It cannot be denied that JRR Tolkien is one of the most famous writers, and not only among fantasy fans. His works are widely appreciated and the number of readers is still growing. For many, however, his works alone are not enough. Fans still want to expand their knowledge about the life and work of the writer. That is why publishing houses meet them by issuing new items about the creator of Middle-earth. One of the newest is JRR Tolkien and his worlds. Places from which Middle-earth grew by John Garth.
Inspirations
The latest item about Tolkien’s works, published in Poland by Arkady, is certainly worth our attention. It contains very interesting stories from the life of an Englishman. Together with the author, we discover step by step the events and inspirations from which the father of Middle-earth drew. The title, however, does not focus only on The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit , but goes beyond Arda and also talks about such items as Rudy Dżil or Blacksmith from Podlesie Wszeszeand many other. Everything is also appropriately divided into chapters that present both the characters and places known from Tolkien’s novels. In addition to the main text, there are also frames with additional curiosities and lots of footnotes. There were also fragments of the most important letters. The amount of new information that the recipient will learn from the discussed item depends on how much he or she is interested in the history of the writer himself and his works. Everyone, even a smaller fan of the Englishman, is probably well aware of how much he was interested in Scandinavian mythology, how much the works of Homer or World War I had on him, and how much he loved forests and seas. Despite everything, however, we will always find something new here, as well as the arrangement and collection of all information into one coherent whole,
Not just a word
JRR Tolkien and his worlds. Places from which Middle-earth grew up is a position that we could boldly call an album. And this is thanks to a large number of various photos and illustrations. There are both photographs showing the writer and his relatives at various stages of his life, places where he lived or visited, but also paintings painted by him himself or used, for example, in The Silmarillion. We will also find here postcards from the places he referred to, medieval engravings from which he drew inspiration or covers of the most important books for him. All this will allow us to get even closer to Middle-earth and other worlds created by the Master. As Garth recalls, Tolkien tried to write in such a way that each recipient could see the Shire or Rivendell with their own eyes of imagination, and he undoubtedly succeeded in this art. However, this time we can look at what the writer himself created on the basis of which we can check whether our visions were close to reality.
is it worth it?
John Garth has already proven several times that he can write about Tolkien. He is the author of Tolkien and the First World War. At the threshold of Middle Earth or Tolkien at Exeter Collage , which has not yet been published in Poland. So we do not have to worry that we are dealing here with a layman who, without thorough analysis of the source texts, wrote something just to push it to the fans. Anyway, for such a move, the author and the publisher would probably be strongly criticized. So we know that we have a good and thoughtful publication here. But is it worth investing in it? Well, the biggest fans of John Ronald Ruel will not read too much new information here. At most, they will refresh themselves with more or less known facts. Certainly, those who are just starting their adventure with the professor’s works will get much more out of it. Everyone, without exceptions, will certainly appreciate the multitude and beauty of the illustrations that are included in this position. Anyway, the cover itself attracts attention and will certainly look good on the shelf. If you have your own collection dedicated to Tolkien, thenJRR Tolkien and his worlds. The places from which Middle-earth arose cannot be missing from it.
