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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Recovering Consolation: Sam's Enchanted Path in the Lord of the Rings

Recovering Consolation: Sam's Enchanted Path in the Lord of the Rings

Maillet, Greg

Hardcover

Literary CriticismGeneral Christianity

ISBN10: 1666785156
ISBN13: 9781666785159
Publisher: Pickwick Publications
Published: Sep 19 2024
Pages: 154
Weight: 0.83
Height: 0.44 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Although Tolkien's letters call Samwise Gamgee the chief hero of The Lord of the Rings, Sam is easily underestimated by both readers and critics. Recovering Consolation focuses attention on Sam's point of view throughout the long journey that is the novel. This book responds to Frodo's famous words at the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, imagining a child speaking to a parent: I want to hear more about Sam, dad; why didn't they put in more of his talk, dad? That's what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam, would he, dad? Listening to Sam not only makes us laugh but also shows him to be, like Tolkien himself, a master of mythopoesis; as the novel's narrator puts it, Sam had more on his mind than gardening. Yet the concrete act of gardening, another passion that Sam shares with Tolkien, should help us to understand how consolation is recovered, as is well explained in Tolkien's great essay, On Fairy Stories. Both there and in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien offers a theological aesthetic that has much to teach us. Although we may not realize it while laughing along with Sam, this humble servant-hobbit is key to this aesthetic.

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