Book Details Format:Hardback without Jacket Size:24.5 x 18.7 cm Extent:112 pp Illustrations:106 Publication date:6 October 2022 ISBN:9780500094334
Tove Jansson drew her first Moomin on an outhouse wall, before committing Moominvalley to the page in the 1940s. This book offers a fresh, insightful appreciation of her life and art, from imaginative child to art student, painter, author, cartoonist and illustrator, bohemian lesbian and Finnish cultural icon. Jansson’s flourishing Moomin books are examined in detail, as are her interpretations of such classics as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Hunting of the Snark, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Based on blurb: "interpretations of classics such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Hunting of the Snark, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit." and the table of contents: "Illustrating the Classics" covers pages 80 & 81. Hobbit art maybe slight.
It is only one page in the book, so can't really recommend it if you are just interested in The Hobbit, but if you are also interested in Tove Jansson as an illustrator then it is worth getting.
It is only one page in the book, so can't really recommend it if you are just interested in The Hobbit, but if you are also interested in Tove Jansson as an illustrator then it is worth getting.
Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Holly Ordway
Tolkien described The Lord of the Rings as “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work” and declared, “I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories).” Yet he insisted his writings were not allegories, and Middle-earth is loved by millions who do not share his religious beliefs.
How were his faith and his fiction related? Holly Ordway answers that question biographically, focusing on Tolkien’s spiritual development, a dramatic story that previous accounts of his life have left largely unexplored.
Here we find that Tolkien’s faith was hard won. His Anglican upbringing was overturned when his mother converted to Catholicism. Soon afterward, she died, leaving Tolkien under the guardianship of a Catholic priest, who forbade him to see his Protestant girlfriend, whom nonetheless he eventually married. The Great War, in which most of his close friends were killed, deepened Tolkien’s reliance on his faith, but then for a decade he “almost ceased to practise” his religion. Friendship with C.S. Lewis and success with The Hobbit were followed by another war and by turmoil in the Church that sternly tested Tolkien’s commitments.
The challenges and triumphs in his religious life are reflected in his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, that epic tale of endurance against the odds. As Ordway shows in her expertly researched and richly illustrated study, Tolkien’s faith and Tolkien’s fiction are intimately related, though in subtle and complex ways. This long-overdue spiritual biography gives new insight into his works by shedding fresh light on their author’s deepest-held convictions.
Release Date: August 30, 2023 ISBN = 978-1685789916
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