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The Road To Middle-earth
''The Road to Middle-earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology'' is a scholarly study of the Middle-earth works of J. R. R. Tolkien written by Tom Shippey and first published in 1982. The book discusses Tolkien's philology, and then examines in turn the origins of ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and his minor works. An appendix discusses Tolkien's many sources. Two further editions extended and updated the work, including a discussion of Peter Jackson's film version of ''The Lord of the Rings''. The book's various versions, including new editions in 1993 and 2005, have been welcomed by Tolkien scholars and others as rigorous, convincing, and "the single best book written on Tolkien". Shippey won the 1984 '' Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies'' for the book. Book Background Tom Shippey is, as Tolkien was, a philologist. Early in his career he taught English at the University of Oxford, using the same syllabus as Tolki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) 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 three Mythopoeic Awards and a World Fantasy Award. He participated in the creation of Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, assisting the dialect coaches. He featured as an expert medievalist i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McFarland & Company
McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic and reference works, as well as general-interest adult nonfiction. Its president is Rhonda Herman. Its former president and current editor-in-chief is Robert Franklin, who founded the company in 1979. McFarland employs a staff of about 50, and had published 7,800 titles. McFarland's initial print runs average 600 copies per book. Subject matter McFarland & Company focuses mainly on selling to libraries. It also utilizes direct mailing to connect with enthusiasts in niche categories. The company is known for its sports literature, especially baseball history, as well as books about chess, military history, and film. In 2007, the ''Mountain Times'' wrote that McFarland publishes about 275 scholarly monographs and reference book titles a year; Robert Lee Brewer reported in 2015 that the number is about 350. List of scholarly journals The following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father's posthumously published work, including ''The Silmarillion'' and the 12-volume (plus one volume of indexes) series ''The History of Middle-Earth''. Tolkien also drew the original maps for his father's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Outside his father's unfinished works, he edited three tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (with Nevill Coghill) and his father's translation of ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Early life Tolkien was born in Leeds, England, the third of four children and youngest son of John Ronald Reuel and Edith Mary Tolkien (''née'' Bratt). He was educated at the Dragon School (Oxford) and later at The Oratory School. He entered the Royal Air Force in mid-1943 and was sent to South Africa for flight training, completing the el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianity In Middle-earth
Christianity is a central theme in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional works about Middle-earth, but always a hidden one. This allows the book to be read at different levels, and its meaning to be applied by the reader, rather than forcing a single meaning on the reader. J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic from boyhood, and he described ''The Lord of the Rings'' in particular as “unconsciously” a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work". While he insisted it was not an allegory, it contains numerous themes from Christian theology. These include the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace. A central theme is death and immortality, with light as a symbol of divine creation, but Tolkien's attitudes to mercy and pity, resurrection, the Eucharist, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority and healing can also be detected. Divine providence appears indirectly as the will of the Valar, go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare's Influence On Tolkien
Shakespeare's influence on Tolkien was substantial, despite Tolkien's professed dislike of the playwright. Tolkien disapproved in particular of Shakespeare's devaluation of elves, and was deeply disappointed by Shakespeare's prosaic explanation of how Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane Hill in ''Macbeth''. Tolkien was influenced especially by ''Macbeth'' and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', and he used ''King Lear'' for "issues of kingship, madness, and succession". He arguably drew on several other plays, including ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Henry IV, Part 1'', and '' Love's Labour's Lost'', as well as Shakespeare's poetry, for numerous effects in his Middle-earth writings. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien may even have felt a kind of fellow-feeling with Shakespeare, as both men were rooted in the county of Warwickshire. Shakespeare as a source Tolkien's dislike of Shakespeare J. R. R. Tolkien, a philologist and medievalist as well as a fantasy author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interlacing In The Lord Of The Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien's narrative interlacing in ''The Lord of the Rings'', also called by the French term ''entrelacement'', is an unusual and complex narrative structure, known from medieval literature, that enables him to achieve a variety of literary effects. These include maintaining suspense, keeping the reader uncertain of what will happen and even of what is happening to other characters at the same time in the story; creating surprise and an ongoing feeling of bewilderment and disorientation. More subtly, the leapfrogging of the timeline in ''The Lord of the Rings'' by the different story threads allows Tolkien to make hidden connections that can only be grasped retrospectively, as the reader realises on reflection that certain events happened at the same time, and that these connections imply a contest of good and evil powers. Interlacing and interconnections presented Peter Jackson with a complex challenge in translating the book to a narrative suitable for his ''The Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tolkien's Maps
J. R. R. Tolkien's maps, depicting his fictional Middle-earth and other places in his Tolkien's legendarium, legendarium, helped him with plot development, guides the reader through his often complex stories, and contributes to the Impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings, impression of depth in his writings. J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien stated that he began with maps and developed his plots from them, but that he also wanted his maps to be picturesque. Later fantasy writers often include maps in their novels. The publisher Allen & Unwin commissioned Pauline Baynes to paint a map of Middle-earth, based on Tolkien's draft maps and his annotations; it became iconic. A later redrafting of the maps by the publisher HarperCollins however made the maps look blandly professional, losing the hand-drawn feeling of Tolkien's maps. Maps ''The Hobbit'' ''The Hobbit'' contains two simple maps and only around 50 placenames. In the view of the Tolkien critic Tom Shippey, the maps are la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwarves (Middle-earth)
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid race *Dwarf (Middle-earth), a humanoid race in J. R. R. Tolkien's literature * Dwarf (''Warhammer''), a humanoid race * Dwarfs (''Discworld''), a race of characters * Dwarves (''Artemis Fowl''), a race of characters * Dwarves (''Warcraft''), a short, strong race *Dwarves (Marvel Comics) Literature * ''The Dwarf'' (Cho novel), a 1978 novel by Cho Se-hui * ''The Dwarf'' (Lagerkvist novel), a 1944 novel by Pär Lagerkvist Other arts, entertainment, and media * ''Dwarfs?!'' (video game) *Dwarves (band), American punk band *Killer Dwarfs, Canadian heavy metal band *Wrocław's dwarfs, small sculptures in Wrocław, Poland Biology *Phyletic dwarfism, an average decrease in size of animals **Insular dwarfism, a evolutionary condition caused by g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elves (Middle-Earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal. They feature in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Their history is described in detail in ''The Silmarillion''. Tolkien derived his Elves from mentions in the ancient poetry and languages of Northern Europe, especially Old English. These suggested to him that Elves were large, dangerous, beautiful, lived in wild natural places, and practised archery. He invented languages for the Elves, including Sindarin and Quenya. Tolkien-style Elves have become a staple of fantasy literature. They have appeared, too, in film and role-playing game adaptations of Tolkien's works. Origins Germanic word The modern English word ''elf'' derives from the Old English word '' ælf'' (which has cognates in all other Germanic languages). Numerous types of elves appear in Germanic mythology; the West Germanic concept appears to have come to diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirkwood
Mirkwood is a name used for a great dark fictional forest in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of the wildness of Europe's ancient North. At least two distinct Middle-earth forests are named Mirkwood in Tolkien's legendarium. One is in the First Age, when the highlands of Dorthonion north of Beleriand became known as Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth's control. The more famous Mirkwood was in Wilderland, east of the river Anduin. It had acquired the name Mirkwood after it fell under the influence of the Necromancer; before that it had been known as Greenwood the Great. This Mirkwood features significantly in ''The Hobbit'' and in the film '' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug''. The term ''Mirkwood'' derives from the forest ''Myrkviðr'' of Norse mythology; that forest has been identified by scholars as representing a wooded regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirkwood Between The Carpathians And Dnieper
Mirkwood is a name used for a great dark fictional forest in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of the wildness of Europe's ancient North. At least two distinct Middle-earth forests are named Mirkwood in Tolkien's legendarium. One is in the First Age, when the highlands of Dorthonion north of Beleriand became known as Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth's control. The more famous Mirkwood was in Wilderland, east of the river Anduin. It had acquired the name Mirkwood after it fell under the influence of the Necromancer; before that it had been known as Greenwood the Great. This Mirkwood features significantly in ''The Hobbit'' and in the film '' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug''. The term ''Mirkwood'' derives from the forest ''Myrkviðr'' of Norse mythology; that forest has been identified by scholars as representing a wooded re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khuzdul
Khuzdul is a fictional language created by J. R. R. Tolkien, one of the languages of Middle-earth, specifically the secret and private language of the Dwarves. External history Tolkien began developing Khuzdul before the publication in 1936 of ''The Hobbit'', with some names appearing in the early versions of ''The Silmarillion''. Tolkien based Khuzdul on Semitic languages, primarily Hebrew, featuring triconsonantal roots and similarities to Hebrew's phonology and morphology. Tolkien noted some similarities between Dwarves and Jews: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…". Tolkien also commented of the Dwarves that "their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic." Although a very limited vocabulary is known, Tolkien mentioned he had developed the language to a certain extent. A small amount of material on Khuzdul phonology and root modifications h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
