rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Tolkien's cosmology
    sub title: divine beings and Middle-earth
  name:
    name part: McBride, Sam
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: ohu
    date issued: 2020
    copyright date: 2020
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: print
    extent: xvii, 285 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
  abstract: An in-depth examination of the role of divine beings in Tolkien's work, Tolkien's Cosmology: Divine Beings and Middle-earth brings together Tolkien's many references to such beings and analyzes their involvement within his created world. Unlike many other commentators, Sam McBride asserts that a careful reading of the whole of the author's corpus shows a coherent, if sometimes contradictory, divine presence in the world. In The Silmarillion, an epic history of the First Age of Middle-earth, Tolkien describes the Ainur, angelic beings under the direction of Eru Ilúvatar, the legendarium's god, as creators of physical reality. Some of these divine beings, the Valar and the Maiar, enter physical reality to oversee its development and prepare for the appearance of sentient life forms in Middle-earth, Elves and Humans, Dwarves and eventually Hobbits. In the early stages of this history, the Valar and Maiar interact directly with Elves and Humans, opposing the work of evil beings led by Melkor. Yet Tolkien appears, at first glance, to have ignored this pantheon in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, set in the Third Age of Middle-earth. Tolkien's letters, however, suggest the cosmological structure continues. And representatives of the Valar and Maiar can be seen at work, such as Gandalf and Saruman. Tolkien also introduces hints that his divine beings continue to influence events invisibly, as with the prominence of luck in The Hobbit and fortuitous weather conditions in The Lord of the Rings.
  table of contents: Introduction: seeking the divine in Middle-earth -- Tolkien's cosmogony and pantheon -- The Valar in the world -- Divine intervention in the Third Age: visible powers -- Divine intervention in the Third Age: invisible powers -- The problem of evil in Arda -- Death -- Eucatastrophe, Estel, and the end of Arda.
  note: Sam McBride.
  note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
  subject:
    name:
      name part: Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel)
      name part: 1892-1973
    topic: Criticism and interpretation
  subject:
    name:
      name part: Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel)
      name part: 1892-1973
    topic: Religion
  subject:
    topic: Fantasy fiction, English
    topic: History and criticism
  subject:
    topic: Middle Earth (Imaginary place)
  subject:
    topic: Cosmology in literature
  subject:
    topic: Religion in literature
  classification: PR6039.O32 Z69545 2020
  classification: 823/.912
  identifier: 9781606353967
  identifier: 1606353969
  identifier: 9781631014031
  identifier: 9781631014048
  identifier: 2019055103
  record info:
    record content source: DLC
    record creation date: 200115
    record change date: 20201020070906.0
    record identifier: in00004099294