The Nature of Middle-earth

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The Nature of Middle-earth
File:The Nature of Middle-earth.jpg
Editor Carl F. Hostetter
Author J. R. R. Tolkien
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre High fantasy
Publisher HarperCollins, Mariner Books
Publication date
 2021
Media type Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages 464
ISBN 978-0358454601

The Nature of Middle-earth is a 2021 book of previously unpublished materials on Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by the scholar Carl F. Hostetter. Some essays were previously published in the Elvish linguistics journal Vinyar Tengwar, where Hostetter is a long-time editor.[1]

Book

Publication history

The book was published by HarperCollins and Mariner Books in 2021. It contains a selection of essays and fragments of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by the scholar Carl F. Hostetter, on questions related to the functioning of his fantasy world, Middle-earth.[2]

The book's editor Carl F. Hostetter said in an interview before the book appeared that he "started work on what would become The Nature of Middle-earth nearly 25 years ago, when I received a bundle of photocopies that Christopher Tolkien referred to as “late philological essays”."[3]

Contents

The book is in three parts, with appendices. Part One consists of 23 chapters on "Time and Ageing", including the Valian Year and questions of time-scales and whether elvish time is different. Part Two contains 17 chapters on "Body, Mind, and Spirit", including issues of beauty, goodness, gender, and sex; which beings may have beards; fate and free will; whether elves reincarnate; what the Valar know and what visible forms they and the Maiar may take; and death. Part Three consists of 22 chapters on "The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants", including such topics as darkness and light, how Lembas waybread is made, the eating of mushrooms, and Galadriel and Celeborn. The appendices cover metaphysical and theological themes, and a glossary of terms in Quenya.

Reception

Shaun Gunner of The Tolkien Society called the book "an unofficial 13th volume of The History of Middle-earth series".[4]

The historian Bradley J. Birzer wrote in the National Review that this "new volume confirms that Tolkien was the 20th century's greatest mythmaker, and that his mythology will — if there is justice in the world — rank someday with that of Homer, Virgil, and Dante. Just as Homer gave us profound insights into the Greek world, Virgil into the Roman world, and Dante into the medieval world, Tolkien gave us great insights into the modern world. Everything Tolkien wrote matters."[5]

References

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External links

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