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The worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The places that inspired Middle-earth, by John Garth

— review by Matthew A. Fisher

5 October 2021 | Tolkien Studies, XVIII, 245

Much scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien and his creative works addresses nature or environmental considerations. Scholarship rooted in geographic considerations, different from the perspective of nature or environmental concerns, has focused on a few themes. Some works look at the physical geography of Middle-earth. Other work has examined the compass directions and the characteristics of the lands within Middle-earth associated with them. Finally, some individuals have engaged in what I would describe as geographic source criticism,” where they closely examine various geographic locations from Tolkien’s life with the goal of identifying those that served as models for something in The Lord of the Rings. I view this last approach as an attempt to compile a list of equalities where A in the real world equals B in Middle-earth.…

permalink 🔗︁ https://sam.tolkienists.org/00sk/
source URL 🌐https://doi.org/10.1353/tks.2021.0015
date recorded 📅2022-01-02
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