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Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (2012)

by Corey Olsen(Favorite Author)

4.27 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

054773946X (ISBN13: 9780547739465)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: I was a little disappointed in Corey Olsen's exploration of Tolkien's The Hobbit, not because it was badly written or narrated (it's quite good, actually), but because I'd heard it all before... from Olsen himself. The Tolkien Professor's podcasts have covered all the same ground, of course, and in a more informal and conversational way preferable to this. If you haven't check out his podcasts and lectures on all things Tolkien, I highly recommend them (available on iTunes). If that's more time than you want to invest in gaining more insight in Tolkien's work, this is a great place to start.
review 2: About a year ago, I gladly devoured Professor Olsen's Tolkien Professor podcasts, and was happy to learn that he had created, in a sense, the companion book, to h... moreis lectures at Maryland's Washington College. The reason why is because he has opened up the text to more readers and to greater reader understanding by his particular type of literary criticism.Olsen's enthusiasm for The Hobbit is infectious, and is clearly a vocation for him, not just a job. And neither is this book an example of writing just to capitalize on the cinematic productions of Tolkien's works. Olsen loves his subject, and he hopes you will to. He hopes to share this, by a form of popular literary criticism that is far removed from the usual dry academic works that have made many a student dislike what they are being read. Instead this form of literary criticism opens the book up to real exploration. There is little of Olsen's opinion in this work, that is entirely focused on the text of the Hobbit, and instead he aims to take the readers on a step by step tour of the work.His greatest strengths in this book are his explanations of the poetry / songs in the book and on Tolkien's use of a sort of divine 'luck' that drives the characters that is not a deaux ex machina. For a children's story, Olsen aims to show how Tolkien created complex moral characters, within complex situations and choices. The language may be for educated children, but the situations within are certainly interesting to people of all ages.The central character of Bilbo, his nature and choices makes up a large portion of the analysis of this work, as does how the 'dragon sickness' is not limited to dragons, but can effect virtually everyone in the story, even the auction to settle Bilbo's estate. Olsen's breaking up the text to explain how Tolkien created secondary worlds, in his writing, is helpful as well.Enthusiasts and first time readers of The Hobbit should find this text not only useful, but enjoyable. It was written with great enthusiasm for the text that the user should find infectious. less

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