Craig Jarman has written a wonderful book about the mythological land of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Archaic language, mythological scenes, fairy tale plots are the carriers of some of the most pertinent and telling commentaries on our modern world and the disaster-creativity which faces us. Modern ears are tired of the doom and gloom of so much of our current writing, and news headlines are no better. But in this tale of hobbits and little people and noble bearers of power we have spelled out the chaos which we face and a visionary solution to it.
The story is a new one – perhaps the latest outpouring of mythology in our western world – and it carries great power. To read a myth created by a man still within living memory is to be at the forefront of living mythology. A young man, Craig Jarman, a citizen of the new age, speaks its language eloquently and creates a new vision for us all.
Robert A. Johnson
San Diego, California