No matter how far your quest may take you – perhaps even to Middle-Earth – you would be hard-pressed to find two people more knowledgeable about all things Tolkien than local scholars Jan Bogstad and Phil Kaveny. The two recently wrapped up a two-year labor of love – Kaveny half jokingly referred to it as having a “rat tied around his neck” – by editing a compilation of 16 essays about the relationship of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books and Peter Jackson’s films. The treasure at the end of this couple’s literary quest is their book titled Picturing Tolkien, published by McFarland Publishers.

The duo each plied their special strengths as editors of the project. Phil was the “schmoozer,” recruiting, cajoling, and sometimes chastising contributors to shape their essays and meet their deadlines. Phil is an independent book vendor and his travels would find him with his wares at various fantasy-literature themed conferences. Some of the world’s other leading Tolkien scholars would eventually find themselves hanging around Phil’s booth. Jan specialized in the technical work of editing and indexing the articles. She, too, had a hand in corresponding with the contributors, as well as other aspects of deal-making. After she sent out a call for papers, she was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of contributors.

Picturing Tolkien represents a range of perspectives concerning the transformation of the trilogy to the big screen. A sampling of articles include “Gollum Talks to Himself: Problems and Solutions in Peter Jackson’s Film Adaptation of the Lord of the Rings,” “The Grey Pilgrim: Gandalf and the Challenges of Characterization in Middle-Earth,” and “Tolkien’s Resistance to Linearity: Narrating the Lord of the Rings in Fiction and Film.” The couple also contributed articles to the compilation. Jan’s piece is “Concerning Horses: Establishing Cultural Settings from Tolkien to Jackson,” which covers the importance of horses and how the focus of this importance differed in the films from the books. Phil wrote “Frodo Lives But Gollum Redeems the Blood of Kings,” which brings up, among other ideas, the notion of Gollum as a sacrificial lamb. Jan also wrote an incredibly informative essay that covers early attempts to put The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings on the big screen. The Beatles, for example, were interested in making a film in the late 60s “with John as Gollum, Paul as Frodo, George as Gandalf, and Ringo as Sam.” 

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The world of Tolkien is large. People who have seen the movies but have not read the books need to know there’s a lot more about Tolkien’s creation than what was covered in Jackson’s films. There is a unique depth to his work because he created an entire corpus of work before he wrote the novels. He created Middle Earth. He created a mythology for England where he is the reporter. He invented a lot of what is now common in fantasy literature.

Tolkien was also was interested in letting others play around with his works. Both Jan and Phil felt Peter Jackson had a strong gift of collaboration that made the movies successful. He gave the costumers room to do research and contribute their own ideas that fit in the world Tolkien created. He did this for all aspects of the movies – the folks who designed and made the weapons, the sets, even down to what Jan covered in her essay – how the horses were portrayed. 

Fans of the books, folks hooked by the films, scholars – all will find something of interest inPicturing Tolkien. The print format is available through The Local Store, major book vendors, and Kindle and e-book editions are on the way.