J.R.R. Tolkien's Utopianism and the Classics

J.R.R. Tolkien's engagement with the ancient world reflects an interest in retrotopianism, which entails 'eutopian thought experiments' and a rewriting of ancient narratives in post-classical and modern terms. This study explores how Tolkien's use of the classical past can help us to align classical and utopian studies and reflect on the ranges and limits of utopianism in classical literature and thought.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 09 March 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

J.R.R. Tolkien, an English fantasy writer, is explored in this book as a significant thinker of utopianism in 20th-century fiction. Tolkien's engagement with the ancient world often reflects an interest in retrotopianism, where his fictional places draw on a rich (post-)classical narrative imagination of similar spaces. His fictional places, such as cities, forests, and homes, are often characterized by eutopian thought experiments, which involve the decline and fall of classical communities, the home as oikos, and the ancient forest as an ambiguous, unsettling site where characters can experience necessary forms of awakening. Tolkien's retrotopianism also entails a rewriting of ancient narratives in post-classical and modern terms, which helps us to align classical and utopian studies and reflect on the ranges and limits of utopianism in classical literature and thought.

Weight: 520g
Dimension: 234 x 155 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350241459