Master of Middle-Earth (original) (raw)

Master of Middle-earth: The Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien is a 1972 book of literary criticism of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings, written by Paul H. Kocher, and one of the few to be published in Tolkien's lifetime. It focuses especially on the best-selling novel The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and also covers some of his minor works such as "Leaf by Niggle" and "Smith of Wootton Major". At a time when scholars were largely critical of Tolkien and his prose style, it both praised his writing and, in the absence of Christopher Tolkien's The History of Middle-earth on the process of creation of Tolkien's fiction, it correctly guessed many of his major themes. It was one of the earliest book-length analyses of Tolkien's work, winning Kocher the 1973 Mythopoeic Society's S