Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism
by Rose A. Zimbardo (Editor), Neil D. Isaacs (Editor)
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Publisher's description: When first published, The Lord of the Rings stood far from the mainstream: no one had seen anything like it for decades. Tolkien's almost stridently antimodern tale needed valiant defenders, vocal admirers who understood its sources and relished its monumental scale. While such champions of modernism as Edmund Wilson mocked Tolkien's archaic structure and language, W.H. Auden -- a great modernist poet in his own right -- rose to his defense with a spirited essay on show more the true nature of the Hero Quest. Edmund Fuller's essay collected here discusses the nature of the fairy tale, returning to the roots of the term to remove the treacle of Disney and restore the value of realistic enchantment. Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis takes up the question of why, if you have a serious comment to make about real life, you would drape it in a never-never land of your own. He shrewdly argues that it is because real life does have mythic and heroic qualities -- in abundance. This collection also includes, among others, essays by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Verlyn Flieger, Paul Kocher, Jane Chance, and each of the editors, as well as a brand-new essay by Tom Shippey that shows us how to process all this vast learning, adding to it the many delights of the film versions of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, so we can relish his achievement all the more. show lessTags
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A very interesting collection of essays about Tolkien, of which the two standout pieces are "Men, Halflings, and Hero Worship" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, about love and heroism and how they apply to LotR, and "The Road Back to Middle-earth" by Tom Shippey, unlike the others specially commissioned for this volume, describing in detail the differences between the three Peter Jackson films and the books, and analysing why those choices were made. The pieces by C.S. Lewis and W.H. Auden, and Patrick Grants reflection on Tolkien and Jung, are pretty good too. Some of the others have been slightly overtaken by events, specifically by the publication of The Silmarillion and the History of Middle Earth show more series. But it's well worth getting hold of for Bradley, Shippey, Lewis, Auden and Grant. show less
A very interesting collection of essays about Tolkien, of which the two standout pieces are "Men, Halflings, and Hero Worship" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, about love and heroism and how they apply to LotR, and "The Road Back to Middle-earth" by Tom Shippey, unlike the others specially commissioned for this volume, describing in detail the differences between the three Peter Jackson films and the books, and analysing why those choices were made. The pieces by C.S. Lewis and W.H. Auden, and Patrick Grants reflection on Tolkien and Jung, are pretty good too. Some of the others have been slightly overtaken by events, specifically by the publication of The Silmarillion and the History of Middle Earth show more series. But it's well worth getting hold of for Bradley, Shippey, Lewis, Auden and Grant. show less
Returning this to the library for now. I'm enjoying it...I'm just not actually getting anywhere, and I have far too many books checked out anyway. I shall probably go back to it sooner or later.
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Author Information
Rose Zimbardo is Suny Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism
- Original publication date
- 2004
- People/Characters
- Aragorn II; Arwen Undómiel; Beowulf; Bilbo Baggins; Boromir; Denethor II (show all 20); Faramir; Frodo Baggins; Galadriel; Gandalf; Gollum; C. S. Lewis; Meriadoc Brandybuck; Peregrin Took; Samwise Gamgee (Sam Gamgee); Saruman the White; Sauron; Shelob; J. R. R. Tolkien; Tom Bombadil
- Important places
- Faërie
- Important events
- The Council of Elrond
- Dedication
- In loving memory of MARTIN STEVENS
he loved poesie
Trouthe and honour, freedom and curtesie
And for JACOB REECE ISAACS,
halfing of Dan and Tammy,
who will soon guide him
to Middle-earth and beyond
with love from Grandpa - First words
- Neil D. Isaacs
On the Pleasures of
(Reading and Writing)
Tolkien Criticism
It is almost forty-three years since Rose Zimbardo pointed me toward Middle-earth. - Quotations
- W. H. Auden,
The Quest Hero
To look for a lost collar button is not a true Quest: to go in quest means to look for something of which one has, as yet, no experience; one can imagine what it will be like but whether one'... (show all)s picture is true or false will be known only when one has found it. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Perhaps the most heartening thing one can say is that there will certainly now be many millions of people in exactly that position, new readers facing a new experience, and finding once again Tolkien's road to Middle-earth.
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- 232
- Popularity
- 139,966
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.82)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 3
