Splintered light: logos and language in tolkien's world - verlyn flieger

Tolkien is perhaps best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it is in The Silmarillion that the true depth of Tolkiens Middle-earth can be understood.

The Silmarillion was written before, during, and after Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

A collection of stories, it provides information alluded to in Tolkiens better known works and, in doing so, turns The Lord of the Rings into much more than a sequel to The Hobbit, making it instead a continuation of the mythology of Middle-earth.

Verlyn Fliegers expanded and updated edition of Splintered Light, a classic study of Tolkiens fiction first published in 1983, examines The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfields linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning.

Flieger demonstrates Tolkiens use of Barfields concept throughout the fiction, showing how his central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-earth.