Name: The road to Middle-Earth
ISBN: 9780618257607

The road to Middle-Earth

"The Road to Middle-earth, Tom Shippey's classic work, now revised and expanded in paperback explores J.R.R. Tolkien's creativity and the sources of his inspiration. Shippey shows in detail how Tolkien's professional background led him to write The Hobbit and create a timeless charm for millions of readers. He argues convincingly that the source of Tolkien's inspiration lay not just in his love of fable but in his love of language. While examining the foundations and literary structures of Tolkien's most popular work, The Lord of the Rings, in rich detail, Shippey also discusses the contribution of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales to Tolkien's great myth cycle, showing how the more "difficult" books can be fully appreciated. He goes on to examine the remarkable twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, written by Tolkien's son and literary heir Christopher Tolkien, which traces the creative and technical processes by which Middle-earth evolved."--Jacket.

What Hacker News says

saraid216Jan 2013

I very much recommend Tom Shippey's Road to Middle-Earth, which discusses Tolkien's influences from the perspective of a contemporary and friend and academic colleague.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Middle-Earth-Tolkien-Mytholog...

I haven't yet read Shippey's "Author of the Century", which is about a second set of influences (like the World Wars).

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jdshafferAug 2023

Tom Shippey, a very well known and respected Tolkien scholar gave a talk about the book vs the Peter Jackson movies. It also ended up in an edited version in one of his books (I cannot remember if it was "Tolkien: Author of the Century" or "The Road to Middle Earth".)

In short, he argues that Jackson actually did the best he could to present the book in a format that movie studios would accept, and even then was able to press through on some typically non-Hollywood elements (such as having at least nine main characters split across two to three major story arcs).

Here is an online transcript of his talk, "Tolkien Book to Jackson Script: The Medium and the Message":

https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/tolkien-book-to-jacks...

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