Review: Tolkien's World

After World War II, the family of J.R.R. Tolkien, who was teaching philology at Oxford at the time, encouraged him to use his intense imagination for mythology to deal with more wordly topics. Having already written The Silmarillion, at their prodding Tolkien produced The Hobbit, then The Lord of The Rings. This year, partly in preparation for the trilogy of films to be released over the next two years, Tolkien lovers and discoverers are visiting and re-visiting Middle Earth, thanks to a flood of new books. From time to time, in advance of the movies, I'll present some of them here. Tolkien's World is one of the best so far.

Tolkien's World: The Paintings of Middle Earth
author	Various Artists
pages	110 pages
publisher	MJF Books
rating	8/10
reviewer	Jon Katz
ISBN	1-56731-248-9
summary	Paintings and images of Middle Earth

Tolkien's World, The Paintings of Middle Earth, coincides with the centenary of his birth. More than a dozen artists, already famous for their interpretations of Tolkien landscapes, some newcomers to the trilogy, have created more than 50 paintings published therein ($15 from Harper Collins).

The full-page images are all illustrated with text from Tolkien's works, and they bring the stories to life in a way that is sometimes dark, sometimes lively, usually haunting. The book is clearly organized -- text on the left, painting on the right.

At the end, the artists -- they are from all over the world -- explain their interpretations and drawings and where applicable, their personal experiences with the trilogy. For a Tolkien afficionado, it's immensely satisfying to match your own imagination against those of artists like Michael Hague and Roger Garland. John Howe's "The Great Goblin" is amazing, and Inger Edelfelt has painted a stark, strange and simplistic "Gollum." As the Hobbit himself put it, "deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don't know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum -- as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face." There is more good writing in that paragraph than in plenty of fictional and mythological tales.

"Thorin, Prisoner of the Elves," "The Arkenstone," "Frodo and Gandalf." "The Haven of Morionde," "The Brandywine River " -- the collection will intrigue readers who want to prep for the movie, or newcomers who want a sense of what Tolkien's worlds might look like. It would also work beautifully for kids.

The art is uneven -- certain painters' images might not square with your own. But some, like Ted Nasmith's "Glittering Caves of Aglarond," or John Howe's "Gandalf," will make you want to frame them and hang them up. Tolkien's World is a first-rate creative achievement.

I'm torn...

[rkischuk]

I don't know whether to be glad that Tolkien is finally being given proper attention in the mainstream or concerned about the wave of commercialism that is about to engulf his work.

It's going to be disturbing when kids start getting nine-fingered Frodo action figures in their happy meals...

Re:Philology

[liquidsin]

doh...I thought it was the scientific study of guys named 'Phil'

One DOS to rule them all!

[peter303]

Three OS's from corporate-kings in their towers of glass;
Seven from valley-lords where orchards used to grow;
Nine from dot.coms doomed to die;
One from the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.
One OS to rule them all! One OS to find them!
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Redmond where the Shadows lie.

(Until the wizard of Finland frees them all.)

Re:I'm torn...

[Nick Number]

It's going to be disturbing when kids start getting nine-fingered Frodo action figures in their happy meals...

Hey, that's better than finding the tenth finger in your burger.

40 is NOT old!

[Nino the Mind Boggle]

... dang whippersnappers ...