Ents, Elves, and Eriador
by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans
Published by The University Press of Kentucky
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Subtitled: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien
Ents, Elves and Eriador is a fascinating book. Dickerson and Evans take the reader through Tolkien’s work detailing the beloved author’s environmental vision. While even a casual reader of Tolkien’s writing will recognize that industrialization accompanied evil in his books, this book reveals the depth of his positive vision of the way Middle Earth works. They discuss the various ecologies that make an appearance in Tolkien’s work.
The authors:
• write not only about the ecologies themselves, but how Middle Earth becomes a character in the stories.
• also talk about how the people in the stories care (or not) for the environment around them.
• about how the Hobbits create a sustainable community in the Shire, growing food to feed themselves without damaging the soil.
• comment on how things go wrong when one person starts “owning more than is good for them”
• also talk about the role of elves in creating beauty in the world,
• Finally talk about Ent’s preservation of the forest of Fangorn.
The works of Sauron are toxic and destructive of the efforts of all people who care for the world they live in. The authors draw parallels between unbridled corporate profits and kind of damage Sauron does to Middle Earth. They show how the poisoning of the earth around both Mordor and Isengard is all too similar to the damage done by industry.
Reading a non-fiction book about Tolkien’s environmental vision may seem like a way to spoil the sheer fun of reading The Lord of the Rings and his other books. What I found as I read this book was that I wanted to reread every word of Tolkien to see for myself what the authors have given a glimpse of.
This book if for everyone who loves the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, and who loves the world around them.
Armchair Interviews agrees.