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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Understanding Tolkien? Ready Doesn't!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Understanding Tolkien and the "Lord of the Rings" (Paperback)
As a student and employee of Marquette University, I am grateful to William Ready for his foresight in acquiring the Tolkien manuscripts. But as far as understanding Tolkien's work -- Ready does not. The research is sloppy, there are factual inaccuracies, and his understanding of the role of Catholicism in Tolkien is faulty. This is probably the single worst piece of Tolkien literary criticism that I have ever read.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Worst Tolkien Scholarship I've Ever Seen!,
By David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Understanding Tolkien and the "Lord of the Rings" (Paperback)
As a student and employee of Marquette University, I am grateful to William Ready for his foresight in acquiring the Tolkien manuscripts. (How he managed to do so is still beyond me! But as far as understanding Tolkien's work -- Ready does not. The research is sloppy, there are factual inaccuracies and his understanding of the role of Catholicism in Tolkien (both his life and in his work) is faulty. This is probably the single worst piece of Tolkien literary criticism that I have ever read.It is interesting to note that the book is panned in Carpenter's official biography of Tolkien. Apparently the family had the same view of the book as I do!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
for what it is, it's excellent,
This review is from: Understanding Tolkien and the "Lord of the Rings" (Paperback)
William Ready's Understanding Tolkien (original title, The Tolkien Relation) was written nearly 40 years ago, while Tolkien fandom was in the process of forming. Obviously, later research outdates some data, but it stands up well and can serve as a forceful manifesto of perhaps the most important "Party" within that fandom -- the "catholic" Party (whether that is lowercase for you, or upper, Roman Catholic). The book also serves to take readers back to the intellectual and aesthetic debates that swirled around Tolkien as a young man and even after publication of Lord of the Rings. As other reviews here make clear, that will not set well with many fans of Tolkien. Ready criticizes everyone, Tolkien included, but Lewis and the other Inklings notably.As near as I can see, Ready came set up to reject much that Tolkien stood for -- but was simply bowled over by LOTR. He is someone who can see both that The Hobbit is the best introduction to LOTR and that it will turn off people who are ideal readers for the rest -- Ready himself was one of them! If you're a fan (particularly of Lewis, but also if you're in the Shire Party or love "the interminable appendices" (p9, paperback), be prepared to be offended. In return for the annoyances, you'll get an excellent statement of catholic positions -- such as dismissing Teilhard de Chardin as a Tolkien soulmate and pointing out that the "unromantic, unblinking philosophy" of Jacques Maritain "fits Tolkien's Trilogy as a sword its scabbard" (p67). And you'll get a clear understanding of just how unblinking Tolkien was in looking at mankind. One of the other reviewers misunderstood Ready's point that time works against the Good. Tolkien would agree -- when Evil is loosed in the world, it is not mankind's virtue, or courage, or intelligence, or whatnot, however necessary, that will save the day -- it is Grace. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. If you want a window on debates that counted for people like Tolkien, and can get hold of a copy of Understanding Tolkien, do so. The 1969 Paperback Library edition is a scant but potent 96 pages. The 1968 Regnery original, The Tolkien Relation, may be hardback, I don't know.
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