Today, a conversation with John Garth, author of Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth, which tells the story of how Tolkien embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe, revealing the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introducing the circle of friends who spurred his mythology to life. It shows how, after two of these brilliant young men were killed, Tolkien pursued the dream they had all shared by launching his epic of good and evil. John Garth argues that the foundation of tragic experience in the First World War is the key to Middle-earth's enduring power. He says that Tolkien used his mythic imagination not to escape from reality but to reflect and transform the cataclysm of his generation. While his contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day.
'Tolkien and The Great War' on Wednesday's Access Utah
