Kirjahaku

Charles E. Lobdell Sr. represented Dighton in the Kansas Legislature 1891-99; his bother edited Dighton's Republican newspaper. In 1936 he gave a commemorative speech tying his recollections of Dighton to world and national affairs. This gives an instructive view of the real nature of our "Old Right."

Jared Lobdell takes the view that the realm of fantasy is the natural, if not inevitable direction fiction writing is headed. By Surveying and criticizing the authors that influenced J.R.R. Tolkien's great works and presenting contemporary authors like Stephen King, and Ursula Le Guin whose works have been impacted by Tolkien, Professor Lobdell identifies an interesting pattern in the evolution of fiction.

Jared Lobdell examines Tolkien's methods and his worldview by following the thread of three influences: 1. the Edwardian adventure story; 2. the science of philology, or comparative languages; and 3. Roman Catholic theology. The "Edwardian mode" of adventure story (King Solomon's Mines, The Lost World) is one in which a small group of Englishmen make an expedition to foreign parts and find supernatural terrors awaiting them, finally returning home, mission accomplished. The architecture and narrative style of these adventure stories is followed completely in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's towering erudition in ancient Germanic and Celtic languages helps to explain his successful use of a mixture of period styles in his story-telling, as well as his amazing facility coining memorable names. Although Tolkien's stories betray a strong Christian conception of virtue and suffering, his Catholic background raises difficult problems for understanding the tales, with their heroes who are basically irreligious. Are these stories before the Fall of Man, or is there some other explaination for the absense of Christ? Lobdell pursues many subtle clues to arrive at a balanced answer.

Garrit Storm's family was involved in the Miranda Affair; he was a juror in the Manhattan Well Murder; and he was related to everyone from the Livingstons to Sylvester Graham of the Graham Cracker. This slim volume publishes a number of papers from his collection on which Dr. Lobdell hopes to base a full biography

The book contains a selection of the author's essays written since the publication of his THIS STRANGE ILLNESS: ALCOHOLISM AND BILL W. (Aldine-DeGruyter: Berlin 2004)