Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

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Macmillan + ORM, Jun 2, 2015 - Literary Criticism - 208 pages
Middle Earth, Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo: The places and characters that sprang from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien will live forever in the imaginations of millions of readers. In Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards, Michael Stanton, a scholar of science fiction and fantasy literature, offers an extraordinary encounter with The Lord of the Rings. Believing that there is no epic of contemporary literature to match The Lord of the Rings, Stanton delves critically into the richness of the story. He explores the intricacies of its dialogue and illuminates the idiosyncratic nature of it characters. He looks at places, dreams, notions of time and history. Eschewing academic jargon, Stanton provides an intriguing look at Tolkien's fantasyscape that ultimately shows how all of these parts meld into a singularly compelling work of art that lives and breathes. For those who have read and loved The Lord of the Rings, Stanton embarks on an exploration of Tolkien's genius, painting a rich and wonderful critical portrait of the world he created, a portrait that no one who truly hopes to understand Tolkien's vision will want to be without.
 

Contents

Acknowledgements
Geography History Theme
The Fellowship of the Ring Prologue and Book I
The Fellowship of the Ring Book II
PART II
The Dwarves
The Ents
Darkness Evil and Forms of the Enemy
Mind Spirit and Dream in The Lord of the Rings
Afterword
Bibliography
Copyright

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About the author (2015)

Michael Stanton taught English literature at the Unversity of Vermont. During his tenure there, he inaugurated the standard course on science fiction and fantasy literature and taught Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings every year he was there. He has written on science fiction and fantasy literature as well as on Dickens and Melville.

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