The Fiction of Literature: Folk Tales, Fan Fiction, and Oral Tradition in the Internet Age In 1951, JRR Tolkien wrote a letter to his publisher, Milton Waldman, in an attempt to describe his vision for The Lord of the Rings. After outlining the scope of his many interconnected plots, Tolkien self-consciously articulated his hopes for his novel’s reception: "Do not laugh! But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story… The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd.” With the benefit of hindsight, we know now that his idea was not ‘absurd’. Tolkien almost presciently describes the place his novels have taken in Western culture. Tolkien’s works, in the words of Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, “ha[ve] become part of the mental furniture of the culture… [They are] a story that everybody kn[ows] about, even if they c[a]n’t remember ever reading or hearing any version of it.” This cultural awareness of a story is the direct result of the adaptations and additions Tolkien described. First with official illustrations, and later with an entire genre of Tolkien-inspired bands and musicians, and even a ballet, many other hands and minds have added to the majestic whole. In recent years, the Peter Jackson adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, a story
When most people think of J.R.R. Tolkien, they often think of his great imagination and his world of great dragons, warriors, orcs, hobbits, wizards, dwarves and elves. But most people forget about the deeper meaning behind his stories and his controversy towards society. Tolkien was a British, fantasy, writer during the mid-1900s. Through his love of languages, religion, and country, J.R.R Tolkien’s works of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are controversial but masterpieces because Tolkien represents “good” as a fuller, more imaginative reality than evil.
Thesis: John Ronald Reule Tolkien’s life experiences influenced his writing, beginning as a student, then a soldier, lexigrapher, professor, and then a writer to his own children; Tolkien’s life created the place known to most as Middle-Earth.
Thesis: In The Hobbit, Tolkien wants to show the reader that anyone, from any background can step up to a challenge, and be extraordinary rather than ordinary.
The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is a book widely known for its rich language, detailed imagery, and profound story that expands over three volumes and six books. The book is scattered with deep characters ranging in back stories and eventual character development. Motifs, key parts throughout the story, include lightness and darkness, eyes, jewelry, and sword. JRR Tolkien even creates his own language for the solemn race of elves in the lengthy three volume novel. A part of this length may be attributed to the unusual placement of many full-form songs and poems within the book, as a break between the usual story. These poems and songs have ranges of playfulness and thoughtfulness. With uses of made up Hobbit words and beautiful
Tolkien, let the story unfold: Unfettered by the chains of innovation and not blinded by its obscuration of reality, the story itself, had the characters tackle the battles, the triumphs, and the disappointments of the actual good and spiritual humans. That is the thing that great narratives do. The reader is especially attracted to the story in light of the fact that the reader gets the chance to know and admire the real, not cardboard, characters, and the characters are genuine in the light of the fact that they have souls, displaying fundamental goodness in the midst of failings and ready to settle on choices in spite of knowing that choices are however a piece of a bigger story. The reader partakes in a mythic universe of Middle-earth and experiences there—without allegory or specific
I have always loved to read. I love to escape from the drama and stress of real life by opening a book and getting sucked into a world drastically different from my own and stepping into a character’s shoes. This love made me want to create these stories on my own; I want to take my own ideas and create a world as vivid as the ones in my favorite books. My love for unreal worlds pulled me to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He spent years weaving together different myths, languages, and traditions of all of the different races of people and creatures in his stories, and I wanted to be able to create a lore like that in my own books. Tolkien was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, and he almost
J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic novel The Lord of the Rings showcases his affinity for what is small and how its measure contradicts its significance. Tolkien crams undetected, potent potential into unlikely vessels—vessels that seemingly lack the capacity. The reader sees this in Tolkien’s protagonist and antagonist, the hobbit and ring respectively. The measure of each conflicts with its significance. With a closer look, the reader also sees this in Tolkien’s word choice. In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien claims “How powerful, how stimulating to the very faculty that produced it, was the invention of the adjective: no spell or incantation in Faerie is more potent.” Throughout The Lord of
Tolkien was one of the most life changing events Lewis experienced because Tolkien opened Lewis’s eyes to a whole new world. Growing up, Lewis and Tolkien were exposed to some of the same authors and stories, giving them both a similar appreciation for literature. Tolkien expressed himself in a very creative and imaginative way, but he struggled with his writing being classified as children’s literature and had very little confidence when it came to publishing and sharing his works, whereas Lewis wrote very intellectually and philosophically and wasn’t afraid to get his works out into the public. A major conflict Lewis faced when it came to writing was not being able to balance both intellectual imaginative thought. He felt as though he needed to write to educate, but couldn’t do so while incorporating mythical elements, because he believed that you can’t teach important things to people in an entertaining way.
In the lecture Tolkien tells the readers that the man has the power to create stories in order to describe the events of what people are going through. They can express these stories as “satire, adventure, morality, and fantasy” and “causes it to take living form and colour before the eyes.” This makes the readers understand that the fairy stories are created with the intentions to relate to existing events happening, but can be seen in different ways and told by different personifications.
When J.R.R tolkien set his himself down to write the hobbit. He was attempting to create a fantasy that addressed the fundamental needs as he saw them of humanity. He wrote about these needs and his purpose in an essay called “J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories” However before I attempt to indulge into Tolkien's work and the underlying factors that influenced him. We must understand that within in his essay addressing fairy tales Tolkien defines fairy stories as “A tale about fairies, or generally a fairy legend; with developed senses,” I will not go into depth on this definition as i feel it is not very important in the grand scheme of things, however i do feel it is important to understand what i will
The Lord of The Rings, a widely read trilogy of books adapted for the screen in a trilogy of popular movies, takes place in the Land of Middle Earth. Some fans of the series do not realize that Middle Earth was no abstract concept in the mind of its creator, J. R. R. Tolkien. On the contrary, he developed an intricate language, mythology, and history for his country. After his death, his son Christopher helped gather and publish some of these works for the enjoyment of people around the world. A detailed history of Middle Earth became available four years after the death of Tolkien, called The Silmarillion.
To start off, are the many basic facts of tolkien's life. Although there are no exact meanings to how these facts affected his writing we can only assume
J.R.R Tolkien was an english writer, poet, philologist, and a university professor. He wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He once said “ It’s a dangerous business going out your front door.” Tolkien is both right and wrong. When leaving the home safety, adventure, and health are all put on the line.
There are certain books that have the ability to shift the reader’s perception of the world permanently. These are the classics: Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, the list goes on. Each of these books carries qualities that have withstood the test of time, that resonate with the readers even today. One of book that has not yet received its status as a classic is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. However, its powerful messages, deep meaning, and appeal to a wide audience make it a book that every student in the Honors Program should read.
Similarly, Lewis’ colleague at Oxford, J.R.R. Tolkien also defended Fantasy, or as he called it, “fairy-stories.” Tolkien was known for his fantastic works that included The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and an assortment of companion books to the series. He was also well known for his criticism of Beowulf, “The Monsters and the Critics.” His Fantasy series have had broad implications on the fantasy genre as a whole since publication, influencing the current generation of writers with the firm grasp of history