The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide

This is the most comprehensive in-depth companion to Tolkien's life and works ever published, including synopses of all his writings, and a Tolkien gazetteer, who's who and chronology. "The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide" is a comprehensive handbook to one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century. One of two volumes comprising this definitive work, the "Reader's Guide" is an indispensable introduction to J. R. R. Tolkien's life, writings, and art. It includes histories and discussions of his works; analyses of the components of his vast 'Silmarillion' mythology; brief biographies of persons important in his life; accounts of places he knew; essays on topics such as Tolkien's interests and attitudes towards contemporary issues, ideas found in his works, adaptations, and invented languages; and checklists of his published works, his poetry, his pictorial art, and translations of his writings.