Wednesday, September 15, 2004

'In the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien' Press Release - Xoanon @ 11:16 PST
There and Back Again - In the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien
By Mathew Lyons

Published in paperback by Cadogan Publishing APRIL 2004 Distributed in the United States by The Globe Pequot Press
Priced $14.95

The Lord of the Rings has become synonymous with the breathtaking New Zealand landscape thanks to the enormous success of the film trilogy. The world of Tolkien’s imagination, however, was much closer to home. In There and Back Again, Mathew Lyons explores Tolkien’s true inspiration for Middle Earth, England.

The Lord of the Rings was born from a love of England and its people. Having served in the First World War and survived the draining effects of the Second, Tolkien felt that his beloved England was slipping away. His expressed wish was to create a mythology that would celebrate his country, its history and its landscape. Middle Earth is Tolkien’s attempt to eternalise England and the English in an enduring folklore.

Mathew Lyons made a yearlong journey around England following the trail left by Tolkien’s fiction, his letters and his interviews. He searches out the physical beauty and wilderness that inspired Tolkien to create the world of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and the famous characters that inhabit them.

There and Back Again features:

Lydney Park in Gloucestershire which became the Hobbit Holes

Sarehole in South Birmingham, where Tolkien played as a child and which inspired the idyllic Shire

The breathtaking Somerset caves from which grew Helm’s Deep

About Mathew Lyons

Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Mathew Lyons was fixated by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. He read The Lord of the Rings hundreds of times and sought out the most obscure books about Tolkien and his works. Much to Mathew’s embarrassment, he even learned Elvish.

As an adult, Mathew had lost interest in the books entirely until the release of the first film encouraged him to reread The Lord of the Rings. He found it a far darker and more complex work than he had remembered, and his passion was reborn.

In addition to his writings on Tolkien, Mathew works as a freelance journalist and is based in London. He studied English at Leeds University and gained an MA in Renaissance Literature. Most recently, he has contributed to The Guardian, The Times and History Today.

Order 'There and Back Again - In the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien' from Amazon.com now!

Order 'There and Back Again - In the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien' from Amazon.co.uk now!