Myth & Middle-Earth: Exploring the Medieval Legends Behind J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction, especially "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", made him a world-renowned fantasy writer. These tales were based on Tolkien's personal mythology of a place he called Middle-Earth, but Middle-Earth was strongly influenced by the myths and legends of Dark Age Europe that Tolkien studied professionally as a professor at Oxford University. This title takes a popular - not academic - look at the mythic world and mythic themes that inspired Tolkien, not only the Germanic and Norse mythology that most experts discuss, but also Celtic and Finnish myths. It talks of the journeys and quests that inspired Tolkien, dragon myths, beliefs in supernatural, non-human races such as dwarves and elves, the role and function of the warrior, the nature of heroism and more.

Leslie Ellen Jones is an especially well-qualified guide to Tolkien's mythological roots, holding a Ph.D. in Folklore and Mythology Studies from UCLA with a specialization in comparative and Celtic mythology. She has written extensively on modern uses of mythology in popular fiction, film, and television, teaches a course on Tolkien and his work for Barnes and Noble Online University, and is the author of a forthcoming biography of Tolkien (Greenwood Press, Summer 2002, title not finalized yet).