Irish and Welsh literature, all the way to 19th and 20th century folklore. This is followed by "Tolkien and the Celts" (147–57) which rehearses Tolkien's dislike for Irish and love of Welsh, as well as Tolkien's use of "Celtic" material in his invented languages and literary works. No references are made here to important previous research on this subject (e.g., Burns; Fimi "Mad [End Page 185] Elves" and "Celtic"; Flieger Interrupted Music and Green Suns and Faërie; Phelpstead). "Little Britain" (159–69) provides background information on Brittany and the Breton language, as well as the genre of the "Breton lay" in French and Middle English from Marie de France to Sir Orfeo. This part could have offered really useful context for understanding Tolkien's interchangeable use of "Britain" and "Brittany" in the...