Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation

by Giuseppe Pezzini

Taking his readers into the depths of a majestic and expansive literary world, one to which he brings fresh illumination as if to the darkness of Khazad-dûm, Giuseppe Pezzini combines rigorous scholarship with an engaging style to reveal the full scale of J. R. R. Tolkien's vision of the 'mystery of literary creation'. Through fragments garnered from across a scattered body of writing, and acute readings of primary texts (some well-known, others less familiar or recently published), the author divulges the unparalleled complexity of Tolkien's work while demonstrating its rich exploration of literature's very nature and purpose. Eschewing any overemphasis on context or comparisons, Pezzini offers rather a uniquely sustained, focused engagement with Tolkien and his 'theory' on their own terms. He helps us discover – or rediscover – a fascination for Tolkien's literary accomplishment while correcting long-standing biases against its nature and merits that have persisted fifty years after his death.

456 pages, Hardcover

Published July 3, 2025

Reviews

[Andrew Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well researched and written book of Tolkien scholarship which gave me lots of new insights into Tolkien’s creative process. The author does an excellent job of combining analysis of past research with his own insights based on careful textual reading contextualized with analysis of other related works of Tolkien. His insightful exploration of Gandalf’s “fall” in Moria gave me a completely new insight which I have not thought of before. The last chapter on Tolkien’s creation my Ainulindale is a bit rushed but this is just a quibble. A strong work of Tolkien scholarship that I highly recommend.

[Justin Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very in depth fascinating and engaging work of scholarship delving into the writings of my favorite author, J.R.R.Tolkien. Oxford scholar and professor Giuseppe Pezzini writes with great understanding of Tolkien's philosophy on sub-creation, his academic work as a philologist, literary legacy, friendship with C.S.Lewis, views on how myth reflects transcendent truth, how the ancient Pagan past, as well as Tolkien's Christian beliefs, and the existential trauma Tolkien experienced in WWI, as well as the virtues of hope and courage, inspired him to write The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.



There were numerous passages of this book that stood out to me which I found deeply moving and reading it has given me great inspiration to finish my new book Celtic Bardic Tradition, being published by Dark Myth Publications in 2026. I cherish this signed copy of the book by Pezzini I purchased at an Oxford C.S. Lewis Society meeting I attended recently when on holiday in Oxford.