Tolkien's World (by Randel Helms)

The name Tolkien's World refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Tolkien's World (disambiguation).

Tolkien's World
Author	Randel Helms
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin
Released	1974
Format	Hardcover
Pages	167
ISBN	9780395184905

Tolkien's World is a 1974 book by Randel Helms.

Editions

Detailed information about the different editions.

• 1974: Tolkien's World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xi, [4], 167 pp. 21 × 14 cm. ISBN 0-395-18490-8. Jacket photograph by Gwendolyn Stewart.
• 1974: British edition, slightly shortened: London: Thames and Hudson. 160 pp. 21 × 14.5 cm. ISBN 0-500-01114-1: £2.95 (1975 reprint)
• 1976: Myth, Magic and Meaning in Tolkien's World. British paperback edition: St Albans: Panther. 142 pp. 18 cm. ISBN 0-586-04365-9 (pbk)

Back cover

Tolkien's magical world of Middle-earth - a land inhabited by tobacco-smoking, ale-brewing, Halfling superheroes, eon-old Elven kings, chanting time-travellers, messianic wizards and satanic war-lords - remains unparalleled in its scope and vision and unsurpassed in its appeal and fascination for countless millions of people of all ages the world over.

Now, in this long-awaited study, Professor Helms shows how the master story-teller succeeded in combining a scholarly knowledge of traditional mythological literature with an imaginative genius to create fantasy epics of universal significance.

Table of Contents

• Tolkien's World: An Introduction

1. "I Desired Dragons": The development of a theory of fantasy
2. Tolkien's Leaf: The Hobit and the discovery of a world
3. The Hobbit as Swain: A world of myth
4. Frodo Anti-Faust: The Lord of the Rings as contemporary mythology
5. Tolkien's World: The structure and aesthetic of The Lord of the Rings
6. The Myth Allegorized: Tolkien's minor prose
7. Last Gleanings from the Red Book: Scholarly parody in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

• Afterword
• Notes
• Index