This comprehensive and discriminating account of Tolkien's work has been revised and expanded, to take account both of recent developments in scholarship, and of the recent films directed by Peter Jackson. Tracing the development of Tolkien's creative technique over several decades, it explores the bewildering profusion of shorter works, as well as devoting an extended analysis to The Lord of the Rings . Chapters consider Tolkien's contribution to the history of ideas, and review the reception of the Lord of the Rings film adaptations and other popular adaptations of his work.

BRIAN ROSEBURY is the author of Art and Desire: A Study in the Aesthetics of Fiction (Palgrave/Macmillan, 1988), and of articles in Victorian Poetry, Philosophical Review, Political Quarterly and the British Journal of Aesthetics. He is Principal Lecturer in the Department of Humanities, University of Central Lancashire.

Introduction The Lord of the Rings: Conception The Lord of the Rings: Execution Shorter and Posthumous Writings Tolkien and theTwentieth Century Tolkien in the History of Ideas Reception and Adaptation Index