A Question of Time: J.R.R. Tolkien's Road to "Faerie"

I have found this to be of the few books on Tolkien to which I return - I have just finished my fourth careful reading.

It is for those already deep into Tolkien's world. The theme is specialized: Tolkien's use of time, especially in Lord of the Rings (eg. in Lothlorien, or the prophetic dreams of Frodo), and also in two posthumously published fragments called The Lost Road and The Notion Club papers.

Tolkien's views are put into the context of his own era, during which there was considerable discussion of time among the literati - perhaps most famously in the work of JB Priestley.

This is one of those rare books of criticism which is of value in its own right, even apart from the object of its analysis - indeed, I would say that this is a profound meditiation on how time appears to us humans when conscious, when dreaming, and in contrast to the imagined perception of elves and other immortals.

The recommendation to read this came from TA Shippey, who also rates it as one of the best works of Tolkien criticism.