No writer has surpassed the epic achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien, who spent decades refining his Middle-earth--a world that has felt so real to so many readers that it is almost impossible to imagine that any single person could have simply created it, seemingly out of thin air. In The Tower and the Ruin, Michael D. C. Drout takes us deep into Tolkien's genius, allowing us to glimpse the making of not only The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion but also lesser-known books such as The Fall of Gondolin as well as Tolkien's poetry and innovative scholarship.
Drout, who has spent decades reading, studying, and teaching Tolkien, allows us to understand the author's methods and to embrace his works as never before. With great erudition and sparkling prose, Drout shows us how Tolkien invented myths, legends, cultures, languages, histories, and an intricate, multivocal narrative. We come to understand how Tolkien drew upon and modified material he found in Beowulf, the Kalevala, and other medieval literature from northern Europe, using the subtle qualities of those famous works as inspiration for his own. We also see the process by which he created the complex form of sorrow that is the primary emotional effect of his mature works, a sadness "blessed without bitterness," carefully woven through a tapestry of themes that has resonated with generations of readers.
Sweeping and hugely perceptive--and enhanced throughout by Drout's personal reflections on how Tolkien has shaped his own life and relationships--The Tower and the Ruin illuminates Tolkien anew and will come to be seen as an essential work for anyone who has journeyed to Middle-earth.
Drout is a rigorous and scrupulous guide...Drout offers ample rewards for the persevering reader...Drout writes movingly to the role of literature in life...As I closed The Tower and the Ruin, I felt some envy for the hundreds of students who have taken Drout's Tolkien classes. And I decided that this Christmas, I would finally get around to reading The Silmarillion.--Matthew Keeley "The Boston Globe"
[A]n important addition to Tolkien studies and a welcome companion for Middle Earth's most loyal readers.... The Tower and the Ruin ultimately reminds us that great literature serves us best when it is not merely written and read but shared.--Michael O'Donnell "The American Scholar"
Mr. Drout is a fine scholar but his work sings because of its emotional depth... The Tower and the Ruin is thus, in a sense, only incidentally about Tolkien's creations. At its most compelling it's about how meaningful reading can be and how deeply it can convey a father's love for his children.--Konstantin Kakaes "Wall Street Journal"
A splendid and original combination of sharp analysis and deeply felt emotional memoir. We know what makes Tolkien's fiction good, but what makes it qualitatively different, so that it feels like entering a world, not just reading another book? And what makes it such an effective resource for those experiencing grief and loss? Michael D. C. Drout answers both questions, powerfully, personally, convincingly. He shows how, more than any other work, The Lord of the Rings is not just a story. It's a life-changer.--Tom Shippey, author of The Road to Middle-earth
Michael D. C. Drout has given us a rare, brave work at the crossroads of scholarship and memoir, where the tales we read and the tales we are in really do meet.--Thomas P. Hillman, author of Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring
Michael D. C. Drout combines his reader's journey through the major works of Tolkien with his personal journey as the son of a reading father and the reading father of a son. The result is an erudite and insightful discussion that shines new light on old stories.--Verlyn Flieger, author of Splintered Light
Michael D.C. Drout is a professor of English and director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College. He specializes in Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature, science fiction and fantasy, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin, and is the author of How Tradition Works and Drout's Quick and Easy Old English, among others. He lives in Dedham, Massachusetts.
W. W. Norton & Company
Pub Date: December 2, 2025
1.3" H x 9.1" L x 6.0" W
384 pages
hardcover