Kirjahaku

Long before the successful The Lord of the Rings films, J.R.R. Tolkien's creations, imagination, and characters had captured the attention of millions of readers. But who was the man who dreamt up the intricate languages and perfectly crafted world of Middle-earth? Tolkien had a difficult life, for many years: orphaned and poor, his guardian forbad him to communicate with the woman he had fallen in love with, and he went through the horrors of the First World War. An intensely private and brilliant scholar, he spent over fifty years working on the languages, history, peoples and geography of Middle-earth, with a consistent mythology and body of legends inspired by a formidable knowledge of early northern European history and culture. J.R.R. Tolkien became a legend by creating an imaginary world that has enthralled and delighted generations. This delightful and accessible biography brings him to life. Colin Duriez has appeared as a commentator on DVDs of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, and BBC television's The Worlds of Fantasy. He is also the author of The Inklings Handbook (with the late David Porter), J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Story of Their Friendship, and Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, and has contributed to definitive reference works, The Tolkien Encyclopedia and a number of other tomes relating to Tolkien.

'C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship' is a fascinating and insightful plunge into the life of a literary legend through the friends he keep closest. Through collecting previously unpublished research, interviews and insider knowledge, Colin Duriez has compiled a sparkling biography of C.S. Lewis by studying his closest friends, family and the famous literary society, the Inklings. These key relationships helped to influence his academic thoughts, his personal beliefs and his world-renowned books. So what can we learn from these people? - What kind of impact did his life-long friend, Arthur Greeves, have on the legend? - How influential were J.R.R. Tolkien and the other members of the 'Inklings' on his career and life? - Why did he move in with a single mother twice his age, Janie Moore, and live with her until her death? - Why did he marry so late? - What about his alcoholic and gifted brother? This wonderfully produced book offers a striking and tangible image of the Oxford professor, children's author and out-spoken Christian. It's a joy to read and an ideal gift to Lewis fanatics.

The Oxford Inklings tells the story of the friendships, mutual influence, and common purpose of the Inklings - the literary circle which congregated around C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Meeting in pubs or Lewis's college rooms, they included an influential array of literary figures. They were, claimed poet and novelist John Wain, bent on 'the task of redirecting the whole current of contemporary art and life'. Tolkien and Lewis expert Colin Duriez unpacks the Inklings' origins, relationships, and the nature of their collaboration. He shows how they influenced, encouraged, and moulded each other. Duriez also covers the less celebrated Inklings, neglected, he claims, for too long. What did they owe - and offer - to the more acknowledged names? What brought them together? And what, eventually, drove them apart from their initial focus upon each other's writings?

Dorothy L. Sayers was a woman of contrasts. A strong Christian, she had a baby - out of wedlock - by a man she did not love. Possessing a fierce intellect, she translated Dante, and also created one of the most popular fictional detectives ever in Lord Peter Wimsey. Drawing on material often difficult to access, particularly her collected letters, Colin Duriez reassesses Sayers’ life, her writings, her studies, and her faith to present a rich and captivating portrait of this formidable character.

The friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis lasted over 40 years and was for each the most important creative collaboration in their lives. This work explores the origins of the mythological worlds which both writers placed at the centre of their fiction.

The friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis lasted over 40 years and was for each the most important creative collaboration in their lives. Colin Duriez's book focuses primarily on this remarkable literary association, exploring the origins of the mythological worlds which both writers placed at the centre of their fiction.

Whether this is your first visit to C. S. Lewis's wonderful fantasy world or you have been there many times, you'll want to bring along this handy companion to the landscape and inhabitants of Narnia, including an A to Z guide to its characters, places, objects, and events.

This title is published to coincide with the UK release of Prince Caspian in June 2008. It covers the acknowledged expert on Lewis, Tolkien and Rowling. It is the essential companion to the world of Narnia. Whether this is your first visit to C. S. Lewis' wonderful fantasy world or you have been there many times, you'll want to bring along this handy companion to the landscape and inhabitants of Narnia, including an A to Z guide to its characters, places, objects, and events. "Field Guide to Narnia" tells the reader more about the mind behind Narnia; how Narnia relates to other imaginative worlds and children's literature; the history within the stories of Narnia; and how Narnia fits into Lewis' other works.

AD 33 was the year when an obscure religious teacher died a criminal's death in an outpost of the Roman Empire, an event which had world-changing consequences in the form of the beginnings of Christianity. What was the world like in that momentous year? This book presents events in the Roman Empire and beyond.

This absorbing insight into the mind behind Middle-earth will introduce or remind readers of the abundance that exists in Tolkien's thought and imagination. Interweaving sections explore The Lord of the Rings and its history; the key themes, concepts and images in Tolkein's work; the people and places in his life, and his other writings. At the heart of the book is an indispensible A-Z of middle-earth, with detailed entries on Beings, Places, Things and Events.

Duriez is a leading authority on Narnia and 'The Lord of the Rings'. In this book, he turns his attention to their modern equivalent, Harry Potter. He takes the works seriously as modern classics and places them not only in the tradition of children's literature but in the broader tradition of western literature and magic.

A monumental work that draws on specially collected oral history to fully portray the person, work, and teaching of one of the most important figures in modern Christianity.Nearly twenty-five years after his death, Francis Schaeffer's impact as one of the foremost shapers of modern Christianity still reverberates within the church and contemporary culture. A pastor, apologist, best-selling author, and activist whose work and ministry reached around the world, Schaeffer also managed to deeply and personally influence people of every age and position-men, women, youth, and children; the schooled intellectual and the common laborer, the scientist and the artist, the doubting Christian and the skeptical non-believer-in a way that few others have.His impassioned, genuine life is the focus of Colin Duriez's authoritative biography, which draws on over 150,000 words of oral history in addition to personal interviews and other resources to portray not just the man and his relationships but his spiritual formation and the development of his ideas, creative works, and worldview.From his working-class childhood in Pennsylvania, to the founding of L'Abri, his personal crisis of faith, and his latter years as a compassionate controversialist in the worldwide spotlight, all the eras of Schaeffer's life unfold within these pages. But Duriez, who studied under and interviewed Schaeffer, also takes a deeper look, revealing those distinct life phases, as well as Schaeffer's teachings and his complexities as a person, within their historical context so that contemporary readers may better understand all of who Schaeffer was-and why he still matters today.Filling an important void in Schaeffer literature, this full-length biography illuminates the complex journey of one whose relentless passion for truth, reality, a full-orbed faith, and meeting the needs of people made him not just a giant within evangelicalism but a shining example of what every Christian in every generation strives after: An Authentic Life lived to the glory of God.

Both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are literary superstars, known around the world as the creators of Middle-earth and Narnia. But few of their readers and fans know about the important and complex friendship between Tolkien and his fellow Oxford academic C.S. Lewis. Without the persistent encouragement of his friend, Tolkien would never have completed The Lord of the Rings. This great tale, along with the connected matter of The Silmarillion, would have remained merely a private hobby. Likewise, all of Lewis' fiction, after the two met at Oxford University in 1926, bears the mark of Tolkien's influence, whether in names he used or in the creation of convincing fantasy worlds. They quickly discovered their affinity—a love of language and the imagination, a wide reading in northern myth and fairy tale, a desire to write stories themselves in both poetry and prose. The quality of their literary friendship invites comparisons with those of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Cowper and John Newton, and G.K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc. Both Tolkien and Lewis were central figures in the informal Oxford literary circle, the Inklings. This book explores their lives, unfolding the extraordinary story of their complex friendship that lasted, with its ups and downs, until Lewis's death in 1963. Despite their differences—differences of temperament, spiritual emphasis, and view of their storytelling art—what united them was much stronger, a shared vision that continues to inspire their millions of readers throughout the world. †

A monumental work that draws on specially collected oral history to portray fully the person, work and teaching of one of the most important figures in modern Christianity. Francis Schaeffer reached both the intellectual and the labourer, the scientist and the artist, the doubter and the faithless. This biography draws on over 150,000 words of specially collected oral history to reveal who he was and how he became one of the foremost shapers of modern evangelical Christianity.