Publisher Description

The History of Middle-earth 5 Edited by Christopher Tolkien INKLINGS OF GREATNESS . . . J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were friends and fellow members of the literary circle known as The Inklings. It is hardly surprising that, at one point, these talented gentlemen embarked on a challenge: Lewis was to write on "space-travel" and Tolkien on "time-travel." Lewis' novel, Out of the Silent Planet, became the first book of a science fiction trilogy. Tolkien's unfinished story, The Lost Road, chronicles the original destruction of N

Back Cover

As friends and fellow members of the literary circle known as The Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis embarked on a challenge. Lewis was to write on "space-travel" and Tolkien on "time-travel." Lewis's novel Out of the Silent Planet became the first book of a science fiction trilogy. Tolkien's unfinished story "The Lost Road" chronicles the original destruction of Numenor, a pivotal event of the Second Age of Middle-earth. In this intriguing volume, Christopher Tolkien traces the vivid history of Middle-earth, bringing the land-its topography and ever-clashing forces-to the state readers recognize from the Lord of the Rings. Entertaining and informative, The Lost Road and Other Writings shares fresh insights into the evolution of one of the world's most enduring fantasies.

Author Biography

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specializing in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously "The Hobbit" (1937) and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth.

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