J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle Earth

With a new introduction by the author

Peter Jackson's film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy - and the accompanying Rings-related paraphernalia and publicity - has played a unique role in the disemmination of Tolkien's imaginative creation to the masses. Yet, for most readers and viewers, the underlying meaning of Middle-earth has remained obscure. Bradley Birzer has remedied that with this fresh study. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth, Birzer reveals the surprisingly specific religious symbolism that permeates Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He also explores the social and political views that motivated the Oxford don, ultimately situating Tolkien within the Christian humanist tradition represented by Thomas More and T.S. Eliot, Dante and C.S. Lewis. Birzer argues that through the genre of myth Tolkien created a world that is essentially truer than the one we think we see around us everyday, a world that transcends the colorless disenchantment of our postmodern age.

Author: Bradley J. Birzer
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 08/29/2023
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.50w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9781684515356
ISBN10: 1684515351
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
- Literary Criticism | Subjects & Themes | Religion
- Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures