ABSTRACT
The dissolution of the USSR and the birth of Soviet democracy via a novel about furry-footed halflings. It is a funny example, bathetic perhaps. But Maria Kamenkovich's reading of Tolkien is the literature academic's dream. The idea that national and international identities are constructed presents a challenge perhaps to those who wish to uphold Europe's value in the current moment. Whether an individual has encountered these representations directly is of less import than the cumulative effect of these texts in contributing to an overall sense of Luton as a place – to, ultimately, creating Luton through the cultural imaginary. This emptiness extends to the representation of Luton itself, which despite gracing the back cover of the novel exists as intangibly as the events which take place within it. Acknowledging the possibility of a cultural imaginary surrounding Luton contributing to a Brexit protest vote does not detract from the fact that there was undoubtedly a response to immigration in the vote.
