Unless you live in a cave, you can't ignore that Amazon is currently broadcasting a series adapted from Tolkien's world, The Rings of Power. A titanic task, for a mythical work, which had already been brilliantly adapted by Peter Jackson through the Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King in 2003) , then the Hobbit trilogy (An Unexpected Journey in 2012, The Desolation of Smaug in 2013 and The Battle of the Five Armies in 2014). A result decried by some fans. Appreciated by others. For me, I'm kind of in the middle. Admiring the work done on the creation of the world and the landscapes. A little less convinced by the plot of certain characters. Even if I love others. However, I do not sulk my pleasure and watch with pleasure every Friday evening this new excursion in Middle-earth.
In any case, whether you are an enthusiastic fan or a curious amateur, elves and hobbits are coming back into fashion. Tolkien is "trending". If indeed the British author really fell into oblivion, being the spiritual father of so many other fantastic worlds invented since. But how did this English teacher manage to create what is undoubtedly one of the greatest literary successes of his century? And how did Peter Jackson, fifty years later, repeat the feat, this time by marking the cinema? This is the question that the author of this study published by Third Éditions, Vivien Lejeune, tries to answer.
A journalist for the written press, Vivien has participated in numerous magazines and programs, in particular on TV5 Monde, a channel of which he is the deputy channel manager. But the experience that I particularly remember is his first essay, released in November 2020, Visions of Dune: in the hollows and furrows of Arrakis, also for Third Editions. Vivien is therefore not at his first attempt to study sacred monsters, Frank Herbert's novels being of the same scope as those of JRR Tolkien. Returning just as much to the front of the stage thanks to the recent film by Villeneuve.
After a foreword which allows the author to explain his approach, the book is divided into two parts: the first dedicated to Tolkien, the second to Jackson.
Livre I : Tolkien
- Chapter 1: From the Battle of the Somme… and the Emergence of the Pals Battalions
- Chapter 2: From the youth of JRR Tolkien
- Chapter 3: On the Rhinegold (or the origins of the Ring)
- Chapter 4: A fable to bring them all together
- Chapter 5: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Chapter 6: The Two Towers
- Chapter 7: The Return of the King
- Chapter 8: The End of the Journey
Book II: Jackson
- Chapter 1: A Long-Awaited Adaptation
- Chapter 2: Jackson the Grey, magician of the new millennium
- Chapter 3: Jackson the White, Marshal of the Fellowship
- Chapter 4: In defiance of danger, delaying the impossible
- Chapter 5: Size Matters
- Chapter 6: Such a precious symphony. Howard Shore and the "scope" of the Ring
If the program seems attractive to you, you can find some pages offered on the publisher's site. This is also where you can order the book, either in paper version at €24,90. Or in a digital version at €11,99.
Although being an essay, the book is eaten like a good novel, without ever dragging on or getting lost in useless convolutions. We are not here to analyze every phrase used, or every shot made. But more to understand in its entirety what surrounds novels and films. First, the people. The humans behind the invented worlds. In particular of course Tolkien for one, and Jackson for the other. But also their friends, their influences, their environments, their successes, their struggles...
In any case, what I will remember is that it would not have taken much for Sauron to remain in the shadows, at the mercy of the bullets of the Battle of the Somme and the follies of youth. of the author in the Swiss mountains. Without forgetting that the first novel of our dear professor was published only thanks to the enthusiasm of a child for Bilbo, little hero with hairy feet. After closing the book, I imagine with dread what our world could be today without Balrog or hobbit... But fortunately, this terrible possibility does not belong to our world as my collection proves, that Vivien Lejeune's book will join today!
