Product Description

J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction, especially "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", made him a world-renowned fantasy writer. These tales were based on Tolkien's personal mythology of a place he called Middle-Earth, but Middle-Earth was strongly influenced by the myths and legends of Dark Age Europe that Tolkien studied professionally as a professor at Oxford University. This title takes a popular - not academic - look at the mythic world and mythic themes that inspired Tolkien, not only the Germanic and Norse mythology that most experts discuss, but also Celtic and Finnish myths. It talks of the journeys and quests that inspired Tolkien, dragon myths, beliefs in supernatural, non-human races such as dwarves and elves, the role and function of the warrior, the nature of heroism and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #675477 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Leslie Ellen Jones is an especially well-qualified guide to Tolkien's mythological roots, holding a Ph.D. in Folklore and Mythology Studies from UCLA with a specialization in comparative and Celtic mythology. She has written extensively on modern uses of mythology in popular fiction, film, and television, teaches a course on Tolkien and his work for Barnes and Noble Online University, and is the author of a forthcoming biography of Tolkien (Greenwood Press, Summer 2002, title not finalized yet).

Customer Reviews

Myth & Middle-earth: Exploring The Legends
Myth & Middle Earth

I have for a long time been interested in Dark Age and Medieval history and the myths and legends that are a part of it. I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings a few years ago to see what all the fuss was about, and, although I enjoyed the stories, I felt a little disappointed by the experience. I bought this book to see if I had missed something.
The Preface gives a brief overview of Tolkien, his works and the book's content.
The Preliminary Mythology Note mentions ancient works which have been used as reference in the comparisons.
Chapters 1 and 2 give an overview of Tolkien's life and his area of expertise respectively.
Chapters 3 to 14 concentrate on the races, characters, creatures and beings represented in Tolkien's books and compares them to those from myth and legend.
Chapter 15 summarises how these traditional folk tales fit into Tolkien's books. It also makes the important point that Tolkien didn't take the traditional tales and simply re-tell them, but that he used them for reference and influence to tell his own unique stories.
This book does a good job of explaining the influences on Tolkien's works, whilst allowing the reader to make up their own mind whether to agree with the comparisons. I'm glad that I bought and read this book. It has certainly made me regard Tolkien's works in a new light.