J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

✍ Scribed by Harold Bloom (Editor)

• Publisher: Bloom’s Literary Criticism (an Infobase Learning Company)
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 109
• Series: Bloom’s GUIDES
• Edition: annotated edition
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

J.R.R. Tolkien drew on his professorial expertise in Anglo-Saxon literature and the early mythology and folklore of Great Britain in creating this popular classic centering on the perils of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo became one of the author's most enduring and vividly realized creations in this precursor to the legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yale literary scholar Harold Bloom introduces this compilation of concise critical excerpts, which also includes an annotated bibliography and an index for easy reference.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
Biographical Sketch......Page 10
The Story Behind the Story......Page 12
List of Characters......Page 14
Summary and Analysis......Page 18
Katharyn W. Crabbe on the Quest as Fairy Tale......Page 45
Brian Rosebury on the Novel as a Transitional Work in Tolkien’s Development......Page 49
Humphrey Carpenter on Bilbo Baggins......Page 55
Perry C. Bramlett on The Hobbit as Children’s Literature......Page 64
Colin Duriez on Physical and Spiritual Journeys......Page 70
Tom Shippey on Sources, Origins, and Modernizing the Past......Page 74
Jaume Albero Poveda on Narrative Models in Tolkien’s Fiction......Page 79
K.S. Whetter and R. Andrew McDonald on Sword Imagery......Page 83
Elizabeth A. Whittingham on the Influence of Family on Tolkien......Page 86
Works by J.R.R. Tolkien......Page 92
Annotated Bibliography......Page 93
Contributors......Page 98
Acknowledgments......Page 100
Index......Page 102