Exploring Tolkien is a weekly show that dives deep into JRR Tolkien and all the ages of Middle-earth. Jonathan Watson and Michael Grumbine are your hosts as they read through Tolkien’s works, interview other Tolkien enthusiasts and authors, and criticall
What are we supposed to recover from? And why do fairy stories provide it? And why do we need to escape? And how do fairy stories break us out?
As...
When Tolkien talks about Fantasy, he doesn’t simply mean fiction stories set in sword-and-sorcery worlds. Fantasy is the highest form of sub-creation,...
This week we discussed “Children” from the “On Fairy Stories” by Tolkien. He pushes back against the coupling of fairy-stories and children,...
This week Michael and I talked with Professor Nick Groom, author of Tolkien in the 21st Century: The Meaning of Middle-earth Today, releasing...
On December 2, 2003, I was invited to join a few other journalists to interview the actors and crew of The Lord of the Rings. For me (Jonathan), for...