
Professor Michael Drout: The Tower and the Ruin
From Reading Tolkien by Benjamin Bassett
November 23, 2025 · 1h 13m · Season 3 · Episode 2
About this episode
Professor Michael Drout discusses his new literary memoir and analysis of Tolkien.
Professor Michael Drout speaks to me about his fascinating and deeply moving new literary memoir cum detailed literary analysis The Tower and the Ruin . Drout's book, published December 2nd, analyses Tolkien from the persective of one reader, whilst also providing evidence for how Tolkien is best read in the context of his academic discipline, philology, and Tolkien's creative response to his medieval sources.
People in this episode
Host: Benjamin Bassett
Guest: Professor Michael Drout
Topics covered
- literary memoir
- Tolkien analysis
- philology
- medieval literature
- creative response
Keywords
- Tolkien
- The Tower and the Ruin
- literary analysis
- philology
- medieval sources
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Tower and the Ruin
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