LORD
OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. TOLKIEN |
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: 29th of July 1954 (Fellowship of the Ring, 3,000 copies), 11th of
November 1954 (The Two Towers, 3,250 copies) and the 20th of October
1955 (Return of the King, 7,000 copies).
PUBLISHER: George Allen & Unwin Publishers
WORDS: 476,971 excl. title and table of contents
ESTIMATED AMOUNT
OF COPIES SOLD: approx.
60 - 75,000,000
NUMBER OF TRANSLATIONS: 40
ISBN: 0-261-10320-2 (one
volume edition)
A
sequel to "the Hobbit" ?
After "The
Hobbit" had been published, readers sent 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 book since 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. Actually, Tolkien started to write
a story without first having created a plot. This caused him to
get stuck several times, which meant writing (and typing) all over
again. 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 first print of "Fellowship
of the Ring" ran 3,000 copies. The publisher had greatly underestimated
the commercial success of the Lord of the Rings.
1954:
Criticism and success ...
After its publication,
LOTR 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 (100,000 paperback copies sold).
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 ?
There have been
many speculations on Tolkiens motive to write 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 Reuel Tolkien succeeded his mission.
Milwaukee's
university, Marquette,
possesses the original manuscripts for both The Hobbit and The Lord
of the Rings. The universities' director of libraries, William B.
Ready, purchased the manuscripts from Tolkien in 1956. The £1500
paid for the manuscripts was undoubtedly one of the best business
deals of the century.
The Lord of
the Rings has in various polls been chosen to be "Book of the
20th Century".
LOTR trilogy
first editions (1954-55)
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
