This month, New Line Cinema has just put the trailer on-line for the last of the
Lord of the Rings movies. The web community is anxiously viewing that trailer over
and over to see if Peter Jackson has created a masterpiece or messed one up. Professor
Tolkien's work has never been as popular, it seems, as it is today. Everyone wants
to be a Tolkien expert. With that in mind, I would like to draw your attention to
some of the literature that caused the professor to begin writing, "In a hole in the
ground there lived a Hobbit."
Tales Before Tolkien was compiled by Douglas A. Anderson, editor of The
Annotated Hobbit, a book that many consider a seminal work when studying Tolkien.
(Personally, I prefer to read Tolkien, rather than study him.) Since Tolkien did not
create in a vacuum, I thought it would be interesting to see what type of literature
might have influenced him.
This book turned out to have some authors I was already familiar with -- A. Merritt
and L. Frank Baum come immediately to mind -- and many that I was not familiar with.
The writing dates from the early 1800's to just before the publication of The Hobbit.
There is much to like in this book. Personally, I never quite warmed up to Fantasy
literature -- except, of course, for Professor Tolkien and a few other able practicioners.
This book contains the work of many such writers and it also has a cover by John Howe
depicting Minas Tirith that is really easy on the eyes. If you enjoyed Tolkien, you
should enjoy this (or at least find it interesting). I know I did.
'Til Next Month,
Happy Reading
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