War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien PDF

Author: Janet B. Croft

Publisher:

Published: 2024-04-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the world's most beloved authors, was a World War I signaling officer who survived the Battle of the Somme, and two of his sons served during World War II. Such experiences and events led Tolkien to a complex attitude toward war and military leadership, the themes of which find their way into his most important writings. His fiction, criticism, and letters demonstrate a range of attitudes that would change over the course of his life. In the end, his philosophy on human nature and evil, and the inevitability of conflict, would appear to be pragmatic and rational, if regretful and pessimistic. Croft explores the different aspect of Tolkien's relationship with war both in his life and in his work from the early Book of Lost Tales to his last story Smith of Wootten Major, and concentrating on his greatest and most well-known works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This valuable consideration of war in the life of Tolkien is essential reading for all readers interested in deepening their understanding of this great writer.

War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien PDF

Author: Janet Brennan Croft

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 2004-06-30

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Having participated in the First World War, and having seen two of his sons serve in the Second, Tolkien was concerned with many of the same themes that interested other writers in the post-war period. The rhythm of war flows through his writings, but his own interpretation of the themes, symbols, and motifs of war, however, were influenced by his religious views and his interest in fantasy, which add another layer of meaning and a sense of timelessness to his writing. Croft explores the different aspect of Tolkien's relationship with war both in his life and in his work from the early Book of Lost Tales to his last story Smith of Wootten Major, and concentrating on his greatest and most well-known works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. This timely addition to the critical literature on Tolkien sheds new light on the author's life and works. Tolkien, one of the world's most beloved authors, was a World War I signaling officer who survived the Battle of the Somme, and two of his sons served during World War II. Such experiences and events lead Tolkien to a complex attitude toward war and military leadership, the themes of which find their way into his most important writings. His fiction, criticism, and letters demonstrate a range of attitudes that would change over the course of his life. In the end, his philosophy on human nature and evil, and the inevitability of conflict, would appear to be pragmatic and rational, if regretful and pessimistic. Still, Croft is able to uncover a strain of hopefulness, as befitted his Catholicism, about the ultimate fate of the human soul. She concludes that his personal life and values informed his reading and his writing and the way in which he interpreted his own experiences. This valuable consideration of war in the life of Tolkien is essential reading for all readers interested in deepening their understanding of this great writer.

Tolkien and the Great War

Tolkien and the Great War PDF

Author: John Garth

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2013-06-11

Total Pages: 419

ISBN-13: 0544263723

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How the First World War influenced the author of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy: “Very much the best book about J.R.R. Tolkien that has yet been written.” —A. N. Wilson As Europe plunged into World War I, J. R. R. Tolkien was a student at Oxford and part of a cohort of literary-minded friends who had wide-ranging conversations in their Tea Club and Barrovian Society. After finishing his degree, Tolkien experienced the horrors of the Great War as a signal officer in the Battle of the Somme, where two of those school friends died. All the while, he was hard at work on an original mythology that would become the basis of his literary masterpiece, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In this biographical study, drawn in part from Tolkien’s personal wartime papers, John Garth traces the development of the author’s work during this critical period. He shows how the deaths of two comrades compelled Tolkien to pursue the dream they had shared, and argues that the young man used his imagination not to escape from reality—but to transform the cataclysm of his generation. While Tolkien’s contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day. “Garth’s fine study should have a major audience among serious students of Tolkien.” —Publishers Weekly “A highly intelligent book . . . Garth displays impressive skills both as researcher and writer.” —Max Hastings, author of The Secret War “Somewhere, I think, Tolkien is nodding in appreciation.” —San Jose Mercury News “A labour of love in which journalist Garth combines a newsman’s nose for a good story with a scholar’s scrupulous attention to detail . . . Brilliantly argued.” —Daily Mail (UK) “Gripping from start to finish and offers important new insights.” —Library Journal “Insight into how a writer turned academia into art, how deeply friendship supports and wounds us, and how the death and disillusionment that characterized World War I inspired Tolkien’s lush saga.” —Detroit Free Press

War of the Fantasy Worlds

War of the Fantasy Worlds PDF

Author: Martha C. Sammons

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-12-22

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0313362831

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This investigation focuses on C.S. Lewis's and J.R.R. Tolkien's contrasting views of art and imagination, which are key to understanding and interpreting their fantasy works, providing insight into their goals, themes, and techniques, as well as an appreciation of the value and impact of their mythologies. Most scholarship about J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis describes their shared faith and academic interests or analyzes each writer's fantasy works. War of the Fantasy Worlds: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien on Art and Imagination is the first to focus solely on their contrasting concepts of fantasy. The authors' views of art and imagination, the book shows, are not only central to understanding the themes, value, and relevance of their fantasy fiction, but are also strikingly different. Understanding the authors' thoughts about fantasy helps us better understand and appreciate their works. Yet, this book is not a critical analysis of The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. Rather, it examines only elements of Tolkien's and Lewis's books that relate to their views about art, fantasy, and creativity, or the implementation of their theories. The result is a unique and altogether fascinating perspective on two of the most revered fantasy authors of all time.

The War of the Ring

The War of the Ring PDF

Author: Christopher Tolkien

Publisher:

Published: 2010-03-04

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 9780007365326

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By analysing his father's stories Christopher Tolkien shows how unforeseen developments affect the plot in the different stages of the Ring saga. The book includes drawings, plans and maps, some of which are reproductions of J.R.R. Tolkien's originals.

The Battles of Tolkien

The Battles of Tolkien PDF

Author: David Day

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-03

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1626868530

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An in-depth analysis of the major battles of Tolkien's works, from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. Find out how each battle came about and how it shaped the course of Middle-earth's history in this beautifully-bound leatherette volume, the third title in a successful trilogy

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War PDF

Author: Joseph Loconte

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Published: 2015-06-30

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0718021770

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Had there been no Great War, there would have been no Hobbit, no Lord of the Rings, no Narnia, and perhaps no conversion to Christianity by C. S. Lewis. The First World War laid waste to a continent and brought about the end of innocence—and the end of faith. Unlike a generation of young writers who lost faith in the God of the Bible, however, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis found that the Great War deepened their spiritual quest. Both men served as soldiers on the Western Front, survived the trenches, and used the experience of that conflict to ignite their Christian imagination. Tolkien and Lewis produced epic stories infused with the themes of guilt and grace, sorrow and consolation. Giving an unabashedly Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment, the two writers created works that changed the course of literature and shaped the faith of millions. This is the first book to explore their work in light of the spiritual crisis sparked by the conflict.

The Nature of Middle-Earth

The Nature of Middle-Earth PDF

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 0358454603

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It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954-5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. He discusses sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Númenor and the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor.

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring PDF

Author: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 571

ISBN-13: 0007203586

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'The Fellowship of the Ring' is the first part of JRR Tolkien's epic masterpiece 'The Lord of the Rings'. This 50th anniversary edition features special packaging and includes the definitive edition of the text.|PB

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien PDF

Author: Tom Shippey

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2014-02-21

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0547524439

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The definitive Tolkien companion—an indispensable guide to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and more, from the author of The Road to Middle-earth. This “highly erudite celebration and exploration of Tolkien’s works [is] enormous fun,” declared the Houston Chronicle, and Tom Shippey, a prominent medievalist and scholar of fantasy, “deepens your understanding” without “making you forget your initial, purely instinctive response to Middle-earth and hobbits.” In a clear and accessible style, Shippey offers a new approach to Tolkien, to fantasy, and to the importance of language in literature. He breaks down The Lord of the Rings as a linguistic feast for the senses and as a response to the human instinct for myth. Elsewhere, he examines The Hobbit’s counterintuitive relationship to the heroic world of Middle-earth; demonstrates the significance of The Silmarillion to Tolkien’s canon; and takes an illuminating look at lesser-known works in connection with Tolkien’s life. Furthermore, he ties all these strands together in a continuing tradition that traces its roots back through Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Beowulf. “Shippey’s commentary is the best so far in elucidating Tolkien’s lovely myth,” wrote Harper’s Magazine. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century is “a triumph” (Chicago Sun-Times) that not only gives readers a deeper understanding of Tolkien and his work, but also serves as an entertaining introduction to some of the most influential novels ever written.