On today's 19th episode, I speak with Dr. Holly Ordway about her new  book, "Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle earth Beyond the Middle Ages"  and the diverse array of literary influences which helped fertilize  Tolkien's rich and deep imagination, and which ultimately had an impact  on the writing of his Middle earth legendarium. Not all the influences  had an equal impact, and none of them invite "this equals that"  correspondences between the works which influenced Tolkien and his legendarium. Nevertheless, Tolkien was influenced by modern literature  and did read beyond the Middle Ages, and these modern authors' works did  exert an influence upon the creation of his hobbits, geography of  Middle earth, and major characters such as Galadriel and Eowyn, just to  name a few examples. Tolkien was NOT just a Medievalist, and he was not  out of touch with modernity. Follow Holly at the links below, where you  can also buy her new book:   

http://www.hollyordway.com/   

https://www.wordonfire.org/author/dr-holly-ordway/   

https://store.wordonfire.org/collections/books/products/tmr