Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien, Myth and ModernityWhat are millions of readers all over the world getting out of reading The Lord of the Rings? Newly reissued with a new afterword, Patrick Curry's Defending Middle-earth argues, in part, that Tolkien has found a way to provide something close to spirit in a secular age. His focus is on three main aspects of Tolkien's fiction: the social and political structure of Middle-earth and how the varying cultures within it find common cause in the face of a shared threat; the nature and ecology of Middle-earth and how what we think of as the natural world joins the battle against mindless, mechanized destruction; and the spirituality and ethics of Middle-earth, for which Curry provides a particularly insightful and resonant examination that will deepen the understanding of the millions of fans who have taken The Lord of the Rings to heart. |
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - waltzmn - LibraryThingNo amount of earnestness can make up for missing the point. There have been, over the decades, quite a few defenses of the meaningfulness, the relevance, the suitability for modern times of J. R. R ... Read full review
User Review - Flag as inappropriate
Perhaps the single most important text on the importance of Tolkien and myth to the modern world and especially the ecological movement.
Contents
Introduction Radical Nostalgia | 1 |
The Story | 3 |
Readers vs Critics | 5 |
Postmodernity in Middleearth | 10 |
Middleearth in Postmodernity | 13 |
Three Worlds in One | 16 |
A Mythology for England? | 20 |
A Great Book? | 23 |
The Sea Spirituality and Ethics | 87 |
The Problem of Evil | 88 |
Death | 91 |
Luck Fate Providence | 94 |
A Christian Work? | 96 |
A Pagan Work? | 98 |
Wizards and Stars | 101 |
All and None | 103 |
The Shire Culture Society and Politics | 24 |
Englishness | 26 |
Country Folk | 27 |
Nation and Class | 29 |
A Pastoral Fantasy? | 33 |
Fascist? | 36 |
Politics in Middleearth | 37 |
Radical Nostalgia | 42 |
Activism | 43 |
Escapism | 45 |
MiddleEarth Nature and Ecology | 48 |
Place | 49 |
Nature in Middleearth | 50 |
Forests Woods and Trees | 51 |
The War on Tree | 53 |
The Tree of Life | 55 |
Tolkien and Trees | 58 |
The Ring | 60 |
Magic vs Enchantment | 61 |
The Ring as Megamachine | 65 |
Mordor on Earth | 69 |
The War on Life | 72 |
Selling Ourselves | 74 |
On Sentimentality | 76 |
Lifes a Beech | 78 |
Save Us from the Experts | 83 |
PostChristianNeoPaganNew Times | 106 |
From Religion to Myth to Fantasy | 110 |
Fantasy Literature and the Mythopoeic Imagination | 112 |
Loss and Consolation | 114 |
Myth | 118 |
Local Mythology | 119 |
Universal Myth | 121 |
Back to Myth | 123 |
Other Approaches to Myth | 125 |
Story | 127 |
Fantasy | 129 |
The Lord of the Rings as Fantasy | 131 |
Disney World | 133 |
Angela Carter | 135 |
Discworld | 137 |
Conclusion Hope without Guarantees | 139 |
The Elements | 141 |
Place | 143 |
Wonder | 146 |
Hope | 148 |
Afterword | 151 |
References | 161 |
191 | |
193 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actually already ancient become called character Christian contemporary course critics cultural death described destruction Earth ecological effects elements Elves enchantment England English everything evil example experience fact fairy Fairy-Stories fantasy feel final forest Frodo Gandalf gods green heart History hobbits hope human imagination important John kind land language less Letters light limited literary literature living London look Lord magic meaning Middle-earth moral Mordor myth mythology natural world nature never once pagan perhaps political possible present Press problem published quoted readers realization reason religion remains respect result Rings Sauron seems sense Shippey Shire simply social speak spiritual story suggests tale things tion Tolkien tradition trees true truth turn understanding University values wisdom wonder writes