Splintered Light: Logos And Language In Tolkien's World
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the intersection of theology, linguistics, and mythopoeic imagination stands Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, a landmark work of literary criticism that illuminates the profound philosophical architecture underlying J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. Verlyn Flieger argues that Tolkien's mythology is not merely an elaborate fantasy construction, but a deeply coherent theological and linguistic vision rooted in the Christian concept of the Logos — the divine Word — and its fragmentation into the many lights, languages, and peoples of Middle-earth. Drawing on Owen Barfield's theory of the evolution of consciousness and language, she traces how Tolkien's invented languages and the splintering of the primordial light of the Two Trees become structural metaphors for the Fall, sub-creation, and the human longing for wholeness. Flieger writes with the precision of a scholar and the passion of a devoted reader, presenting a thesis that fundamentally reframes how we understand Tolkien's creative project. Her analysis illuminates the unity between Tolkien's academic work as a philologist and his life's work as a mythmaker, revealing that for Tolkien, language itself was a sacred act of creation. This essential text remains indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand not just what Tolkien wrote, but *why* — and what it truly means to reconstruct a broken light.
Author: Verlyn Flieger
Format: Paperback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the intersection of theology, linguistics, and mythopoeic imagination stands Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, a landmark work of literary criticism that illuminates the profound philosophical architecture underlying J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. Verlyn Flieger argues that Tolkien's mythology is not merely an elaborate fantasy construction, but a deeply coherent theological and linguistic vision rooted in the Christian concept of the Logos — the divine Word — and its fragmentation into the many lights, languages, and peoples of Middle-earth. Drawing on Owen Barfield's theory of the evolution of consciousness and language, she traces how Tolkien's invented languages and the splintering of the primordial light of the Two Trees become structural metaphors for the Fall, sub-creation, and the human longing for wholeness. Flieger writes with the precision of a scholar and the passion of a devoted reader, presenting a thesis that fundamentally reframes how we understand Tolkien's creative project. Her analysis illuminates the unity between Tolkien's academic work as a philologist and his life's work as a mythmaker, revealing that for Tolkien, language itself was a sacred act of creation. This essential text remains indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand not just what Tolkien wrote, but *why* — and what it truly means to reconstruct a broken light.