Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages

Product Description \n

It is a widely accepted point of view that J.R.R Tolkien was dismissive of the modern fiction of his time, and that ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ were fundamentally medieval and nostalgic in their inspiration. “Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages” takes this claim, coming from one of his first biographers, and reexamines it through new meticulous archival research.
This groundbreaking Catholic script by Holly Ordway reveals how Tolkien, in fact, had a fantastic imagination and understanding of both the facts and the fiction of the modern world. In contrast to the widely accepted image of Tolkien, this influential book portrays him enjoying a broad range of contemporary works, engaging with them in detail and depth— And Even naming specific titles as sources for, and influences upon his creation of Middle-earth.
This Christian book shows Tolkien admired authors such as James Joyce and Beatrix Potter, Rider Haggard and Edith Nesbit, William Morris, and Kenneth Grahame. Ordway further mentions how the forgotten works of S.R. Crockett and J.H. Shorthouse also made a significant impression on Tolkien's work.
In an effort to show Tolkien’s genius in a new light, Ordway's painstaking scholarship portrays how Tolkien's book was connected with the literature of his own time and at the same time concerned with the issues of the contemporary culture. Ordway's ground-breaking study illuminates his views on topics such as technology, women, empire, and race. For Tolkien's genius was not simply backward-looking: it was intimately connected with the literature of his own time and concerned with the issues and crises of modernity.

• Comprehensive Christian Books: Devoid of jargon, this approachable, comprehensive literature by Holly Ordway can enrich anyone's understanding of Tolkien's writings and bring new depth to his classic tales.
• Renowned Inspirational Books: Based on meticulous archival research, Ordway shows how Tolkien has appreciated both popular, and forgotten contemporary authors of his time and how said authors made a significant impression on Tolkien's literature.
• About the Author: Holly Ordway holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a Fellow of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and a Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University.
• Proclaiming Christ: Word on Fire Catholic Ministries supports the work of Bishop Robert Barron, which aims to highlight Roman Catholic history, spread the message of Jesus Christ, and to manifest the spirit of Christ to the masses.

\nReview
This is a work of the first importance. Holly Ordway's painstaking scholarship, her close reading of primary sources in their proper context, challenges, and thoroughly revises, the image of Tolkien as someone who took no interest in contemporary culture. Ordway also offers a fine critical understanding of why and how Tolkien drew on those sources, an understanding that will enrich anyone's experience in re-reading the legendarium. Her book is itself highly readable, devoid of jargon and presented with real elegance and wit, a delight for the general reader, but also a groundwork for future Tolkien studies. --Malcolm Guite, Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and author of
Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination\nA distinguished work of detailed literary scholarship that is enjoyable and accessible for all readers. Ordway has undertaken a careful, sometimes combative, psycho-bibliography that shatters any sense that Tolkien was simply a clueless and nostalgic curmudgeon. Rather, she gives us a portrait of a nuanced thinker and reader who was generous and aware, Catholic and conscientious, creatively engaged with, but not bound by, his own culture. --Michael Tomko, Professor o