Tolkien, Enchantment, and Loss: Steps on the Developmental Journey

Focusing on the themes of enchantment and loss in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, this unique study incorporates elements of developmental psychology to explore both Tolkien’s life and art, deepening our understanding of the interrelationship between his biography and writing.

As John Rosegrant relates, Tolkien’s early years saw a good deal of trauma: the loss of both parents, serious illness, poverty, and battlef...