A New Exhibition: Tolkien and the Making of Middle-earth

I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien in college. The editions were likely the pirated ones controversially published by Ballantine; almost overnight it seemed everyone on campus was carrying their paperback copies. By the time I graduated, an authorized version of the books had been published in the United States, and I bought the hardbacks, which are well read and still on my bookshelf.

J.R.R. Tolkien in the 1920s

And the Peter Jackson movies from 2001 to 2003? My youngest son and I saw them three times each in the theaters, watched them again when the movies were available on CD, and watched them yet again when the extended version / director’s cut CDs went on sale. 

I’m a fan, but I’m not a fanatical fan. I wore street clothes to the movie theater. I did not dress up as a hobbit, a wizard, an orc, Stridor, an ent, an elf, a dwarf, a balrag, or Shelob the giant spider.

The biggest Tolkien event since the movies is now underway in Oxford. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.