Stuart Woodward reviewed Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
Review of 'Tolkien and the Great War' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is a really insightful book. I thought I knew the story of Tolkien and how his novels came about but this book made me realize how little I really knew.
The crux of the book is the schoolboy club that Tolkien formed and the story of those boys as grew up and their experience of the First World War.
The book also shows how Tolkien's early poetical work formed the basis of Middle Earth mythology and how that was related to the locations that Tolkien was in when he wrote it. I didn't connect that wrote about Warwick though those locations became blurred as his poems were rewritten into narratives many times.
The book also details from an early age he became fascinated by languages and how that developed into the languages of Middle Earth and his field of academic study.
As another reviewer noted, this book does have …
This is a really insightful book. I thought I knew the story of Tolkien and how his novels came about but this book made me realize how little I really knew.
The crux of the book is the schoolboy club that Tolkien formed and the story of those boys as grew up and their experience of the First World War.
The book also shows how Tolkien's early poetical work formed the basis of Middle Earth mythology and how that was related to the locations that Tolkien was in when he wrote it. I didn't connect that wrote about Warwick though those locations became blurred as his poems were rewritten into narratives many times.
The book also details from an early age he became fascinated by languages and how that developed into the languages of Middle Earth and his field of academic study.
As another reviewer noted, this book does have a melancholy air as covers a lot of death and sickness and the gloom of trench life in the war.
A great listen as the audiobook was read by the author. Highly recommended for lovers of the Tolkien sagas who wish to delve more deeply into the author's sources and creative genius.
