Art, Tolkien, and Consumer Media Part II: Interpreting The Lord of the Rings
Part Two: A look at how Tolkien’s use of setting, violence and power severely contrasts with Jackson’s depiction of them in the films.
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Books
Art, Tolkien, and Consumer Media, Part I: Defining Fantasy
Part One: how Tolkien defines fantasy, its relationship to escapism, and how this contrasts with popular definitions of the terms.
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REVIEW: Ordered by Love – Thomas M. Ward (Angelico Press, 2022)
Thomas Ward offers a brief but intriguing look at the thought of Bl. John Duns Scotus, the great Catholic scholastic and theologian.
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REVIEW: Rainbow Body and Resurrection – Fr. Francis V. Tiso (2016, North Atlantic Books)
Francis Tiso examines the phenomenon of the rainbow body and draws theoretical comparisons to the Christian doctrine of resurrection. Or, what exactly is happening to mystics in Tibet?
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REVIEW: Confessions of a Mask – Yukio Mishima (1949; 1958, New Directions)
With his second novel, Mishima made landfall in the West. The book is far more about the mask, however, than the confessions.
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REVIEW: The Passenger & Stella Maris – Cormac McCarthy (Alfred Ak. Knopf, 2022)
In his first major work in sixteen years, Cormac McCarthy attempts to reckon the length and breadth of existence in The Passenger.
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Decline and Waugh
Evelyn Waugh’s debut novel, Decline and Fall, is not usually considered alongside other works of dystopia. It should be.
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The Geek Menace to The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien’s work has long been the subject of fandom, but this has been a net negative for his literature’s reception and interpretation.
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The Hobbit: An Answer to Turin
In The Hobbit, Tolkien famously depicts a children’s story about an adventuring English bachelor, but beneath this is a meditation on providence.
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Tragedy, Providence, and Sin in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Children of Hurin
Known as probably Tolkien’s darkest work, The Children of Hurin illustrates well the relationship between sin, providence, and tragedy.
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