The Hobbit Companion

Description

In the beginning was the word 'HOBBIT'. It was to be the single most important word to ever inspire Professor Tolkien to write a story. And what a story it was! Most authors create characters and then find names for them, but for Tolkien it was words themselves that suggested characters, creatures, plots, places, and even entire worlds to him. He was a scholar who studied words and as one of the compilers of the prestigious Oxford English Dictionary, words themselves proved to be his chief source of inspiration. In The Hobbit Companion Tolkien expert David Day explores the brilliant language that unfolds in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, exposing the crafty puns and riddles, hidden meanings, and mythical associations beneath the saga's surface. The Hobbit is the subject of a forthcoming three-part film adaptation; filmed in New Zealand with the first instalment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, due to be released in December 2012.

David Day is a poet and author who has published 40 books. He has also been a magazine editor and a columnist for the Daily Mail and Punch. David Day is the author of A Tolkien Bestiary, Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, Guide to Tolkien and Tolkien's World; as well as Tolkien's Ring, The Quest for King Arthur and Castles and has also published more than thirty other books of poetry, natural history, ecology, fantasy, mythology, and children's literature. His books have won numerous literary awards, sold over 4 million copies and been translated into 20 languages. He is currently consulting on Peter Jackson's much anticipated film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Dutch artist Lidia Postma is a highly regarded illustrator of both childrens and adults fantasy books, throughout Europe, America and the UK.