Splintered Light : Logos and Language in Tolkien's World

Kent State University Press, November 2002. Paper Back. New. <i>The Silmarillion</i> is the silent backdrop of the epic story told in <i>The Hobbit</i> and <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. This deep, imaginative mythology is in a sense the cradle, the molten gold from which the popular books were forged. Though its account of the creation and history of Middle Earth informs Tolkien's better-known plots and characters, <i>The Silmarillion</i> is admittedly the most difficult of his books to understand. Published posthumously and never 'polished' into a single storyline, it remains obscure and inaccessible for most readers. However, a few excellent critics have attempted to throw open a window into this palace of imagination. Verlyn Flieger is one of the best of these. In her book <i>Splintered Light,</i> Tolkien's fiction is examined 'in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning.showing how [Tolkien's] central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples and history of Middle-earth.' Flieger sees Middle Earth not as a fantastic escape from this world, but as a faithful literary reflection of it. By giving us a new myth after the ancient ones have been discarded, Tolkien shows how we can best live 'in the time that is given to us.' 196 pp.