JOURNEY TO THE IMAGINAL REALM: A Reader's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Tarnas, Becca

ISBN 10: 1947544217 / ISBN 13: 9781947544215

Published by Revelore, Seattle, 2019

About this Item

xxxi, 229 pages. Paperback in very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 29476

Bibliographic Details

• Title: JOURNEY TO THE IMAGINAL REALM: A Reader's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
• Publisher: Revelore, Seattle
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1947544217
• ISBN 13: 9781947544215
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: First edition.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

This reader's guide to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings offers a journey into the world of Middle-earth, exploring the grand themes and hidden nuances of Tolkien's epic story, connecting The Lord of the Rings to the larger mythology of Middle-earth, and situating Tolkien's process of writing within his own powerful experiences of the imaginal realm. The Lord of the Rings has been a beloved story to several generations since its publication in the mid-1950s. The story has a timeless quality to it, and engages with a complex struggle between good and evil, death and immortality, power and freedom. The Lord of the Rings is a book treated by many as a sacred text, one to be returned to year after year, or read aloud with loved ones. The Lord of the Rings has become a myth for our time.

Journey to the Imaginal Realm guides the reader through each chapter of J. R. R. Tolkien's magnum opus, drawing attention to the subtle details, recalling moments of foreshadowing, and illuminating underlying patterns and narrative threads throughout the story. The close reading of the text is paired with relevant biographical information from Tolkien's life, including the loss of both his parents at a young age, the central role of friendship in his life, his participation in the First World War, and his exquisite romance with his wife Edith. Tolkien was a lover of language and a philologist by profession, and his invented languages form the heart of his tales. In some of his letters, Tolkien described his process of writing as one of discovery, in which he waited to find out "what really happened," feeling as though he was "recording what was already 'there, ' somewhere." This reader's guide seeks to understand the imaginal experiences Tolkien may have encountered that led to the writing of his stories. The guide explores Tolkien's theory of sub-creation, the immersive experience of Faërian Dramas, and most importantly, his notion of the realm of Faërie. Journey to the Imaginal Realm is a celebration of Tolkien's work, and an inquiry into the profound nature of imagination, which is capable of bringing forth a world as vast as Middle-earth.

About the Author

Becca Tarnas, PhD, is a scholar, artist, and editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. She received her doctorate in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies, with her dissertation titled The Back of Beyond: The Red Books of C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien. Her research interests include depth psychology, literature, philosophy, and the ecological imagination. She teaches in the Jungian Psychology and Archetypal Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and for online platforms such as Nura Learning, PsicoCymática, and the Astrology Hub. Becca lives in Nevada City, California.