Tolkien Scholar Likes Latest Film, but Would Rather Read the Book

Newswise — "Tolkien thought the books couldn't and shouldn't be filmed—he believed that the imagination was infinitely richer than the camera," says Michael Stanton, devoted scholar of science fiction and fantasy literature and author of "Hobbits, Elves and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings.'"

Stanton prizes Tolkien's "richness and exuberance of language" and shares the author's dubious opinion of cinematic adaptations. But eventually, Peter Jackson's films won Stanton over. "There were moments in the movie when the camera showed exactly what I had always seen in my mind's eye when reading the books," he notes of the final "Rings" installment, "Return of the King."

A professor emeritus of English at the University of Vermont (UVM), Stanton studied and taught Tolkien's trilogy to some 1,800 students for nearly 30 years before his recent retirement. His book, "Hobbits, Elves and Wizards," debuted in Nov. 2001, one month before the first "Lord of the Rings" film. That fortunate timing launched Stanton's critical companion into thousands of bookstores, and made him a much in demand guest in media ranging from MSNBC to Baltimore's occult-oriented Hieronimus radio.

"All in all, it's been a wonderful 15 minutes," Stanton says. Although the film trilogy is complete, for Stanton the heart of Mordor beats eternally on the page.