Vine Book - The Writer's Journey:3rd Edition (S) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews). . . but what is more noticeable is what has been left out.
It is obvious that the author is very knowledgeable in his field, namely, literary and psychological understandings of mythology over the last 50 years or so. Much of the advice he gives to new writers about the concept of "story" and "journey" is of value, as are some (not all) of the examples he gives. "The Heroic Quest" has been in the past, and remains an extremely significant literary motif. I also appreciated some of the stories he told about his own experience, especially his recounting of some of the "behind the scenes" in the Disney movie "The Lion King". I was pleased to see that some of my perceptions about this film were correct.
Why then only two stars?
Imagine someone writing the history of 16th and 17th century English theater -- and forgetting to mention William Shakespeare. Imagine someone writing an anthology of classical music -- and omitting Bach or Beethoven.
In my view, this is what the author has done. While the author has given Joseph Campbell, and his seminal work on mythology proper due; and while he has given Carl Jung his proper due (and arguably more than his due), he has completely ignored the writing, both fiction and non-fiction of JRR Tolkien, who besides being the best-selling author of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" was a professor of English at Oxford University for more than 30 years -- and was the foremost expert on the literary genre of myth and fairy-story in probably the past two hundred years. Tolkien's work on Beowulf? Ignored. "Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight"? Ignored. His essay "On Fairy Stories" (which is THE definitive word on the subject)? Ignored. And that's just the non-fiction. Tolkien's fiction, especially "The Lord of the Rings" re-defined the genre of the Heroic Quest. Yet both the book and the movies are excluded from his discussion.
Honestly, I don't know why this is. Perhaps the author is not familiar with Tolkien's non-fiction work on the subject -- but I find this difficult to believe. Perhaps he just didn't care for the books of for the films. Still not a good excuse. Perhaps the author is uncomfortable with Tolkien's philosophical and religious pre-suppositions. I just don't know.
All I can say is that a book of this sort which excludes a widely recognized expert in the field is a very incomplete book, and one that I can only recommend with serious caveat.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Vine Book - The Writer's Journey:3rd Edition (S)

Buy cheap Vine Book - The Writer's Journey:3rd Edition (S) now.