Question for Tolkien aficionados.
Re-reading the Hobbit for the first time in decades with my eldest and struck by how much of the action takes place in tunnels or otherwise underground.
What is the current thinking on extent to which Tolkien’s WWI experience on the Western Front shaped the book?
Re-reading the Hobbit for the first time in decades with my eldest and struck by how much of the action takes place in tunnels or otherwise underground.
What is the current thinking on extent to which Tolkien’s WWI experience on the Western Front shaped the book?
Comments
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240726-the-ww1-trauma-that-inspired-the-lord-of-the-rings
https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/19511789.worcestershires-bizarre-link-the-lord-rings/
Some interesting student lore tho, including about him,CS Lewis, & Narnia.
https://bsky.app/profile/johngarthwriter.bsky.social/post/3lituwfvibk2x
John Garth
Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth
Published: 2013