Tolkien: Man and Myth - Softcover

‘This fine apologia will certainly shift to some degree our polarised view of Ronald Tolkien... Pearce writes beautifully and with great depth... Even Germaine Greer, the great Tolkien-basher, might have second thoughts after reading him.’
Ronald Blythe in
‘The Tablet’

The Lord of the Rings was in 1997 voted the 20th Century’s greatest work of literature in the English language. Marking 25 years since Tolkien’s death, this important biographical appreciation of his life explores the man and his work.

Tolkien: Man and Myth takes a controversial approach to Tolkien’s imaginative literature. Unlike the conventional view that his fantasy writing was an escape from reality, Pearce argues that Tolkien saw his great epics about Middle-earth as a leap into reality. Understanding Tolkien’s view of life, faith and the supernatural is crucial to fully appreciating the deep levels of meaning in his three major works: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

J. R. R. Tolkien had no more than seven books published during his lifetime and yet he is a towering literary figure around the world. Tolkien: Man and Myth considers him in the context of his time and also his beliefs. It examines his influence upon other story tellers such as C. S. Lewis and the influence upon him of the writers group called the Inklings. Here is a valuable book for all the many fans of ‘the Century’s most popular writer’.