{"product_id":"a-question-of-time-j-r-r-tolkiens-toad-to-faerie","title":"A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Toad to Faerie","description":"\u003cp\u003eJ.R.R. Tolkien's \u003cem\u003eThe Hobbit\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Lord of the Rings\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSilmarillion\u003c\/em\u003e have long been recognized as among the most popular fiction of the twentieth century, and most critical analysis of Tolkien has centered on these novels. Granted access by the Tolkien estate and the Bodleian Library in Oxford to Tolkien's unpublished writings, Verlyn Flieger uses them here to shed new light on his better known works, revealing a new dimension of his fictive vision and giving added depth of meaning to his writing.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTolkien's concern with time--past and present, real and \"faerie\"--captures the wonder and peril of travel into other worlds, other times, other modes of consciousness. Reading his work, we \"fall wide asleep\" into a dream more real than ordinary waking experience, and emerge with a new perception of the waking world. Flieger explores Tolkien's use of dream as time-travel in his unfinished stories \u003cem\u003eThe Lost Road\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Notion Club Papers\u003c\/em\u003e as well as in \u003cem\u003eThe Lord of the Rings\u003c\/em\u003e and his shorter fiction and poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnalyzing Tolkien's treatment of time and time-travel, Flieger shows that he was not just a mythmaker and writer of escapist fantasy but a man whose relationship to his own century was troubled and critical. He achieved in his fiction a double perspective of time that enabled him to see in the mirror of the past the clouded reflection of the present.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVerlyn Flieger\u003c\/strong\u003e is professor emerita of English at the University of Maryland where she teaches courses on Tolkien, medieval and modern literature, and comparative mythology. She has written three books on Tolkien: \u003cem\u003eSplintered Light, A Question of Time, \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eInterrupted Music\u003c\/em\u003e (all published by The Kent State University Press). She has also edited a critical edition of Tolkien's novella \u003cem\u003eSmith of Wootton Major\u003c\/em\u003e, and an expanded edition with notes and commentary of Tolkien's most influential theoretical essay, \"On Fairy-Stories.\"\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Kent State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503982383378,"sku":"9780873386999","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_48b76e5d-017a-42e6-9995-b44e0a336247.jpg?v=1730807329","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-question-of-time-j-r-r-tolkiens-toad-to-faerie","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}