So I took this sweet J.R.R. Tolkien class in college. It was a scene man. Lets just say that there were more than one girls who on more than one occasion dressed up as elves to attend class. This book was probably the second nerdiest book we read in the course (but the nerdiest one I read since I didn't even attempt The Silmarilion). I read a chapter, maybe two that semester and read the rest of the book a few years later during breaks at work.
About the book: First of all, these types of books are usually not my thing. I like to read but I really don't like reading scholars write about books. I usually don't get much out of them and it is typically just an exercise of showing how smart they are rather than being clear, insightful, or helpful. This book was no different. There were a few insights sprinkled in a mass of confusion and smarty-pants talk. But I guess these types of books are meant for an audience that I am not a part of. C.S. Lewis has an essay in here which is good because, well, its C.S. Lewis. If you are a diehard Lord of the Rings fan then it may be worth checking out. But then again, I like Lord of the Rings quite a bit myself.
A few quotes I liked:
From C.S. Lewis: "And all the time we know that the fate of the world depends far more on the small movement than on the great."
From Rose A. Zimbardo: "[N]othing is created evil. Evil is good that has been perverted."
Probably my favorite tidbit in the book, a Jekyll and Hyde analogy from Verlyn Flieger: "Frodo and Gollum can fit the same pattern, Frodo as the self, Gollum as the other....Gollum is his dark side, the embodiment of his growing, overpowering desire for the Ring."
