The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

The demands made on the writer's powers in an epic as long as "The Lord of the Rings" are enormous...more

The demands made on the writer's powers in an epic as long as "The Lord of the Rings" are enormous and increase as the tale proceeds-the battles have to get more spectacular, the situations more critical, the adventures more thrilling-but I can only say that Mr. Tolkien has proved equal to them. --W. H. Auden This book merits a much longer review than I will give it. But, in the presence of two masters, Auden and Tolkien, I am humbled. I will only take occasion to mention a couple of brief highlights of the most masterfully told hero-quest I've yet read. I will try to limit my attention to where others have not shined so bright a light just yet. First, a striking feature of the ring, which makes it much more compelling as a "numinous object" (Auden) than, say, a scepter or sword would be, is its circular shape. In quest tales of tradition (e.g. Arthurian legends), the object or device the hero must conquer or obtain is usually a weapon of some kind, a sword or a spear. In other legends magic rings were used, but Tolkien's unique re-imagination of the ring has to do with its power to turn whoever uses it, without exception, to evil. The ring's circularity shows the constant self-reference of evil, which is the source of its power in Middle Earth as well as the cause of its undoing. The great "I," purporting to see all, sees only itself, and Sauron's downfall is directly tied to the fact that the hobbits are so obviously unlike him that he cannot begin to formulate the kind of defense he would need to stop them. Second, there is the poetry, the song-craft, of the book. Tolkien, writing as a contemporary of T.S. Eliot, Pound, and Auden himself, nevertheless writes poetry of a completely different soil than theirs. Tolkien's poems, scattered as parts of the story, throughout the book, are usually narrative, playfully metrical, and recited rather than read. Pound originally tried to capture the ancient spirit of medieval poetry, but his imagination was naturally tilted in a different direction. His "classicism" most readily expressed itself through an expansion of poetics, drawing from the tradition and moving forward. Tolkien does another thing altogether. Returning, as Pound did, to the roots, Tolkien begins and moves in another direction, imagining how poetry would be if it never stopped being publicly recited! So whereas Pound imagines new possibilities for poetry from the tradition all the way to him, and finds new places where it can go, Tolkien imagines where it could have gone. Tolkien is thus an example of what Milan Kundera discusses when he talks about unmined possibilities: "yes, it's possible to imagine a whole other history of the novel." Time will tell whether more poets move towards Tolkien's particular poetics to draw from it, but one place it is sure not to lead is back through the Rennaisance to modernism. What Tolkien did requires a certain boldness and casting-off of convention; to do it againwould require a broguish genius, a particular kind of eccentric, someone like... ...Tolkien! Yet this difference is exactly what I have determined to be the reason for his startling popularity among those who do not write or aspire to, and his dismissal by those trying to eek out a place in the literary establishment. It has been my prediction that the only place for art to go from the current madness will be to something like a return to the freedoms of medieval art. One already sees hints of it in what is called "magical realism" in the novels that come from the tropics of the earth (e.g. Salman Rushdie, Fuentes, Garcia-Marquez). Yet these writers, bound by the realism that reaches through the 19th century, still do not compare to the boldness of Tolkien's achievement, which, unfortunately, has spun a legion of sad imitators, rather than the succession of innovations that could fully mine the possibilities he opened. Will the future produce not one but two great literary traditions?    hide

The first time I read this book was 15 years ago, and since I've read it once every couple of...more

The first time I read this book was 15 years ago, and since I've read it once every couple of years. It is a book that almost singlehandedly brought the genre of fantasy to the attention of people in a way no book has before or since. Unlike most fantasy books, this was a life's work for a man immensely educated and well read - in contrast to much of the fantasy genre where i feel producing books quickly to make money seems more important than the actual content. As he felt the english lacked a mythological tradition in the way of many old civilisations, he created one that was rich and diverse in detail, and gripping in its tales of tragedy and hope. The Lord of the Rings is not an easy read. It's nearly a thousand pages, and is far easier to understand and experience if you also read the Silmarillion - because the Silmarillion sets the scene and mythological background to how this saga plays out. At the same time, it can be appreciated as a standalone saga, because Tolkien sets the scene very well with enough detail to appreciate what is going on while still keeping the story flowing. To sum it up - this is a book (or six, really) without parallel. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but I'd recommend anyone who values attention to detail, gripping storytelling and an epic tale.   hide

This has to be one of the greatest contributions to English literature in a long, long time. It is...more

This has to be one of the greatest contributions to English literature in a long, long time. It is a twentieth century classic. Tolkien has managed to create an entirely real, tangible, and absolutely enchanting world through sheer characterization, detail, and passion for a people and a place, even if he created them. The plot itself is entirely epic and exciting, perfect for the people that like action galore. But it also has everything else: great characters, humor, romance, charm. It's very real, even if they are hobbits and elves and whatnot. They'r real people, and Tolkien has made sure of that. The story is also timeless in that this is simply a great battle between good and evil. I know it's a plot that has been done countless times, but it's still a great plot and I dare say Tolkien was one of the first. Also of note are the wonderful appendixes going, adding more depth to the incredible world of Middle-Earth. Excellent writing and wild adventure. What more could you want out of a great book?   hide

I made the mistake when I was 11 of picking up the trilogy, all packed into one book, a little...more

I made the mistake when I was 11 of picking up the trilogy, all packed into one book, a little larger than the bible. Tehn my second mistake was to open that book. IT was the hardest struggle of my life and I couldn't just drop the book because I don't know how to stop reading a book I've started unless it's just killing me slowly. The plot of course is rich but the description is even richer. So detailed is Tolkien that even the underside of a leaf does not go unnoticed in this man's imagination and a detailed explantion of how many veins there are needs to be typed out before the story can move forward, lest the reader's imagination leave up so crucial a detail. Somehow I made it out of that book alive. The plot wasexcellent of course but the difference between Lord of teh Rings and The Hobbit is kind of overwhelming. Maybe my version had been cut down but there were two different Tolkiens writing the two different books. One was obsessive-compulsive Tolkien. He's not the cool one.   hide

THE seminal work of fantasy fiction; the daddy of them all, without which there simply wouldn't be...more

THE seminal work of fantasy fiction; the daddy of them all, without which there simply wouldn't be any others. Tolkiens enduring masterpiece not only creates a new world, but entire cultures and mythologies within that world, complete with whole species, races, languages, mannerisms, religions, geneologies - the whole shooting gallery. And on top of all this there happens to be a pretty cracking story as well, replete with heroes and villians, a quest, true love, nobility and savagery, pain and loss, and ultimately - well, read it and find out for yourself how it ends. Unique and unrivalled, one the true must-reads of modern fiction.   hide