A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to Faerie (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Tolkien's concern with time - past and present, real and "faerie" - captures the wonder of travel into other worlds and other times. This work 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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Kent State University Press (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087338699X
• ISBN-13: 978-0873386999
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #556,707 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for a new theme, December 24, 2006

By	Ran Bar Zik (Petah Tiqwa, Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

J.R.R Tolkien is not just a writer and the Legendarium is not just a creation. Like Dante's Devine comedy or Homer's Odyssey - the Legendarium is a whole world that contains a lot of themes and ideas.
Anyone that read Shippey or Pearce can recite by heart the known themes that exist in LOTR: mythology (Norse, German or even Celtic), Christian, Linguistic or Philosophical theme (Aristo or Neo Renaissance influence etc.). But after you had learned those themes, you are spending a lot of time and effort to find some new themes or new ideas. There are a lot of books about Tolkien and most of them discussing the known themes.
If you want book about those themes, A Question of Time is not the book for you. If you are a novice Tolkien researcher, you should read Shippey, Pearce or Anderson and don't start with this book.
This book contains different themes and ideas. The main theme in this book is about time and dreams, an idea that I never thought about or read it elsewhere. Flieger shows us that LOTR and other Tolkien's creations have a grain of time and time travel inside of them. She backs her theories with powerful examples from LOTR drafts (History of Middle Earth vol. 6-9) and from Tolkien's time travel story (Vol. 5 and 9).
Flieger does convince me that Tolkien thought about time and incorporated his thoughts in LOTR. I was amazed that after reading and researching Tolkien for such a long time, she actually told me something new, something that made me read LOTR and the Legendarium in a different perspective. I had the same feeling after I read Shippey's book and I am sorry to say that few of Tolkien criticism books are giving me the same sense.
To summarize my words: Read Shippey, Pierce, and Hammond & Scull and of course Anderson's annotated Hobbit first. But If you have read those already and you are searching for a new theme - READ THIS BOOK!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well done study!, February 10, 2008

By	Anne Marie Gazzolo - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Flieger is one of the most respected Tolkien scholars, having written extensively in the field. This particular book concerns how time is perceived in the professor's works, not just Lord of the Rings, but also the incomplete The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers, both of which explore time travel, as well as the shorter bits of poetry, including "The Sea-Bell" which is attributed to Frodo's dark dreams after he returns from the Quest. It's a very interesting book and has made me want to read the incomplete stories and undoubtedly mourn the fact that so much of his work was left undone when he was called home. It also has separate chapters on Frodo's dreams, the sense of time not passing in Lothlorien and the remark of Frodo's that returning home would be like falling asleep instead of waking from a dream. There is much food for thought in this book and recommended for anyone interested in Prof. Tolkien's works, not just the ones that made him most famous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dreaming of Middle earth, January 13, 2008

By	John D. Cofield - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This is a scholarly, highly readable and emjoyable work examining J.R.R. Tolkien's writings in light of his known interest in dreams and in time. This work is particularly fascinating in that Flieger does not merely study Tolkien's published works but also analyzes his unpublished but still intriguing writings like The Lost Road. I enjoyed the scholarly analysis, and I found particularly interesting the chapter on some of Tolkien's influences in this area, including some hitherto unsuspected works like the writings of George Du Maurier, J.W. Dunne's theories, and the famous Trianon Ghosts case.

If you are just discovering the world of Tolkien criticism you should probably begin with T.A. Shippey's works instead of this one, but Flieger's work will eventually add to your understanding and appreciation of Tolkien immeasurably.