J.R.R. Tolkien discussion
Criticism & Interpretation
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Tolkien scholars
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"...I have shown you, I hope, what these books have meant to me. If you find echoes of them in my own books and stories...you will not have discomfited me--I am proud of them. Terry Brooks has often been disparaged for imitating Tolkien, particularly by those reveiwers who find his books inferior to Tolkien's own. I can only say that I wish there were more imitators -- we need them -- and that all imitations of so great an original must necessarily be inferior."


There are also good critical works by Michael Drout, Anne Petty, Marjorie Burns, Diana Glyer, Doug Kane.
Some would recommend Jane Chance, although personally I find some of her conclusions somewhat specious.

David knows what's up--those are all the names that I ran across while doing the research for my master's thesis as well. Just to add one idea, though, there is a fantastic yearly publication from WVU (I think) called "Tolkien Studies" which probably has the best new scholarship collected in one place.

Thanks. I was about to mention that when I started feeling like my post had gotten long enough. TS is an academic journal, and each annual volume comes with a hefty price tag. So buy it if you're rich and/or fanatic enough, or see if your local public or university library carries it (or can be persuaded to if they don't already).
There are also some journals that publish Tolkien scholarship in addition to material about related writers such as C.S. Lewis and the other Inklings, George MadDonald, G.K. Chesterton, etc.. One such is Mythlore>, published by the Mythopoeic Society: http://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore/

I wrote a review for the latter:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


That is so awesome Anne Marie! Do you attend any of his weekly seminars? I have been participating in his slow and thorough reading of The Lord of the Rings in conjunction with the Lord of the Rings Online game, and we are also reading through The War of the Ring: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three, which is really fun.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Shippey's interpretation of The Silmarillion makes me cranky but I didn't feel like I could address it in a review... something to come back to and maybe write about later.
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)The Silmarillion (other topics)
Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth (other topics)
The War of the Ring (other topics)
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World (other topics)
More...
Are there any other recommendations for good Tolkien scholars?