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LORD OF THE RINGS: SUMMARY & BACKGROUND ~
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This page
is concerned with J.R.R. Tolkien's bestseller, "The Lord
of the Rings".
It provides a summary of LOTR and backgrounds.
Lord of
the Rings was published in 3 parts:
- Fellowship of the Ring (1954),
- The Two Towers (1954) and
- Return of the King (1955)
It tells the
story of the hobbit Frodo Baggins, on a quest to destroy the One
Ring.
NAME:
The Lord of the Rings
AUTHOR:
J.R.R. Tolkien
NUMBER
OF BOOKS:
6, published
in 3 parts: "Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two
Towers" and "Return of the King".
FIRST
PUBLISHED:
29-07-1954 (Fellowship of the Ring), 11-11-1954 (The Two Towers)
and 20-10-1955 (Return of the King).
PUBLISHER:
George Allen & Unwin Publishers
WORDS:
476,971 excl. title and table of contents
ISBN:
0-261-10320-2
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~BACKGROUND
ON LORD OF THE RINGS~
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A sequel to "the Hobbit" ?
After "The
Hobbit" was published, readers send letters to the publisher
asking "for more stories concerning hobbits". So, Stanley
Unwin asked J.R.R. Tolkien to finish new material on hobbits.
In first instance, Tolkien tried to put his "Legendarium"
into publishable form. This manuscript contained the stories of
the first Era, which Tolkien had been writing since 1916, especially
his favourite story of Beren and Luthien. Tolkien called this
collection of stories the "Quenta Silmarillion"
since then. Unfortunately, after reviewing the manuscript, the
publisher had to tell Tolkien that this work was not commercially
publishable (yet). However,
he asked Tolkien to write a sequel to the Hobbit.
The creation of a masterpiece.
Actually,
Tolkien had been working on this subject in 1936, even before
the Hobbit was published. The story soon developed into something
far more complex than the children's story "the Hobbit"
was. Although not published, he used the stories of the "Quenta
Silmarillion" to lay the foundation of the world in which
the story was set.
The composition of "The Lord of the Rings" took place
in intervals from 1936 to 1949. During the process of writing,
Tolkien sent parts of the story to his son Christopher (now the
executer of the Tolkien Estate), who was serving in WW2.
When
the story had finally been finished, Tolkien had to type it himself
on an oldfashioned typewriter, because he couldn't afford a professional
typist. When the manuscript was complete, he offered it to the
publisher. Again, the publisher's son, Rayner Unwin, played a
role in accepting the story for publication. However, Stanley
Unwin thought the story was too large to publish in one volume.
Therefore, the story was first published as a trilogy. The publisher
had greatly underestimated the commercial success of the Lord
of the Rings.
Criticism and success ...
After its
publication, it received both positive and negative criticism.
One of Tolkien's best friends, writer C.S. Lewis, was impressed
by the result of Tolkiens work. Despite the criticism and the
publicity the book received after its publication, it wasn't until
an illegal paperback copy (ie without paying royalties) was launched
in the USA in 1965 that it became immensely popular. Because of
the exposure it got and its affordability, it was a major bestseller
in the USA and the rest of the world. In the late 1960's, it became
the book for the hippie-generation, a symbol of escaping
reality.
Is there a deeper meaning to the
story ?
A lot has
been speculated on Tolkiens motives writing the story. To his
own account, Tolkiens motive was "the desire of a story-teller
to tell a really long story that would hold the attention of its
readers, amuse them, delight them and sometimes move them".
The enormous appraise the Lord of the Rings has received since
then has proven that John Ronald Tolkien succeeded his mission.
The Lord of
the Rings has in various polls been chosen to be "Book of
the Century".
<<
back to -=[RedBookofWestmarch]=- home
Click the
links to view an extensive summary of one of the three books of
the trilogy.
**-spoiler
alert-**
Do
not use these links if you plan to read Lord of the Rings
|
 Summary
of "Fellowship of the Ring": books 1 & 2
Summary of "The Two Towers": books 3 & 4
Summary of "Return of the King": books 5 &
6
<<
back to -=[RedBookofWestmarch]=- home
RELATED
LINKS:
-=[PalmTolkien]=-
LOTR pictures : download pics from LOTR
-=[RBoW]=-
The Hobbit : summary of the Hobbit
-=[RBoW]=-
The Silmarillion : summary of the Silmarillion
-=[RBoW]=-
Bilbiography : a list of Tolkien's books
-=[RedBookofWestmarch]=-
home : Tolkien
Resource Center
- Humphrey
Carpenter: J.R.R. Tolkien, A Biography. London: George Allen
& Unwin, 1977. ISBN 0-04-928037-6
- David
Doughan: Who was Tolkien?
- J.R.R.
Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings. London: HarperCollins Publishers,
1994. ISBN0-261-10320-2
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This
page was last updated on Friday, 10-Jan-2003 2:36
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