This episode is sponsored by the Manhattan Rare Book Company.
In 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien was 62 years old,
and had just spent the last 16 years working industriously on a book.
It was now time to release it into the world,
and he was very nervous.
And he should have been,
because no one had seen anything quite like "The Lord of the Rings" before.
It was a huge risk for the publishers
who were convinced that it wouldn't sell many copies.
Who was the audience for this strange book
filled with unfamiliar and unpronouncable names of people and places?
Was it a children's book like "The Hobbit"?
It certainly had wizards and strange creatures,
and it was also an epic adventure of some kind.
It was also very, very, long.
Three volumes in fact,
and several appendices.
But no, it was neither a children's book or an adult novel.
Tolkien wrote to his publisher at the time:
"My work has escaped from my control and I have produced a monster,
"an immensely long, complex,
"rather bitter, and rather terrifying romance,
"quite unfit for children (if fit for anybody)..."
"I now wonder whether many beyond my friends [...],
"would read anything so long."
"We can only imagine what was at stake for Tolkien.
If the first volume wasn't a success,
what would happen to the other two volumes
which he had spent the best part of 16 years writing?
In the early 1930s, when Tolkien was a professor of anglo-saxon at Oxford,
he was grading papers when he noticed
that one of the candidates had left a blank sheet of paper.
"Nothing to read. So I scribbled on it I can't think why:
"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit"
And so, the Hobbits were born.
The Hobbit can broadly be considered a prequel to The Lord of the Rings.
It introduces Tolkien's world of Middle Earth.
The world of Hobbits, wizards, dwarves, and elves.
But it is a much different book,
with a different intended audience.
Upon publication, Tolkien''s friend C.S. Lewis
compared "The Hobbit" to such classics
as "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wind in the Willows",
and like those works it has often been considered
a children's fantasy book
written primarily for children or adolescents,
but enjoyed by adults as well.
"The Hobbit" was a huge success
and only a few weeks after its publication,
Tolkien met with his publisher Stanley Unwin,
to discuss a sequel.
The writer expressed his desire to publish
a long, detailed, mythological work
about Middle Earth, called the Silmarillion.
But Unwin insisted that what the public really wanted,
was more stories about the Hobbits.
He wanted The Hobbit 2.
Tolkien and Unwin had variations of this debate
for the entire 16 years Tolkien was working on his next book.
Ultimately the Lord of the Rings
succeeded in developing Tolkien's Middle Earth,
without losing the narrative appeal of "The Hobbit".
The result was not so much a sequel but a much more complex, adult work.
In the process Tolkien had invented a whole new genre - the fantasy novel.
"I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size).
I like gardens, trees and unmechanised farmlands,
"I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food."
"- J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien in his later years professed to love the simple life,
much like his beloved Hobbits in the Shire.
This desire for peace, security, and companionship, however
was likely the result of his upbringing and young adulthood,
which was anything but peaceful and secure.
This quintessentially English Professor
was born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in Bloemfontein,
in what is now South Africa, in 1892.
In 1895 Tolkien, his mother, and his infant brother, Hillary,
went to England for a visit to his mother's family,
who like her were British.
But soon after their arrival, his father died in Bloemfontein,
of rheumatic fever,
leaving the family with very little inheritance.
The family stayed in Britain, where she had the support of her family,
and moved to the small village of Sarehole
just outside the industrial city of Birmingham.
Although they didn't have much money,
Tolkien became captivated with his environment.
He would later say:
"It was a kind of lost paradise.
"There was an old mill that really did grind corn with two millers,
"a great big pond with swans on it,
"a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers,
"a few old-fashioned village houses
"and, further away, a stream with another mill..."
The village scenery would Inspire the Shire.
But it was just outside the major industrial city of Birmingham
which was expanding rapidly
and in the process absorbing the surrounding villages.
"I was brought up in considerable poverty,
"but I was happy running about in that country.
"I took the idea of the Hobbits from the village people and children...
"The Hobbits are just what I should like to have been but never was...
"an entirely unmilitary people
"who always came up to scratch in a clinch...
"Behind all thi Hobbit stuff lay a sense of insecurity.
"I always knew it would go - and it did."
The theme of the destruction of idilic countryside
would fill his literature.
Tolkien's mother Mabel was the primary influence on his early life.
In 1900 when Tolkien was 8,
Mabel converted to Catholicism.
Her family, who were Methodist, disapproved.
Her father disowned her,
and her brother-in-law, who had been assisting her financially,
withdrew his support.
It was a spectacular fall from grace,
a theme we often find in Tolkien's books.
She homeschooled him until the age of eight,
encouraging him to read widely,
and introducing him to the works of George McDonald and Andrew Lang,
early developers of fantasy literature.
In 1904 however, when a Tolkien was 12,
Mabel died of diabetes,
hastened, Tolkien later believed,
by persecution for her faith,
leaving her two sons orphaned with bleak prospects.
He took refuge in language, learning Chaucer's Middle English,
the old norse of the Viking sagas,
the old English of Beowulf,
and even reviving long dead languages
and inventing languages of his own.
"I first began seriously inventing languages...
"about when I was 13 or 14, and I've never stopped really."
School was a haven for Tolkien.
He first attended King Edward's School in Birmingham,
and it was here crucially, that he formed his first literary group
the "Tea club and Barovian Society",
four friends who played rugby together,
and talked about Norse mythology,
while drinking tea and inventing languages.
Groups like this were important to Tolkien
a fatherless boy, and now an orphan.
And it was the first of many literary groups
that Tolkien would form - a fellowship of sorts.
Even this early on, he was obsessed with myths, legends, and folklore,
and concerned with creating a British mythology.
He won a scholarship to Exeter college, Oxford,
and unsurprisingly he showed a special aptitude for languages,
Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Gothic in particular.
Graduating in 1915 with a degree in English language and literature,
with First Class honours.
And it is these studies that will lead
to the creation of a series of languages in Lord of the Rings
which are among the most fully developed fictional languages in literature.
But 1915 could only mean one thing...war.
And almost immediately after graduation
he was commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers.
"The Lord of the Rings" is at its most basic level, a hero's quest.
But the hero in this case is not someone strong and fierce
like Odysseus, Beowulf, or Aeneas,
but the Hobbit Frodo Baggins,
a diminutive creature who, at his core, like other Hobbits,
wishes to be left alone to enjoy peace, good food and fellowship,
in his homeland the Shire.
Frodo has no special abilities,
and is extraordinary, only in his courage, loyalty, and incorruptibility.
And the quest of Frodo and his companions is most unusual.
Instead of trying to gain power,
they are dedicated to the destruction of the one thing, a magical ring,
that would give them great power.
In fact, the quest succeeds,
because the idea that someone would forego power
and intentionally destroy the most coveted possession in their world,
is a thought that is impossible for their enemy Sauron to anticipate,
or even to contemplate.
Tolkien was an academic deeply steeped in the tradition of the Epic,
but he also knew how to subvert those traditions,
to create a new kind of Epic,
that address the fears and concerns of his generation
- the generation of World War One.
War of one kind or another permeates "The Lord of the Rings",
through death and loss, through notions of power,
through camaraderie in deathly times,
and eventually through disappointment.
Tolkien took part in the battle of the Somme,
one of the most horrific battles of the 20th century.
Over 3 million men fought in the battle,
which saw over a million killed or injured,
scarring the Earth in one of the most deadliest battles
in human history.
He saw many of his school friends die in the fighting,
and by 1918, he said that he had lost all but one of his closest friends.
In some sense he was lucky
to have contracted a severe case of trench fever
near the end of the battle of the Somme,
and sent back to England to recover.
While convalescing in army barracks,
with the war very much fresh in his mind,
Tolkien put to paper much of the story
that would later become "The Fall of Gondolin",
a story published after his death,
of a cataclysmic battle featuring orcs, dragons, and bullrogs,
and notably his first work to feature "Middle Earth".
"They walked slowly, stooping, keeping close in line,
following attentively every move that Gollum made.
"The fens grew more wet, opening into wide stagnant meres.
"among which it grew more and more difficult,
"to find the firmer places where feet could tread
"without sinking into gurgling mud...
"Wrenching his hands out of the bog,
"he sprang back with a cry.
" 'There are dead things, dead faces in the water', he said with horror.
" 'Dead faces!' "
Although Tolkien here is describing the outskirts of Mordor
in his fictional Middle Earth,
it is not hard to imagine this as a description of Tolkien's experience
during the battle of the Somme.
The I World War begins as a battle on horseback with cavalries,
but it is the beginning of mechanised warfare.
Characters in "The Lord of the Rings"
describe being watched by mysterious figures flying overhead,
and in 1914, airplanes on both sides were first used for reconnaissance,
flying deep behind enemy lines.
Over the course of the war,
aviation developed significantly into a major force,
and by the end of that war
it was obvious that airplanes were the weapon of the future.
"Then Frodo and Sam staring at the sky...
"saw it come: a small cloud flying from the accursed hills,
"a black shadow loosed from Mordor;
"a vast shape winged and ominous."
"It scudded across the moon,
"and with a deadly cry went westward,
"outrunning the wind in its fell speed."
He is at the Somme when tanks were first used,
and although Orcs make up the bulk of Sauron's Army
in "The Lord of the Rings",
one of his most powerful weapons were the tanks of Middle Earth
- the "Oliphaunts".
Newsreel: "A state of war once more exists
between Great Britain and Germany"
Tolkien began writing "The Lord of the Rings"
at the outbreak of the II World War, late 1937.
So the world was once again on the precipice of war.
Tolkien denied it was an allegory of any kind
in the forward to the book,
but also admitted that an author is influenced by his experiences.
The writing of the novel began during the rise of Hitler,
and continued during the darkest days of World War II,
when all hopes of a peaceful New World Order had vanished,
especially for someone living in England
and in constant fear of air raids and Nazi victory.
"If you really come down to any 'large' story
"that interests people - that can hold their attention for a considerable time
"stories - human stories - are practically always about one thing: death."
The I World War almost certainly had more influence on Tolkien,
but "The Lord of the Rings" can also be considered part
of post-World War II literature,
that includes "The Lord of the Flies", "1984", and "Animal Farm",
books that were marked by their author's wartime experiences,
and deal with the question of good and evil.
"Sauron was become now a sorcerer of dreadful power,
"master of shadows and of phantoms,
"foul in wisdom, cruel in strength,
"misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled."
In "The Lord of the Rings"
there is the rise of an evil force Sauron,
who is not unlike Hitler
in his desire for power and world domination.
Just like countries during the war,
some societies in the book,
whether out of self-interest or fear, side with Sauron,
adding to the hopelessness of the good-hearted.
The fate of the world is at stake in both worlds,
and the outcome hinges on a race
to prevent ultimate power getting in the wrong hands.
Crucially, the ring is not just about power,
it is about what we do with power
and how it can corrupt us,
and how that corruption can be addictive
leading to the eventual loss of your Humanity,
as the evil within you is exposed,
absorbing all morals.
The very things that were being discussed
at the outbreak, during, and at the conclusion of World War II. 14:56 The horrific evils of the 20th century were just around the corner. 15:05 Despite the horrors Tolkien witness firsthand, the Lord of the Rings is not as you might expect explicitly anti-war. 15:13 Tolkien may describe battles, almost poetically, and place an emphasis on heroism in combat, but for a man 15:19 who spent his life studying traditional myths and legends, often involving War, he understood 15:24 that nobility often means that we need to take up arms for a "just" cause. The Lord of the Rings is 15:31 in fact, a book about the "unfortunate necessity" of War - when it is a just war - against evil. 15:38 But crucially, Tolkien also understood that there was good and evil on BOTH sides of War, an unpopular 15:45 sentiment in a time when those boundaries were being blurred beyond recognition. He was outspoken against bombing campaigns 15:52 on German cities, and even used a quote from The Lord of the Rings, in a letter to his son about the campaigns: 16:04 He knew, as the characters of the fellowship do, that just because one fights for good, 16:10 it doesn't make one immune to the power of evil - to the power of the Ring. The Fellowship 16:15 must resist the temptation of the ring, as we must resist using evil to fight evil. Tolkien understood 16:24 that bravery is a complex notion, for while battles swarm around him it is our little hobbit Frodo who 16:30 succeeds on his journey by avoiding War. But even he is not immune to War's effects and Trauma. 16:36 When the war is over and he is returning to the Shire, Frodo confesses to Gandalf, in one of 16:41 the most poignant passages in the book, that he is in pain, as so many shellshocked men of the trenches were. 17:16 After World War I, and certainly during World War II, artists and writers had to wrestle with a new reality: 17:23 "How to present life in the aftermath of such Horrors?", "Were the old stories of heroism even relevant anymore?" 17:31 Tolkien, through his fictional world, has reinvented the heroic epic for our times. Giving us a fresh and more ambiguous perspective 17:40 on Modern Warfare, through the realm of fantasy. You may get all the heroics, but there are also points when his greatest heroes are full of fear. 17:53 Reducing the Lord of the Rings to a heroic Quest or a war narrative, is convenient, and an an aid to our understanding, but ultimately 18:01 does disservice to the book. It more likely just exposes our difficulties in identifying exactly what this strange work is. 18:21 The action of the book takes place over a relatively short period of time, but throughout the Lord of the Rings, we hear tales and legends about the past, often stretching back thousands of 18:32 years. Tolkien hasn't just written a story, but has given us the impression that we are witnessing a 18:37 series of events, inside an entire history that exists outside of the books. Although he is just 18:44 one writer, he has created an entire mythology comparable to traditional cultural mythologies. 19:03 Documenting the history of Middle Earth, was a lifelong project of Tolkien's. In his letters, notes, and unpublished works 19:10 he filled in details of this mythology, complete with elaborate geneologies, and geographical details. 19:17 Tolkien had the genius to make it sound like it was a "real history" he was exploring, as if 19:23 he was just "researching" it and reporting it to us. There had been fantasy books before Tolkien, 19:29 but never had there been such successful "World building", with such a serious tone and seismic events 19:52 From 1924 to 1945, Tolkien was the professor of anglo-saxon at Oxford, and even after the huge success of The Hobbit