Twenty-First-Century Tolkien: What Middle-Earth Means To Us Today
Professor Nick Groom
'Fascinating.... Wonderfully exhilarating.' Mail on Sunday
Finalist for The Tolkien Society Best Book Award
An engaging, original and radical reassessment of J.R.R. Tolkien, revealing how his visionary creation of Middle-Earth is more relevant now than ever before.
What is it about Middle-Earth and its inhabitants that has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world? And why does Tolkien's visionary creation continue to fascinate and inspire us eighty-five years on from its first appearance?
Beginning with Tolkien's earliest influences and drawing on key moments from his life, Twenty-First-Century Tolkien is an engaging and radical reinterpretation of the beloved author's work. Not only does it trace the genesis of the original books, it also explores the later adaptations and reworkings that cemented his reputation as a cultural phenomenon, including Peter Jackson's blockbuster films of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and the highly anticipated TV series The Rings of Power.
Delving deep into topics such as friendship, failure, the environment, diversity, and Tolkien's place in a post-Covid age, Nick Groom takes us on an unexpected journey through Tolkien's world, revealing how it is more relevant now than ever before.
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About Professor Nick Groom
Reviews for Twenty-First-Century Tolkien: What Middle-Earth Means To Us Today
Mail on Sunday
Each chapter displays a mastery of both the works in question - whether books or adaptations - and of the vast corpus of Tolkien scholarship. Narratives of literary production or of Hollywood bureaucratic processes rarely come as absorbing as Groom's... Illuminating... Groom's explorations of Tolkien's sources... are always provocative and often ingenious.
Literary Review
This fascinating book explores The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings from their genesis through all the different major adaptations of the Tolkien 'legendarium.' It starts off neatly summarizing Tolkien's life and influences - such as his friendship with W.H. Auden and C.S. Lewis.
Wall Street Journal
Provides a fresh study of the impact Tolkien has on contemporary readers' and viewers' understanding of good, evil, war, and conflict.
Library Journal
A loving ode to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. An adventure worth taking.
Publishers Weekly
A modern journey through Tolkien's work, which has engendered a rich field of cultural activity. A thought-provoking examination. With the authority of extensive research, Groom unpacks the reasons for the appeal of Tolkien to a new generation.
Kirkus Reviews
An excellent, perceptive and superbly crafted analysis of the way our ever-changing world has responded to Tolkien. A stunning achievement.
Brian Sibley, award-winning author of The Fall of Númenor