The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, went on sale 75 years ago today. The first printing, by Allen & Unwin, was for 1,500 copies (which now fetch a
premium at auction); the first reviewer, the son of the publisher,
was paid a shilling. Through a contorted publishing history, exact or even approximate sales figures are unknown; "over a hundred million"
is often quoted.
[more inside]
posted by Wordshore
on Sep 21, 2012 -
108 comments
Emil Johansson is attempting to build a
Family Tree that holds all of the characters in Middle Earth. As of today, there are 646 entries.
posted by soelo
on Jan 21, 2012 -
31 comments
The Fantasy Novelist's Exam: "Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this "great, original fantasy" is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam. We think anybody considering writing a fantasy novel should be required to take this exam first. Answering "yes" to any one question results in failure and means that the prospective novel should be abandoned at once."
posted by Fizz
on Jan 10, 2012 -
306 comments
As the
trailer for Peter Jackson's film adaptation of
The Hobbit premieres online, it's worth remembering that this isn't the first take on the journey of one Bilbo Baggins.
There was the 1977 animated version as well.
Here's some screencaps and a
trailer. Of course, if that's not enough for you, you could just watch it on Youtube (
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6). And before it was a film, it was something called...
a book?
Here's pictures of the cover of this 'book' thing from all over the world.
posted by Effigy2000
on Dec 20, 2011 -
126 comments
Many ages ago, before some had yet to hear of The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings or the collectible LOTR glasses sold at Burger King, critics did their initial reviews. Here's the
original review by the New York Times of The Hobbit in 1938. Then came
The Fellowship of the Ring, followed by
The Two Towers, and of course
The Return of the King.
Here's a 1967 interview with Tolkien after the influence of his work was starting to be felt. One interesting detail noted is that Tolkien typed the entire 1200+ page manuscript of TLOTR with two fingers. Of course, not everyone viewed the books so favorably. The
BBC has detailed some initial criticism against the books, but this seems to have been the minority response within a generally broad and warm literary reception.
posted by SpacemanStix
on Dec 15, 2011 -
44 comments
The inmost circle is a geographically accurate map of Middle Earth according to Tolkien's design, and the journey of the Fellowship is plotted according to major destinations and places of action. -
JT Fridsma [more inside]
posted by Trurl
on May 10, 2011 -
26 comments
... history is written by the winners. That's the philosophy behind "The Last Ringbearer," a novel set during and after the end of the War of the Ring... and told from the point of view of the losers. ... In Yeskov's retelling, the wizard Gandalf is a war-monger intent on crushing the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor and its southern allies because science "destroys the harmony of the world and dries up the souls of men!"
posted by Joe Beese
on Feb 15, 2011 -
90 comments
Born Of Hope is a 71 minute fan-made prequel film available for online viewing. In the spirit of
The Hunt For Gollum (
previously), it fleshes out the Lord Of The Rings universe written about by J.R.R. Tolkien and depicted in the Peter Jackson films. The story here is that of the meeting of Aragorn's parents and his birth and early childhood, many decades before the events involving Frodo and the Fellowship.
posted by hippybear
on Apr 10, 2010 -
36 comments
Although it's commonplace nowadays to assume that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was the primary source of inspiration for Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax when they created the world's first tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, a careful examination of the game suggests otherwise... James Maliszewski on
The Books That Founded D&D. Some
disagreement.
posted by Artw
on Nov 24, 2009 -
109 comments
It’s only natural that if you wish to present yourself as a well-read person, a certain degree of complete bullshit is required. There’s no shame in lying about what you’ve read. There’s only shame in getting caught. Then you look like a doofus, and an illiterate one at that... How to lie about books.
posted by Artw
on May 28, 2009 -
73 comments
It's
official, Del Torro is on board for the new Hobbit move and it's...um..sequel.
Anyway, he seems to be adamant in keeping the as much as the original
creative team on board which is a encouraging sign, roll on 2010?
posted by Mintyblonde
on Apr 25, 2008 -
91 comments
Council of Elrond You have stumbled upon one of the largest resource sites on the web offering a variety of unique features based on the creative works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
posted by konolia
on Mar 29, 2007 -
11 comments
The Stupid Ring is 'Earth's largest Tolkien parody.' Given a taste of
The Lord of the Rings on
the big screen [warning: sound], some wacky Tolkien fans craved more. So they rewrote the entire book as a movie script. All sixty-plus chapters. Every scene, every song. And then some. Possibly while drunk.
posted by zennie
on Feb 24, 2007 -
14 comments
Attention Tolkien Fans: if
this obscure recording of JRR reading (and signing) The Lord of The Rings doesn't quench your lust for all things Middle Earth, then perhaps you should consider buying a home in
The Shire, a new real estate development in Bend Oregon
(which oddly seems to not feature Hobbit holes, but rather looks instead like Bree, the human village nearest the Shire).
posted by jonson
on Sep 17, 2006 -
26 comments
Did The Wizard of Oz inspire Lord of the Rings? "The first film version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz was released in the summer of 1939, less than a month before World War II officially began. Though started as early as 1937, The Lord of the Rings was largely composed during the war years, but not published until somewhat later. Therefore, it is by no means impossible that J.R.R. Tolkien saw the magnificent MGM movie before he wrote most of his magnum opus. Could Oz have influenced his tale somehow, consciously or unconsciously?"
posted by Joey Michaels
on Apr 7, 2005 -
35 comments
