- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Literary Criticism
Full Description
"The Lord of the Rings" is intended to be applicable to the real world of relationships, religion, pleasure, pain and politics. Tolkien himself said that his grand tale of wizards, orcs, hobbits and elves was aimed at truth and good morals in the actual world. Analysis of the popular appeal of "The Lord of the Rings" shows that Tolkien fans are hungry for discussion of the urgent moral and cosmological issues arising out of this epic story. Can political power be wielded for good, or must it always corrupt? Does technology destroy the truly human? Is it morally wrong to give up hope? Can we find meaning in chance events? In this volume, 17 young philosophy professors all of then ardent Tolkien fans address some of the issues and show how clues to their solutions may be found in the imaginary world of Middle-earth. The book is divided into five sections, concerned with: the power and the Ring, the quest for happiness, good and evil in Middle Earth, time and mortality and philosophical questions and fairytale endings.
Contents
The Rings of Tolkien and Plato - Lessons in Power, Choice and Morality; the Cracks of Doom - Threat of emerging technologies and Tolkien's Rings of Power; "My Precious"; Tolkien's Fetishized Ring; Tolkien's Secrets of happiness; the Quests of Sam and Gollum for the Happy Life; "Farewell to Lorien" - the Boumded Joy of Existentialists and Elves; Uberhobbits - Tolkien, Nietzsche and the Will to Power; Tolkien and the Nature of Evil; Virtue and Vice in "The Lord of the Rings"; Choosing to Die - The Gift of Mortality in Middle-Earth; the Quest Starts with the Past- Tolkien, Modernism and the Importance of Tradition; Tolkien's green Time - Environmental Themes in "The Lord of the Rings"; Providence and the Dramatic Unity of "The Lord of the Rings"; Talking Trees and Walking Mountains - Buddhist and Taoist Themes in "The Lord of the Rings"; Sam and Frodo's Excellent Adventure - Tolkien's Journey Motif; "The Lord of the Rings" as an Epic Fairy Tale - Tolkien's Eucatastrophe.
