THE PROFESSOR'S BOOKSHELF #7: THE DRAGON OUROBOROS

'The Dragon Ouroboros' was first published in 1933 under the title 'The Worm Ouroboros'. Professor J.R.R. Tolkien read the story, and praised it in print, writing in a letter that he enjoyed Eddison's books 'for their sheer literary merit'. Eddison, he stated, was 'the greatest and most convincing writer of "invented worlds"' he had ever read. Tolkien's close friend and confidante C.S. Lewis was also an admirer, opining that 'no writer can be said to remind us of Eddison'. This heroic high fantasy novel is often compared with Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings', which was written many years later. Readers will swiftly become accustomed to Eddison's archaic language and find themselves swept away by the imagery, which is frequently beautiful. It is easy to see why Tolkien was impressed with Eddison's unusual, sprawling and imaginative work, a literary predecessor to The Lord of the Rings.