I think I mentioned this in an earlier post but I have a real weakness for a good biography and this one was a good one. A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and A Great War by Joseph Loconte is a dual biography of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien which focuses primarily on how they were influenced and effected by their experience of WWI. It opens by giving a bit of background on the war in general and about each of these two writers prior to the war. From there it moves on to discussing how each of them served in the war, where they served and when, some of the people they served with, and what their overall experience serving in the war was probably like. While doing so it also discusses how these experiences influenced their work. Now it focuses heavily on The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia but it also discusses a wide variety of their other works such as The Silmarillion and The Hobbit or Lewis’s Space Trilogy. It also discusses how their experience effected them outside of their writing and briefly about their life after the war.
I greatly enjoyed this book and feel like I learned a lot about these two authors. Now, I have read biographies of both of these authors in the past. However, this book is the first dual biography of them that I have read and the only one that focuses almost exclusively on how they were affected by the war, specifically how their writing was affected. It is because of this in-depth look at that specific angle of their lives that I feel like I have learned something. That being said, the book was not necessarily easy to read at times. This was in part because of the content. Almost any book that focuses on the events of a war is probably not going to be easy to read because a war is not an easy subject to handle. A lot of bad things happen and that was definitely the case in regards to these authors’ experiences during WWI. It provides a lot of graphic details about what these two people might have seen and experienced and these details are not ones for the faint of heart. This point actually ties in with my next one as well. The reason for the graphic and explicit details about the war and the effect it had on not only these authors but on their entire generation of authors is because this book is primarily a book academic research. It was written by a historian and has the feel of reading an academic history report. There are numerous references to other pieces of research and first-hand accounts and interviews of the events it references. It may make it rather dry and difficult to follow at times but it also means that you can more easily trust what it is saying due to the extensive research it includes and references. Now I am used to reading books like this as I have a degree in History but this style of writing may be slightly difficult for the general public as it may not be something they are used to. Reading this book I can tell that the author did an incredible amount of research on the topic, both on the war in general and about these two authors’ experience of it specifically. I like that kind of dedication because it means that they probably care more about the topic than I do and I happen to really like this particular topic as both Tolkien and Lewis have been family favorites for several generations. I happily give this book four out of five stars.
In terms of recommending this book, I am going to start out by saying this book was a great read but it was not necessarily an easy read. If you are not daunted by the fact that this is such a heavily academically styled book and you happen to enjoy biographies than I would gladly suggest that you try it. Keep in mind that it is an academic book though. Jumping off of that, I don’t think this book would hold a lot of appeal for younger readers due to this, unless the younger reader in question just happens to be a really die-hard fan of either Tolkien or Lewis and want to learn more. It was overall a great book though and one that I enjoyed. If you do decide to try it feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I am also open to suggestions of other great biographies for me to try.