The second, "New Directions," consists of two essays. The first proposes, first, that in the process of developing his mythology, Tolkien created a number of pocket eutopias and dystopias-communities of betterment or deterioration--within a larger, even epic, landscape. It then goes on to argue that such a utopian vision can be traced throughout the sixty-year life of the legendarium. The second ponders how Christopher Tolkien, the literary executor of his father's estate, was caught among the conflicting demands and duties of editor, guardian of his father's reputation, and custodian of his family's estate. The essay chronologically traces Christopher's changing editorial choices and the results of those choices that have produced a range of problems-not the least of these being the Tolkien Estate's tight control over the scholarly study and publication of Tolkien's Middle-earth manuscripts. This control is something about which most Tolkien readers are likely wholly unaware.
This collection of essays comes at an important time. With the death of Priscilla Tolkien in 2022, all of Tolkien's children have passed on. Scholars now have an opportunity to recast discussion of Tolkien's achievement in a new era even as they are aware of how much that achievement must be viewed in light of its increasingly obvious and increasingly inaccurate cinematic and televisual re-presentation. Primacy should necessarily belong to Tolkien's written achievement and, hence, to the sort of scholarship this celebratory collection represents.