J.R.R. TOLKIEN: THE FATHER OF MODERN FANTASY

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

Donald Marshall's J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy is the third volume in the "Pocket Portraits" series, each of which explores the life and work of an individual author. The volume is a small hardcover and could actually fit into a decent sized coat pocket. Over the course of just over two hundred pages, it is filled with numerous short chapters, each dedicated to providing the background for a specific aspect of Marshall's subject in a concise and informative manner.

The volume opens with biographical information about Tolkien and his parents, providing quick sketches of his early life in South Africa, his parents' deaths, his life in boarding school, and eventually his education and service in World War I. As Tolkien began his literary and academic work, Marshall includes chapters on his writing, his friendships, and his study of philology, although that last tends to be among the overlooked topics in the volume. Because the chapters are short, Marshall isn't able to go into a great deal of detail at any given point, although the sheer number of chapters do allow him to provide depth over the course of the book and several chapters note that he will return to a topic later in the book when it makes more sense from a thematic point of view.

Eventually, Marshall turns his attention to the various aspects of Middle Earth, not just The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but the various volumes published by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death. Tolkien's other literary works, such as Roverandom, Farmer Giles of Ham, Gawain and the Green Knight, and Smith of Wooten Major are also discussed, building a much broader picture of Tolkien's legacy than many readers are aware he had. In addition to discussing these works, Marshall includes brief (sometimes very brief) excerpts from the works being discussed, which gives the reader a taste of Tolkien's use of language.

The brevity of the chapters is one of the book's strengths. The reader can dip into the book when they only have a few moments, but if they have more time, the chapters are short and lead to the next chapter, allowing the reader to continue to fill the time and interest they have. The shortness of the chapters also means that if there is a topic of less interest, the reader doesn't spend a lot of time on it before they are on to the next topic.

The number of those topics means that Marshall is able to be quite thorough in his discussion of Tolkien's works, life, and influence. There are a few notable omissions. He fails to discuss Leonard Nimoy's "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" when discussing Tolkien's influence on music. When talking about table top role playing games, he writes about the legal issues with TSR, but ignores many of the licensed games, such as those published by Iron Crown Enterprises and Decipher, although the current The One Ring is mentioned.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Father of Modern Fantasy is an excellent introduction to the individual behind The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. While many biographies and literary may be more in depth, offer a better narrative, or are more scholarly, this volume offers an overview of Tolkien that is perfect for someone who wants an introduction after reading his work or seeing the films based on his novels.

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