A Tolkien Compass

Edited by Jared Lobdell

Can hobbits be psychoanalyzed? What was the relation between Tolkien’s writing and the two World Wars? How seriously can we take the good-versus-evil morality of Lord of the Rings as a useful guide to everyday life? Does Tolkien’s Christianity shine through his imitations of pagan legends?

The eleven chapters of this book, by different authors coming from different disciplines, treat Tolkien seriously as a literary artist and cultural giant. The first chapter analyzes the character transformation of Gollum, the second traces the "psychological journey" of Bilbo. Robert Plank sees the regime set up by Saruman at the end of The Lord of the Rings as a close parallel to fascism. Two chapters analyze Tolkien's narrative technique. Others investigate Tolkien’s use of myth and symbol within the broad Western cultural tradition.