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Event / announcement: US publication: 3 November 2026
D. J. Taylor’s The King Under the Mountain: In Search of J. R. R. Tolkien has reached its American publication date. The publisher lists the 320-page Pegasus Books edition for 3 November 2026.
Taylor approaches Tolkien through biography, criticism and the public image that has formed around the author. The publisher’s description places particular emphasis on his historical surroundings and the relationship between the writer and the myths associated with him.
Biography and literary criticism pull in related but different directions. One reconstructs a life from documents; the other asks how writing works and what it means. Taylor’s announced combination makes the relationship between the two part of the book’s appeal.
For a writer whose name has become attached to such a large cultural world, returning to the scale of a single life is a worthwhile change of perspective. The new volume promises that closer view. Its publication opens another chapter in the continuing effort to understand the person behind the familiar author portrait.
