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Abstract
[...]it does, and the introduction is not to be missed as it provides a concise overview of issues related to the body in literature and points out the themes that are of most interest to readers of Tolkien: death and resurrection, pain and suffering, metamorphosis, fertility and celibacy, spirituality and materiality, purity and pollution. Tracing a pattern of images of "thinning," transparency, invisibility, inner light, and contrasts with Frodo's "shadow," Gollum, Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's intent that we pay attention to Frodo's unhealed wounds, which show that the hobbit "pays the highest price and gets the least reward" (18). Robin Reid takes us in what is a fairly new direction in Tolkien studies with her article on female bodies in The Lord of the Rings: using stylistic methodologies to gather and analyze statistical data about the text. Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings (2004), Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language (2006), Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2013), and the forthcoming Baptism of Fire: The Birth of British Fantasy in World War 7; and co-editor of Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey (2014) and the forthcoming Peribus and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien.