Lord of Elves And Eldils: Fantasy And Philosophy in C.s. Lewis And J.r.r. Tolkien [Paperback]

Richard Purtill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2006

Lord of the Elves and Eldils is a fascinating look at the fantasy and philosophy of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. The two men were friends and fellow professors at Oxford, renowned Christian thinkers who both "found it necessary to create for the purposes of their fiction other worlds-not utopias or dystopias, but different worlds."

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Pr; 2 edition (October 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586170848
• ISBN-13: 978-1586170844
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #889,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Further Up and Further In, November 10, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lord of Elves And Eldils: Fantasy And Philosophy in C.s. Lewis And J.r.r. Tolkien (Paperback)

When first published as a Zondervan pocket paperback in 1974, this book received rave reviews. You can find it quoted all over the Internet, although it has long been out of print. At the time Dr. Purtill was teaching an SRO class called Philosophy and Fantasy at Western Washington University in Bellingham WA, and a lot of that class went into this book. Thus it was one of the first scholarly examinations of the fantasy of Lewis and Tolkien. Dr. Purtill went on to pen two more related books: J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality and Religion; and C.S. Lewis' Case for the Christian Faith, both examining these authors from the standpoint of a philosopher. Ignatius Press has now reprinted the entire Philosophy and Fantasy trilogy in trade paperback editions.

The second edition of this book is revised and expanded from the first Zondervan edition. The most important inclusion is of Dr. Purtill's two most requested essays (based on a search of the Internet), "That Hideous Strength: A Double Story"; and "Did C.S. Lewis Lose His Faith?" as appendices. The first essay considers the third book of Lewis' science fiction trilogy on its own merits, and jumps off from a very brief discussion of it in Lord of the Elves and Eldils. The second essay answers, from a philosopher's perspective, implications in the play and film Shadowlands, that Lewis abandoned his faith following his wife's death. Purtill resoundingly shows that this was not the case, that if anything, this tragedy strengthened Lewis' belief that these are the shadowlands and his wife Joy had journeyed to the "true country".

This is not another of those "Tolkien said this, I think this about that" books that proliferate around these authors. One extremely interesting aspect of the book is where Purtill answers critics of Lewis and Tolkien whom are now forgotten and the reader is not likely to encounter, while Tolkien has been proclaimed "Author of the Century" and Lewis' books are selling far better than they ever did in his own day.

Purtill is also uniquely posed to consider these authors because, like them, he is also both a professor and a writer of fantasy, his latest novel being The Eleusinian Gate. Although Purtill speaks little of his own use of ancient Greek mythic materials in his own novels, he does consider Tolkien's use of Norse myths and his background in Beowulf and the Arthurian tales. Ignatius has done us a great service in reprinting these works by Dr. Purtill (and they plan to reprint more of them), and Amazon's great price makes this the gift book of the season.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly one of the very best . . ., March 17, 2009

By 

David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord of Elves And Eldils: Fantasy And Philosophy in C.s. Lewis And J.r.r. Tolkien (Paperback)

. . . examples of serious and thoughtful Tolkien and Lewis criticism.

This book is a 2006 re-issue of a 1974 release in which the author, a professor of philosophy (and novelist in his own right) addresses themes of good and evil, religion, the proper role of fantasy in literature, and other key issues from a sympathetic, yet profoundly professional standpoint. Unlike many Tolkien and Lewis "critics", the author is well aware of the deep non-fiction academic work of both men and is able to integrate that work into his comments. The author is also able (in the opinion of this reviewer) to clearly distinguish the theological differences between Tolkien and Lewis -- and how those differences "played out" in their respective fictional writing.

I give this book 5 stars because I truly believe that it stands with Jared Lobdell's "England and Always" as the best, most authentic literary criticism in the subject that I've read. This being said, as a long-time student of both Lewis (30+ years) and Tolkien (25+ years) there are a few comments that I'd like to make.

* To me, at least, the book's dedication page notwithstanding, the author demonstrates considerably more knowledge of CS Lewis than of JRR Tolkien. As a result, more of the text in this book is dedicated to Lewis' writings. This is not particularly a criticism, merely my personal observation.

* When the original edition of this book was published, JRR Tolkien had just died and the publication of "The Silmarillion" was still three years off. In the 2006 edition, the author substantially expanded his "Chapter Six" to include material and analysis from "The Silmarillion" -- but in my mind, he could have (and should have) gone much further than he did, especially with the publication by Christopher Tolkien of the twelve-volume "History of Middle-Earth". There's some good stuff in "Morgoth's Ring" that would have substantially added to the author's good, if brief, analysis.

* For the record, I really liked the author's supplementary essay on "That Hideous Strength". To my mind, this is one of Lewis' most important books; one that is under-appreciated in some circles; and which needs to be far more widely read. I've used it in two college courses I've taught.

* The essay on whether Lewis lost his faith was also very good (as was other material designed to defend Lewis from truly unfair attacks.) I will confess, having seen both versions of "Shadowlands" that I did not take nearly the negative attitude about Lewis' faith that apparently many others did.

* The bibliographic material could have been greatly strengthened. The CS Lewis collection at the Marion Wade Center at Wheaton College was mentioned -- but not the JRR Tolkien collection in the archives of the Raynor Memorial Libraries at Marquette University -- not 100 miles from Wheaton! I found this odd! I strongly disagreed with the inclusion of Joseph Pearce's books on Tolkien -- I've found Pearce to be (at least on Tolkien) unoriginal at best. And I do wish that some of the good biographical material on both men had been included: "Tolkien", "The Inklings", and "The Letters of JRR Tolkien" by Humphrey Carpenter; and "Jack" by George Sayer would have been noteworthy inclusions.

(As a side note -- I noted with great interest and appreciation, the author's passing reference to Robert Farrar Capon as a modern-day theological writer who had not forgotten the concept of "Joy"! Capon's "The Supper of the Lamb" had been published six years prior to the original edition of this book, and I couldn't help but wonder if this was possibly the book to which the author was referring!)

Overall, very, very highly recommended!!!!!