Tolkien’s Art: A Mythology for England

As a scholar of medieval literature and a lover of Germanic and Finnish mythologies in particular, J. R. R. Tolkien was “grieved by the poverty” of legend and myth in his own beloved culture. Inspired by works like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkien’s fiction relied on both pagan epic and Christian legend to create a mythology for England evident in both his major works of fiction like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and his minor stories and critical essays. Revised and expanded, Jane Chance’s study examines the sources and influences of Tolkien’s works as well as the paradigm of the critic as monster that colors so many of his writings.