A Reader's Companion to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings

by · 1995

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From the back cover:

This books includes nearly four decades' worth of intelligent, lively, and controversial Tolkien commentary from some of the major literary figures of our time. Here you will find W. H. Auden praising The Hobbitas "one of the best children's stories of this century"; Edmund Wilson deriding The Lord of the Ringsas "an overgrown fairy story"; and critques by C. S. Lewis in the 1950s, Ursula K. Le Guin in the 70s, and Isaac Asimov in the 80s. What emerges from these twelve provocative commentaries is not only a colorful survey of American and British literary and cultural tastes over several generations, but a multifaceted tribute to one man and his imagination that is sure to enhance and deepen a reader's understanding of Tolkien's two most famous works.

Subject
literary criticismliterary criticismMore like thisLess of this
Genre
fantasyfantasyMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
short · 118 pages

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“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

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  3. A Tolkien Treasury · 1978
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