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~ LORD OF THE RINGS: SUMMARY & BACKGROUND ~

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.


~FACTS~

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


~BACKGROUND ON LORD OF THE RINGS~

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".

 

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~SUMMARY OF THE STORY~

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

 

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~SOURCES & LINKS~

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


~CONTACT & COMMENTS~

Comments or requests? Email redbookofwestmarch@yahoo.com

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This page was last updated on Friday, 10-Jan-2003 2:36