The Power of Tolkien's Prose: Middle-Earth's Magical Style

"Walker has read both widely and deeply in Tolkien's fiction, essays, and published letters, and uses all of these . . .There are many other worthwhile discussions of Tolkien's love of resuscitating dead metaphor, and his use of religion, coincidence, luck, prefiguring, and much else . . . "The Power of Tolkien's Prose" therefore helps to fill a gap in Tolkien scholarship. It is essentially a survey of the varieties of Tolkien's prose, an overview touching on a wide range of stylistic components, occasionally delving deep into particular sections."--"Tolkien Studies"

"Behind the beloved stories, Walker unveils Tolkien's mastery of language, symbol, and style. With scholarly rigor and a vivid style of his own, Walker finds in Tolkien's fiction every important attribute his detractors have declared that it lacked. From now on, you cannot speak intelligently about Tolkien's writing without taking into account all the arguments in Walker's book. Walker takes his place beside Tom Ship