The Modern Scholar Tolkien and the West

I’ve listened to this audiobook of a lecture series several times and enjoyed it each time, gaining new insights on each re-hearing.

It is a general introduction to the works of Tolkien and the historical Western literature that lies behind them. It does a good job of explaining of how that literature, and Tolkien’s academic work with that literature informed and drove the creation of the works, and of the idea of middle earth and the entire legendarium.

Later parts of the course also examine the impact the work has had on modern culture and how it continues to do so, so many years after its publication and even more years after its first conception.

I would recommend this as an ideal introduction for anyone who has read any of the middle earth books (or seen the films) and wants a start on the wider world of Tolkien scholarship and study, and the rest of his work.

The presentation is, as always, engaging and the Professor speaks with great (and well earned) authority.