# A New Publication On The Lord Of The Rings



## Giovanni (Aug 21, 2004)

Hallo, everybody, my name is Giovanni Agnoloni, and I am an Italian writer from Florence (I enclose a short bio of mine for completeness of information). I'm writing you to inform you about the publication of an essay of mine on J.R.R. Tolkien, published in May 2004. The book is a long comparative literature essay (focussed on Tolkien's fantasy world) and is already bookable on-line, through my Publishing House's web-site (www.spaziotre.com), and also through the website of the Italian Tolkien Society (see http://www.tolkien.it/catalogo/item.asp?ID=439&cat=4&sessionID=2082004597198876). We are also thinking of a translation in English, and a few copies have already been submitted to various British, Irish and American Publishers. I though that maybe some of you could be interested in getting more information on the book, or perhaps to give me advice on whom to contact in roder to have better chances to spread the book worldwide through a translation in English. 
The title (translated from Italian) is : "Literature and fantasy - The Gardens of Lorien" (original title: “Letteratura del fantastico – I giardini di Lorien”), and it is a comparative analysis of the most significant passages of "The Lord of the Rings" and other beautiful excerpts from masters like Homer, Virgil, Dante, James Joyce, and many contemporary authors both of fantasy (and sci-fi) and realistic literature (from Terry Brooks to William Gibson, from Joseph O'Connor to Roddy Doyle). This is the newest aspect of this work, whose purpose is that of demonstrating on one hand that Tolkien has to be considered one of the greatest writers ever existed (not only the father of “fantasy literature”), on the other to explain the reasons of the very special spell that the “Lord of the Rings” casts on millions of readers. The passages quoted, in fact, each time offer the hint for a reflection, whose purpose is defining the secret of Tolkien's Middle Earth, compared with "our" middle earth: the world we all live in. The answer comes after a journey through the most beautiful sceneries of Middle Earth, as well as through an analysis of the characters of the “Lord of the Rings”. And the answer is: "energy": the same that runs in this world's veins, but made of a subtler material, more fluid, more easily perceptible, like a flower essence able to heal and comfort. 
The essay (about 450 pages long) basically consists of three parts:

- a series of chapters in which the relation is examined between Tolkien’s style and themes and, respectively, the Latin world, the Middle Age (dealt with by focussing on Dante _Divine Comedy_), Renaissance, Romanticism, Naturalism and Neo-realism, and, not by chance in the last position (as a prelude to the following part, although chronologically anterior), the Greek world (under the headlights of epics, lyric poetry, tragedy and philosophy);

- another series of chapters in which the sceneries of Middle Earth, along with the characters of the _Lord of the Rings_, are put in a sort of sequence, in order to finally define the secret of natural harmony (in doing so, a further distinction is made between dark and luminous sceneries, evil and good characters: e.g. Mordor, Isengard, Sauron, Saruman, on one hand; The Shire, Gondor, the Hobbits and Gandalf on the other);

- the most “magnetic” places and characters, which seemingly hide the very core of Middle Earth’s energy (e.g.: Lothlorien, Fangorn, the Elves, Aragorn).



With such contents, this book aims to become a point of reference for a new approach to literary studies: an approach in which academic and non-academic readers may feel both comfortable, in order to make a wide audience curious about relevant literary themes. 



Here I leave you my Publisher's complete address:

Spazio Tre srl, Via Savona, 55/A - 20144 Milano - Italia
Tel: +39 02 48953350 - +39 02 47715329
Fax: + 39 02 4236926

E-mail: [email protected] 

Thanks very much for your kind attention.



Giovanni


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## Maeglin (Aug 21, 2004)

that sounds great, and I recall reading something about this elsewhere (can't remember where though). Anyway, it sounds like an interesting read, I'm looking forward to it being released in English.


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## Dark_Glamdring (Aug 21, 2004)

Good to know  sounds great really, keep going


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## Finduilas (Aug 22, 2004)

Impressing, impressing indeed. Good work, Giovanni! 

I hope that one day the English edition will 'visit' Bulgaria as well. 

Go for it!


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## Inderjit S (Aug 26, 2004)

It sounds great! Nice to know that there are still a few Tolkien related publications out there.


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