The Mirror Crack'd: Fear and Horror in JRR Tolkien's Major Works

by Lynn Forest-Hill (editor)

Fear and horror are an inextricable part of Tolkienâs great mythology and his use of medieval sources for his evocations of fear and horror contribute to the distinctive tone of his work. This collection of essays shows how his masterly narrative techniques transform his sources, both familiar and unfamiliar, so that hitherto benign characters, objects and landscapes, as well as his famous monstrous creations, engage with deeply rooted human fears. The essays, by an international group of scholars, confirm Tolkienâs worldwide reputation. They highlight the depiction of the fear associated with marginalised characters; explore the moral implications of light and its absence; consider the subtle distinction between secular and religious spiders; discuss the role of landscapes and natural disasters in the evocation of fear in Middle-earth; and address the spectacular significance of Tolkienâs dragons, wolves, and Undead. While some of the essays presented here turn to modern science, psychology, and anthropology to deepen their analyses of fear and horror, they all add depth to our appreciation of Tolkienâs most famous and frightening creations by defining their relationships to ancient and culturally significant images of fear and horror.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Abby Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my reading list for a long time, and I was excited to read it. Ever since I was a kid, I've believed Tolkien had a real grasp of horror. The Mines of Moria still thrill me with terror, Shelob creeps around in noxious invisibility, the Dead Marshes are depressing and haunting, and Mordor itself captures the bleak fear of WW1's No Man's Land. Not to mention the psychological attack on Gondor when they catapult the heads of comrades over the walls or cannibalistic Gollum. I'm not suggesting Tolkien is a horror writer like King, I'm saying he knew how to weave subtle, and not so subtle, horror into his tale to give us a sense of the dark places of the world and the evil they breed.

Many of these articles were quite good, giving me an insight into the sources Tolkien drew on as he wove his story about light's battle against darkness. I really enjoyed fleshing out my understanding of what Tolkien pulled from both in the Norse Sagas and Medieval Literature. My reading list expanded for sure.

There were a handful of articles that I struggled to grasp the point, their thesis statements unclear, so you ramble along wondering where you're going, or wondering if you're a special kind of stupid because you can't follow the argument being made. And, there were a couple that were flat out woke that annoyingly attempted to tell me what Tolkien borrowed from Christianity by mistakenly explaining orthodox truth in a way Tolkien would have disagreed with because it was flat out wrong. So that was frustrating.

I ended up marking the articles I enjoyed because I may reread them. But I want to be able to skip the others.

Was this all I had hoped it would be? Not really. I think I was hoping for a bit more down to earth observations on how Tolkien wove horror into his stories without turning them into a King novel. Am I glad I read it? Absolutely. There were some rich and amazing insights into Tolkien's world that I'll chew on for a while...after I reread the articles so I can remember them beyond a general feeling of 'Yes, that's good."

[Norbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono un poco deluso. La maggior parte dei saggi più che parlare di "paura e orrore" parla di creature mostruose (draghi, ragni, lupi, ...) nelle opere di Tolkien.

La qualità dei seggi è mediamente buona. Ma mi aspettavo altro

[Lou Braibant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not read every essay as attentively, but overall amazed by this collection!