J.R.R. Tolkien: The Man & His Myth

by Humphrey Carpenter, Paul H. Kocher, Robert Foster

Four-volume set in slipcase. Contains A guide to Middle-Earth, Master of Middle-Earth, A LookBehind the Rings, and A Biography.

Paperback

Published September 1, 1978

About the author

Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inklings. He won a Mythopoeic Award for his book The Inklings in 1982.

Reviews

[Ralph Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight but charming consideration of Tolkien that begins by making a case for him as a real writer. Of course he really doesn't need that case to made now, because considering the numerous rip-offs (and also my writing) he looks like the highest of high-brows. That so many people tutted when Lord of of the Rings was named book of the century begged the question, what else would you suggest? There was Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Ulysses, but of course most people saw the twentieth century as a twilight struggle between good and evil (wwii/ the cold war etc.). If the same question were asked today, maybe Nineteen-Eighty-Four would win out with its dark warning of the future instead of Lord of the Ring and its, ultimately optimistic, depiction of past struggles in such a gorgeously romantic light