How long does it take to read Tolkien and the Great War?
John Garth
Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth takes about 7 hours 18 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 7 hours 18 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2003. 398 pages, about 109,450 words.
15 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 12 hours 10 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 7 hours 18 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 34 minutes |
The page count is the median across 12 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"J.R.R. Tolkien responded to critics who saw The Lord of the Rings as a reaction to the Second World War. Tolkien and the Great War tells for the first time the full story of how he embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe. This biography reveals the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introduces the circle of friends who spurred his mythology into life. It shows how, after two of these brilliant young men were killed, Tolkien pursued the dream they all shared by launching his epic of good and evil." "This is the first substantially new biography of Tolkien since 1977, meticulously researched and distilled from his personal wartime papers and a multitude of other sources." "John Garth argues that the foundation of tragic experience in the First World War is the key to Middle-earth's enduring power. Tolkien used his mythic imagination not to escape from reality but to reflect and transform the cataclysm of his generation. While his contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: English Fantasy fiction, Literature and history, Knowledge, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), History and criticism, English Authors