Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien’s Legendarium

Edited by Cami D. Agan, the 13 essays in Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth foreground processes of making and constructing Arda- either within the Secondary world or for readers/viewers- and thus continually assert that the habitations form a vital part of the tales within that world. Because they assume a complex arrangement complete with social, familial, artistic, and political relations, cities and strongholds often define their inhabitants as crafting boundaries between themselves and the outside, the visitor, and the unknown. These essays reveal that all cities and strongholds of the legendarium function as makers of meaning, containers of relations, outposts of history, and evocations of the Past. Cami D. Agan is a Distinguished University Professor of English at Oklahoma Christian University, where she teaches British literature, including a Studies in Tolkien course. Her scholarly work focuses on First Age materials in the legendarium, with particular interest in landscape and cultural geography.