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This episode is sponsored [br]by the Manhattan Rare Book Company.

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In 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien was 62 years old,

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and had just spent the last 16 years[br]working industriously on a book.

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It was now time[br]to release it into the world,

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and he was very nervous.

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And he should have been,

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because no one had seen anything[br]quite like "The Lord of the Rings" before.

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It was a huge risk for the publishers

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who were convinced [br]that it wouldn't sell many copies.

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Who was the audience for this strange book

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filled with unfamiliar and unpronounceable[br]names of people and places?

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Was it a children's book[br]like "The Hobbit"?

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It certainly had wizards[br]and strange creatures,

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and it was also an epic adventure[br]of some kind.

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It was also very, very, long.

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Three volumes in fact,

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and several appendices.

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But no, it was neither a children's book[br]or an adult novel.

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Tolkien wrote to his publisher[br]at the time:

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"My work has escaped from my control[br]and I have produced a monster,

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"an immensely long, complex,

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"rather bitter, and rather[br]terrifying romance,

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"quite unfit for children [br](if fit for anybody)..."

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"I now wonder whether[br]many beyond my friends [...],

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"would read anything so long."

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"We can only imagine [br]what was at stake for Tolkien.

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If the first volume wasn't a success,

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what would happen to the other two volumes

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which he had spent [br]the best part of 16 years writing?

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In the early 1930s, when Tolkien[br]was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford,

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he was grading papers when he noticed

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that one of the candidates[br]had left a blank sheet of paper.

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"Nothing to read. So, I scribbled on it[br]I can't think why:

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"In a hole in the ground[br]there lived a Hobbit"

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And so, the Hobbits were born.

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The Hobbit can broadly be considered[br]a prequel to The Lord of the Rings.

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It introduces Tolkien's world [br]of Middle Earth.

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The world of Hobbits, wizards, [br]dwarves, and elves.

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But it is a much different book,

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with a different intended audience.

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Upon publication, [br]Tolkien''s friend C.S. Lewis

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compared "The Hobbit" to such classics

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as "Alice in Wonderland" [br]and "The Wind in the Willows",

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and like those works[br]it has often been considered

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a children's fantasy book

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written primarily[br]for children or adolescents,

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but enjoyed by adults as well.

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"The Hobbit" was a huge success

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and only a few weeks [br]after its publication,

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Tolkien met [br]with his publisher Stanley Unwin,

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to discuss a sequel.

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The writer expressed his desire to publish

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a long, detailed, mythological work

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about Middle Earth, [br]called the Silmarillion.

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But Unwin insisted that[br]what the public really wanted,

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was more stories about the Hobbits.

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He wanted The Hobbit 2.

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Tolkien and Unwin had variations[br]of this debate

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for the entire 16 years Tolkien[br]was working on his next book.

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Ultimately the Lord of the Rings

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succeeded in developing[br]Tolkien's Middle Earth,

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without losing [br]the narrative appeal of "The Hobbit".

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The result was not so much a sequel [br]but a much more complex, adult work.

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In the process Tolkien had invented[br]a whole new genre - the fantasy novel.

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"I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size).

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I like gardens, trees[br]and unmechanized farmlands,

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"I smoke a pipe, [br]and like good plain food."

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"- J.R.R. Tolkien

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Tolkien in his later years professed[br]to love the simple life,

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much like his beloved[br]Hobbits in the Shire.

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This desire for peace, security, [br]and companionship, however

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was likely the result of his upbringing[br]and young adulthood,

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which was anything[br]but peaceful and secure.

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This quintessentially English Professor

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was born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien [br]in Bloemfontein,

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in what is now South Africa, in 1892.

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In 1895 Tolkien, his mother, [br]and his infant brother, Hillary,

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went to England for a visit[br]to his mother's family,

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who like her were British.

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But soon after their arrival, [br]his father died in Bloemfontein,

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of rheumatic fever,

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leaving the family [br]with very little inheritance.

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The family stayed in Britain, [br]where she had the support of her family,

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and moved to the small village of Sarehole

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just outside the industrial city[br]of Birmingham.

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Although they didn't have much money,

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Tolkien became captivated[br]with his environment.

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He would later say:

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"It was a kind of lost paradise.

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"There was an old mill that really[br]did grind corn with two millers,

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"a great big pond with swans on it,

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"a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers,

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"a few old-fashioned villages houses

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"and, further away,[br]a stream with another mill..."

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The village scenery[br]would Inspire the Shire.

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But it was just outside[br]the major industrial city of Birmingham

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which was expanding rapidly

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and in the process absorbing[br]the surrounding villages.

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"I was brought up in considerable poverty,

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"but I was happy running about[br]in that country.

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"I took the idea of the Hobbits[br]from the village people and children...

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"The Hobbits are just what I should like[br]to have been but never was...

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"an entirely unmilitary people

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"who always came up[br]to scratch in a clinch...

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"Behind all this Hobbit stuff[br]lay a sense of insecurity.

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"I always knew it would go - and it did."

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The theme of the destruction[br]of idyllic countryside

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would fill his literature.

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Tolkien's mother Mabel was the primary[br]influence on his early life.

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In 1900 when Tolkien was 8,

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Mabel converted to Catholicism.

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Her family, who were Methodist, [br]disapproved.

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Her father disowned her,

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and her brother-in-law,[br]who had been assisting her financially,

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withdrew his support.

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It was a spectacular fall from grace,

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a theme we often find in Tolkien's books.

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She homeschooled him[br]until the age of eight,

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encouraging him to read widely,

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and introducing him to the works[br]of George McDonald and Andrew Lang,

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early developers of fantasy literature.

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In 1904 however, when a Tolkien was 12,

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Mabel died of diabetes,

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hastened, Tolkien later believed,

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by persecution for her faith,

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leaving her two sons orphaned [br]with bleak prospects.

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He took refuge in language, [br]learning Chaucer's Middle English,

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the old Norse of the Viking sagas,

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the old English of Beowulf,

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and even reviving long dead languages

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and inventing languages of his own.

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"I first began seriously[br]inventing languages...

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"about when I was 13 or 14,[br]and I've never stopped really."

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School was a haven for Tolkien.

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He first attended [br]King Edward's School in Birmingham,

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and it was here crucially, that he formed[br]his first literary group

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the "Tea club and Burrovian Society",

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four friends who played rugby together,

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and talked about Norse mythology,

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while drinking tea[br]and inventing languages.

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Groups like this were important to Tolkien

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a fatherless boy, and now an orphan.

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And it was the first[br]of many literary groups

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that Tolkien would form[br]- a fellowship of sorts.

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Even this early on, he was obsessed[br]with myths, legends, and folklore,

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and concerned with creating [br]a British mythology.

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He won a scholarship[br]to Exeter college, Oxford,

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and unsurprisingly he showed[br]a special aptitude for languages,

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Old and Middle English, [br]Old Norse, and Gothic in particular.

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Graduating in 1915 with a degree[br]in English language and literature,

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with First Class honors.

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And it is these studies that will lead

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to the creation of a series[br]of languages in Lord of the Rings

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which are among the most fully developed[br]fictional languages in literature.

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But 1915 could only mean one thing...war.

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And almost immediately after graduation

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he was commissioned[br]into the Lancashire Fusiliers.

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"The Lord of the Rings" is[br]at its most basic level, a hero's quest.

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But the hero in this case[br]is not someone strong and fierce

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like Odysseus, Beowulf, or Aeneas,

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but the Hobbit Frodo Baggins,

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a diminutive creature who, at his core,[br]like other Hobbits,

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wishes to be left alone [br]to enjoy peace, good food and fellowship,

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in his homeland the Shire.

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Frodo has no special abilities,

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and is extraordinary, only in his courage,[br]loyalty, and incorruptibility.

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And the quest of Frodo and his companions[br]is most unusual.

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Instead of trying to gain power,

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they are dedicated to the destruction[br]of the one thing, a magical ring,

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that would give them great power.

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In fact, the quest succeeds,

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because the idea[br]that someone would forego power

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and intentionally destroy the most[br]coveted possession in their world,

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is a thought that is impossible[br]for their enemy Sauron to anticipate,

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or even to contemplate.

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Tolkien was an academic deeply steeped[br]in the tradition of the Epic,

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but he also knew [br]how to subvert those traditions,

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to create a new kind of Epic,

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that address the fears[br]and concerns of his generation

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- the generation of World War One.

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War of one kind or another[br]permeates "The Lord of the Rings",

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through death and loss, [br]through notions of power,

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through camaraderie in deathly times,

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and eventually through disappointment.

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Tolkien took part[br]in the battle of the Somme,

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one of the most horrific battles[br]of the 20th century.

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Over 3 million men fought in the battle,

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which saw over a million [br]killed or injured,

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scarring the Earth in one[br]of the most deadliest battles

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in human history.

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He saw many of his school friends[br]die in the fighting,

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and by 1918, he said that he had lost[br]all but one of his closest friends.

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In some sense he was lucky

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to have contracted [br]a severe case of trench fever

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near the end of the battle of the Somme,

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and sent back to England to recover.

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While convalescing in army barracks,

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with the war very much fresh in his mind,

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Tolkien put to paper much of the story

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that would later become [br]"The Fall of Gondolin",

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a story published after his death,

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of a cataclysmic battle featuring orcs,[br]dragons, and bullfrogs,

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and notably his first work[br]to feature "Middle Earth".

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"They walked slowly, stooping, [br]keeping close in line,

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following attentively[br]every move that Gollum made.

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"The fens grew more wet, opening[br]into wide stagnant meres.

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"among which it grew[br]more and more difficult,

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"to find the firmer places[br]where feet could tread

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"without sinking into gurgling mud...

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"Wrenching his hands out of the bog,

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"he sprang back with a cry.

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" 'There are dead things, dead faces[br]in the water', he said with horror.

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" 'Dead faces!' "

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Although Tolkien here is describing[br]the outskirts of Mordor

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in his fictional Middle Earth,

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it is not hard to imagine this [br]as a description of Tolkien's experience

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during the battle of the Somme.

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The I World War begins as a battle [br]on horseback with cavalries,

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but it is the beginning [br]of mechaniZed warfare.

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Characters in "The Lord of the Rings"

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describe being watched [br]by mysterious figures flying overhead,

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and in 1914, airplanes on both sides [br]were first used for reconnaissance,

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flying deep behind enemy lines.

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Over the course of the war,

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aviation developed significantly[br]into a major force,

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and by the end of that war

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it was obvious that airplanes[br]were the weapon of the future.

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"Then Frodo and Sam staring at the sky...

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"saw it come: a small cloud [br]flying from the accursed hills,

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"a black shadow loosed from Mordor;

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"a vast shape winged and ominous."

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"It scudded across the moon,

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"and with a deadly cry went westward,

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"outrunning the wind in its fell speed."

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He is at the Somme [br]when tanks were first used,

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and although Orcs make up the bulk[br]of Sauron's Army

0:12:25.470,0:12:27.271
in "The Lord of the Rings",

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one of his most powerful weapons[br]were the tanks of Middle Earth

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- the "Olyphants".

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Newsreel: "A state of war once more exists

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between Great Britain and Germany"

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Tolkien began writing[br]"The Lord of the Rings"

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at the outbreak[br]of the II World War, late 1937.

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So the world was once again[br]on the precipice of war.

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Tolkien denied[br]it was an allegory of any kind

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in the forward to the book,

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but also admitted that an author[br]is influenced by his experiences.

0:12:56.098,0:12:59.178
The writing of the novel began[br]during the rise of Hitler,

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and continued during the darkest days[br]of World War II,

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when all hopes of a peaceful [br]New World Order had vanished,

0:13:05.972,0:13:08.530
especially for someone living in England

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and in constant fear of air raids[br]and Nazi victory.

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"If you really come down[br]to any 'large' story

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"that interests people - that can hold[br]their attention for a considerable time

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"stories - human stories - are practically[br]always about one thing: death."

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The I World War almost certainly[br]had more influence on Tolkien,

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but "The Lord of the Rings" [br]can also be considered part

0:13:32.945,0:13:35.197
of post-World War II literature,

0:13:35.197,0:13:39.633
that includes "The Lord of the Flies", [br]"1984", and "Animal Farm",

0:13:39.763,0:13:43.746
books that were marked [br]by their author's wartime experiences,

0:13:43.776,0:13:46.402
and deal with the question[br]of good and evil.

0:13:50.455,0:13:53.951
"Sauron was become now[br]a sorcerer of dreadful power,

0:13:53.961,0:13:56.540
"master of shadows and of phantoms,

0:13:56.570,0:13:59.192
"foul in wisdom, cruel in strength,

0:13:59.222,0:14:02.663
"misshaping what he touched,[br]twisting what he ruled."

0:14:03.553,0:14:05.143
In "The Lord of the Rings"

0:14:05.143,0:14:07.961
there is the rise of an evil force Sauron,

0:14:07.981,0:14:09.621
who is not unlike Hitler

0:14:09.641,0:14:12.127
in his desire for power[br]and world domination.

0:14:12.537,0:14:14.628
Just like countries during the war,

0:14:14.648,0:14:16.373
some societies in the book,

0:14:16.373,0:14:19.721
whether out of self-interest or fear,[br]side with Sauron,

0:14:19.761,0:14:22.840
adding to the hopelessness[br]of the good-hearted.

0:14:22.890,0:14:25.889
The fate of the world[br]is at stake in both worlds,

0:14:25.909,0:14:27.862
and the outcome hinges on a race

0:14:27.862,0:14:30.912
to prevent ultimate power[br]getting in the wrong hands.

0:14:32.046,0:14:34.939
Crucially, the ring [br]is not just about power,

0:14:34.969,0:14:37.720
it is about what we do with power

0:14:37.730,0:14:39.414
and how it can corrupt us,

0:14:39.414,0:14:41.504
and how that corruption[br]can be addictive

0:14:41.504,0:14:44.151
leading to the eventual loss [br]of your Humanity,

0:14:44.151,0:14:46.788
as the evil within you is exposed,

0:14:46.798,0:14:49.381
absorbing all morals.

0:14:49.431,0:14:52.077
The very things that were being discussed

0:14:52.154,0:14:56.555
at the outbreak, during, [br]and at the conclusion of World War II.

0:14:56.765,0:15:01.247
The horrific evils of the 20th century[br]were just around the corner.

0:15:05.459,0:15:08.180
Despite the horrors[br]Tolkien witness firsthand,

0:15:08.200,0:15:12.736
"The Lord of the Rings" is not,[br]as you might expect, explicitly anti-war.

0:15:13.103,0:15:16.245
Tolkien may describe battles, [br]almost poetically,

0:15:16.295,0:15:19.046
and place an emphasis [br]on heroism in combat,

0:15:19.066,0:15:22.573
but for a man who spent his life[br]studying traditional myths and legends,

0:15:22.573,0:15:24.065
often involving war,

0:15:24.089,0:15:26.635
he understood that nobility often means

0:15:26.975,0:15:29.863
that we need to take up [br]arms for a "just" cause.

0:15:29.863,0:15:31.862
The Lord of the Rings is, in fact,

0:15:31.862,0:15:35.501
a book about [br]the "unfortunate necessity" of war

0:15:35.531,0:15:38.486
- when it is a just war - against evil.

0:15:38.846,0:15:41.480
But crucially, Tolkien also understood

0:15:41.510,0:15:44.417
that there was good and evil[br]on both sides of war,

0:15:44.477,0:15:46.483
an unpopular sentiment in a time

0:15:46.483,0:15:49.810
when those boundaries[br]were being blurred beyond recognition.

0:15:49.873,0:15:53.321
He was outspoken against bombing campaigns[br]on German cities,

0:15:53.361,0:15:56.049
and even used [br]a quote from "The Lord of the Rings",

0:15:56.110,0:15:58.468
in a letter to his son[br]about the campaigns:

0:15:58.708,0:16:01.486
"You can't fight the enemy[br]with his own ring

0:16:01.555,0:16:04.102
without turning into an enemy".

0:16:04.882,0:16:07.887
He knew, as the characters[br]of the fellowship do,

0:16:07.887,0:16:10.157
that just because one fights for good,

0:16:10.157,0:16:12.932
it doesn't make one immune[br]to the power of evil

0:16:12.952,0:16:15.004
- to the power of the ring.

0:16:15.084,0:16:17.905
The Fellowship must resist[br]the temptation of the ring,

0:16:17.915,0:16:21.016
as we must resist[br]using evil to fight evil.

0:16:22.961,0:16:26.181
Tolkien understood [br]that bravery is a complex notion,

0:16:26.191,0:16:28.540
for while battles swarm around him

0:16:28.550,0:16:32.925
it is our little hobbit Frodo who succeeds[br]on his journey by avoiding war.

0:16:33.175,0:16:36.612
But even he is not immune[br]to war's effects and trauma.

0:16:36.702,0:16:39.678
When the war is over[br]and he is returning to the Shire,

0:16:39.698,0:16:41.800
Frodo confesses to Gandalf,

0:16:41.830,0:16:44.270
in one of the most poignant[br]passages in the book,

0:16:44.270,0:16:45.586
that he is in pain,

0:16:45.618,0:16:48.301
as so many shellshocked men[br]of the trenches were.

0:16:51.912,0:16:56.344
" 'Alas! there are some wounds that cannot[br]be wholly cured', said Gandalf.

0:16:56.474,0:16:59.285
" 'I fear it may be so with mine',[br]said Frodo.

0:16:59.294,0:17:01.177
"There is no real going back.

0:17:01.177,0:17:04.134
"Though I may come to the Shire,[br]it will not seem the same;

0:17:04.184,0:17:06.575
"for I shall not be the same."

0:17:06.616,0:17:09.642
"I am wounded with knife, sting and tooth

0:17:09.722,0:17:11.006
"and a long burden.

0:17:11.006,0:17:13.082
" 'Where shall I find rest?'

0:17:13.092,0:17:15.139
"Gandalf did not answer."

0:17:16.330,0:17:19.608
After World War I, and certainly[br]during World War II,

0:17:19.608,0:17:22.747
artists and writers had to wrestle[br]with a new reality:

0:17:23.507,0:17:26.769
"How to present life[br]in the aftermath of such horrors?"

0:17:26.819,0:17:30.510
"Were the old stories of heroism[br]even relevant anymore?"

0:17:31.190,0:17:33.520
Tolkien, through his fictional world,

0:17:33.530,0:17:36.874
has reinvented the heroic epic[br]for our times.

0:17:37.112,0:17:41.734
Giving us a fresh and more ambiguous[br]perspective on modern warfare,

0:17:41.774,0:17:44.130
through the realm of fantasy.

0:17:44.340,0:17:46.209
You may get all the heroics,

0:17:46.233,0:17:50.260
but there are also points when[br]his greatest heroes are full of fear

0:17:53.994,0:17:57.516
Reducing "The Lord of the Rings" [br]to a heroic quest or a war narrative,

0:17:57.546,0:18:00.476
is convenient and an aid [br]to our understanding,

0:18:00.476,0:18:02.995
but ultimately [br]does disservice to the book.

0:18:03.025,0:18:05.695
It more likely[br]just exposes our difficulties

0:18:05.745,0:18:09.366
in identifying exactly[br]what this strange work is.

0:18:09.891,0:18:11.579
"If you want my opinion,

0:18:11.579,0:18:14.698
"a part of the 'fascination'[br]of 'The Lord of the Rings"

0:18:14.708,0:18:18.121
"consists in the vistas[br]of yet more legend and history,

0:18:18.161,0:18:21.135
"to which this work does not contain[br]a full clue..." - Tolkien

0:18:22.148,0:18:25.883
The action of the book takes place[br]over a relatively short period of time,

0:18:25.943,0:18:27.987
but throughout "The Lord of the Rings",

0:18:27.987,0:18:30.410
we hear tales and legends about the past,

0:18:30.410,0:18:32.822
often stretching back thousands of years.

0:18:32.942,0:18:34.957
Tolkien hasn't just written a story,

0:18:34.957,0:18:36.915
but has given us the impression

0:18:36.915,0:18:39.379
that we are witnessing a series of events,

0:18:39.419,0:18:42.947
inside an entire history[br]that exists outside of the books.

0:18:43.207,0:18:45.261
Although he is just one writer,

0:18:45.261,0:18:47.349
he has created an entire mythology

0:18:47.349,0:18:50.773
comparable to traditional[br]cultural mythologies.

0:18:50.893,0:18:53.296
"Bowen: And you took 14 years[br]to make this story.

0:18:53.306,0:18:54.557
"Tolkien: Quite so, yeah.

0:18:54.557,0:18:57.266
"I took 14 years and not [br]for the general thing it is now

0:18:57.266,0:19:02.872
"but for finding time schemes[br]and getting everything right and so on.

0:19:03.399,0:19:05.605
Documenting the history of Middle Earth,

0:19:05.605,0:19:07.851
was a lifelong project of Tolkien.

0:19:07.861,0:19:10.567
In his letters, notes[br]and unpublished works

0:19:10.567,0:19:13.134
he filled in details of this mythology,

0:19:13.134,0:19:15.580
complete with elaborate genealogies,

0:19:15.600,0:19:17.553
and geographical details.

0:19:17.973,0:19:20.101
Tolkien had the genius to make it sound

0:19:20.121,0:19:22.785
like it was a "real history" [br]he was exploring,

0:19:22.785,0:19:26.672
as if he was just "researching" it[br]and reporting it to us.

0:19:26.767,0:19:29.473
There had been fantasy books[br]before Tolkien,

0:19:29.503,0:19:32.531
but never had there been [br]such successful "world building",

0:19:32.551,0:19:35.725
with such a serious tone [br]and seismic events.

0:19:40.914,0:19:43.937
"What I'm doing now, [br]is to try and write in Elvish.

0:19:43.937,0:19:46.682
"but mt writing[br]is very inferior to the Elves

0:19:46.682,0:19:49.412
Their standard meeting when greeting:

0:19:49.477,0:19:51.772
"A star shines upon our meeting"

0:19:52.617,0:19:54.598
From 1924 to 1945,

0:19:54.598,0:19:57.922
Tolkien was the professor [br]of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford,

0:19:57.922,0:20:00.769
and even after[br]the huge success of "The Hobbit"

0:20:00.779,0:20:02.519
and "The Lord of the Rings"

0:20:02.519,0:20:06.169
he continued to teach at Oxford, [br]until his retirement in 1959.

0:20:06.259,0:20:09.269
He developed [br]15 different dialects for Elvish

0:20:09.319,0:20:11.589
for "The Hobbit" [br]and "The Lord of the Rings",

0:20:11.589,0:20:13.839
and as a soldier during World War I,

0:20:13.869,0:20:17.389
Tolkien even developed a secret code[br]to communicate with his wife.

0:20:17.449,0:20:20.671
For Tolkien, language[br]is where it all begins.

0:20:21.391,0:20:24.117
"The invention of languages[br]is the foundation...

0:20:24.127,0:20:27.323
"To me a name comes first[br]and the story follows."

0:20:28.353,0:20:32.630
He believed that the nature of a society[br]was Inseparable from its language.

0:20:32.786,0:20:36.122
To understand a people, [br]you must understand the language.

0:20:36.462,0:20:40.272
The sounds, syntax, and expressions[br]can all evoke a mood

0:20:40.272,0:20:43.054
and reveal the values of a people.

0:20:43.124,0:20:46.965
And Tolkien has given [br]all of his fictional races in the book,

0:20:47.035,0:20:49.285
not only their own complex history,

0:20:49.285,0:20:52.075
but also, their own fully [br]developed language,

0:20:52.105,0:20:54.850
with its own alphabet, [br]expressions, and sounds.

0:20:55.070,0:20:57.661
It is a remarkable encyclopedic feat

0:20:57.721,0:21:01.047
that fleshes out [br]even the most minor characters.

0:21:01.627,0:21:05.515
At one point, Frodo hears[br]the elves singing in the forest.

0:21:32.174,0:21:35.398
It is part of a poem[br]from "The Lord of the Rings" in Elvish,

0:21:35.428,0:21:39.070
which some have likened [br]to a Roman Catholic Marian hymn.

0:21:39.122,0:21:41.608
The sounds are flowing and musical,

0:21:41.678,0:21:43.521
reflecting how the elves speak,

0:21:43.531,0:21:47.138
underscoring their reverence [br]for grace, beauty and nature.

0:21:47.688,0:21:51.687
The dwarves however speak [br]the more direct language of "Kazul",

0:21:51.707,0:21:55.457
reflecting their emphasis[br]on craftsmanship and precision.

0:21:55.542,0:21:58.849
The language of the hobbits[br]is filled with colloquialisms,

0:21:58.849,0:22:02.283
and expressions centered around[br]the simple pleasures of life.

0:22:02.303,0:22:05.975
The orcs have a savage and gutural tongue

0:22:05.995,0:22:08.404
that exposes their brutality.

0:22:08.421,0:22:12.665
Even among the races of man, [br]Tolkien uses distinguishing styles.

0:22:13.385,0:22:15.786
The Rohirrim, pepper their language

0:22:15.786,0:22:18.387
with references[br]to horsemanship and warfare,

0:22:18.387,0:22:22.083
while those from Gondor speak[br]with a more formal and elevated style,

0:22:22.133,0:22:25.376
emphasizing their nobility [br]and ancient heritage.

0:22:31.966,0:22:36.298
Passages in invented languages[br]help create an immersive experience

0:22:36.328,0:22:39.049
and are critical [br]to Tolkien's world building.

0:22:39.089,0:22:43.132
We become convinced that we are learning[br]about a time, different from our own,

0:22:43.214,0:22:46.322
from a historical world [br]that really did exist.

0:22:46.432,0:22:48.504
Tolkien felt so strongly

0:22:48.504,0:22:51.181
about the centrality[br]of language to his work,

0:22:51.181,0:22:53.598
that he once commented[br]he would have preferred

0:22:53.598,0:22:56.902
to have written "The Lord of the Rings"[br]entirely in Elvish,

0:22:56.922,0:22:59.493
but ultimately left in only as much

0:22:59.543,0:23:02.539
as he thought his readers would endure.

0:23:02.689,0:23:05.357
Because of Tolkien, invented languages

0:23:05.407,0:23:08.156
have now become standard[br]in fantasy epics,

0:23:08.156,0:23:12.306
most recently seen in modern versions[br]of "Dune" and "Game of Thrones".

0:23:16.771,0:23:19.261
This chapter, comes [br]at the end of the book

0:23:19.261,0:23:21.840
and doesn't feature in many of the films.

0:23:21.860,0:23:24.434
But is an integral chapter[br]when looking at Tolkien.

0:23:24.464,0:23:27.766
It is a deeply pessimistic look[br]at what happens

0:23:27.766,0:23:31.766
when our returning heroes, [br]the hobbits, go back to their Shire,

0:23:31.796,0:23:34.156
this bastion of middle England,

0:23:34.236,0:23:36.316
these idyllic agricultural spaces,

0:23:36.386,0:23:39.151
to find that everything has changed.

0:23:40.893,0:23:44.121
Industry is now polluting[br]their once pure rivers,

0:23:44.186,0:23:48.133
and the Shire is now, [br]in effect, a police state.

0:23:49.733,0:23:52.367
"It was one of the saddest hours[br]in their lives.

0:23:52.477,0:23:54.944
"The great chimney rose up before them.

0:23:54.994,0:23:57.812
"and as they drew near [br]the old village across the water,

0:23:57.832,0:24:00.111
"through rows of new mean houses

0:24:00.151,0:24:01.981
"along each side of the road,

0:24:02.011,0:24:03.509
"they saw the new mill

0:24:03.539,0:24:06.273
"in all its frowning and dirty ugliness:

0:24:06.343,0:24:09.089
"a great brick building[br]straddling the stream

0:24:09.099,0:24:12.528
"which it fouled[br]with a steaming and stinking outflow.

0:24:13.217,0:24:17.815
"All along the Bywater Rod [br]every tree had been felled."

0:24:18.626,0:24:21.005
This is a classic idea[br]of the homecoming hero

0:24:21.035,0:24:22.864
facing further obstacles,

0:24:22.904,0:24:25.203
that we can find in Homer's Odyssey

0:24:25.203,0:24:27.385
amongst other "quest literature".

0:24:27.575,0:24:31.438
The Shire is now run by Ruffians [br]with a dictator-like chief

0:24:31.518,0:24:34.425
whose gatherers count, [br]keep track of productivity,

0:24:34.515,0:24:36.696
and enforce endless rules.

0:24:36.836,0:24:38.636
The Hobbit's inns are closed

0:24:38.636,0:24:41.120
because the chief disapproves of beer

0:24:41.150,0:24:45.562
and beautiful old dwellings are demolished[br]to create ugly new ones

0:24:45.751,0:24:48.499
- surely a reference[br]to the desperately needed

0:24:48.559,0:24:51.508
new social housing post-World War II.

0:24:51.698,0:24:53.727
And there are hundreds of "shiriffs",

0:24:53.737,0:24:55.862
a kind of Hobbit police force,

0:24:55.872,0:24:58.864
who drag anyone who stands up[br]for their rights to prison.

0:24:59.154,0:25:02.265
We can go back to Tolkien's[br]experiences in World War I,

0:25:02.325,0:25:06.031
when returning veterans were promised [br]a new life fit for heroes,

0:25:06.321,0:25:10.487
but in fact, return to unemployment, [br]continuing poverty,

0:25:10.527,0:25:13.400
homelessness - and even worse -

0:25:13.420,0:25:15.748
the wholesale destruction[br]of their way of life.

0:25:15.778,0:25:17.961
It was a betrayal.

0:25:18.043,0:25:21.299
Tolkien was famously [br]anti-industrialization,

0:25:21.319,0:25:24.432
and politically conservative[br]when it came to "big government",

0:25:24.432,0:25:26.823
and this can be seen as a veiled attack

0:25:26.863,0:25:29.154
on the post-war Labor government,

0:25:29.244,0:25:31.734
and what conservatives[br]saw as "interference",

0:25:31.774,0:25:35.069
"regulation", and even [br]"socialist ideology".

0:25:35.387,0:25:39.540
At one point, the Hobbits discuss[br]the gathering of local farming produce,

0:25:39.600,0:25:42.531
so, it can be "shared out equally",

0:25:42.571,0:25:45.911
but this ideal never quite works[br]the way it should do.

0:25:46.182,0:25:49.372
A scathing critique [br]of socialist principles.

0:25:49.632,0:25:51.851
The scouring of the Shire chapter

0:25:51.851,0:25:54.558
was written after the end[br]of the II World War,

0:25:54.575,0:25:57.525
and I think it's hard to deny[br](although Tolkien did),

0:25:57.577,0:26:00.878
that there is also an allegorical element [br]to this chapter,

0:26:01.258,0:26:04.164
with the Ruffians behavior[br]echoing the Nazis,

0:26:04.174,0:26:08.406
in the way they used collaborators, [br]informers, threats, torture,

0:26:08.502,0:26:11.181
and the imprisoning[br]and killing of dissenters.

0:26:11.601,0:26:14.385
At one point the "shiriff" Hobbit says:

0:26:14.415,0:26:17.422
"I am sorry Mr. Mary, but we have orders".

0:26:17.642,0:26:22.700
A chilling phrase that we will hear[br]time and again at the Nuremberg trials.

0:26:24.173,0:26:26.800
These are all reflections [br]which would have meant

0:26:26.870,0:26:29.824
so much more to a British [br]reader in the 1950s:

0:26:30.064,0:26:33.112
The rapid pace of change[br]in terms of industrialization,

0:26:33.112,0:26:35.018
devastation of the countryside,

0:26:35.018,0:26:37.581
regulations of all kinds,

0:26:37.581,0:26:41.310
government interference[br]and the advent of Big Brother.

0:26:41.752,0:26:45.188
Yes, everything had changed[br]while the hobbits were away,

0:26:45.208,0:26:48.228
but everything had changed[br]for the British too.

0:26:52.336,0:26:56.515
This is one of the most complex and [br]contentious issues surrounding Tolkien,

0:26:56.555,0:26:59.544
a committed Catholic[br]in a Protestant country,

0:26:59.554,0:27:01.609
and one who stated categorically

0:27:01.608,0:27:04.706
that "The Lord of the Rings" [br]was not a religious allegory.

0:27:04.776,0:27:07.410
In many ways, it is a pagan book

0:27:07.470,0:27:09.892
and draws on those sources[br]of the Norse myths

0:27:09.912,0:27:11.758
- which are pre-Christian.

0:27:11.768,0:27:15.069
There are no churches, [br]no religion and no God

0:27:15.069,0:27:17.124
in "The Lord of the Rings".

0:27:17.124,0:27:20.536
And yet, when Tolkien was attacked [br]upon publication,

0:27:20.576,0:27:23.228
for the apparent lack [br]of religion in the book,

0:27:23.228,0:27:24.884
it was he confessed:

0:27:25.014,0:27:27.560
"The only criticism that annoys me..."

0:27:27.620,0:27:29.593
Tolkien is clear,

0:27:29.659,0:27:31.482
that in such a pre-Christian world,

0:27:31.482,0:27:33.168
it would have been in congruous

0:27:33.188,0:27:35.794
to include any [br]explicit references to Christianity,

0:27:35.846,0:27:37.969
and yet, in a private letter,

0:27:37.969,0:27:40.120
to the Catholic priest, [br]Father Robert Murray,

0:27:40.140,0:27:41.698
Tolkien explained:

0:27:41.728,0:27:43.463
"The Lord of the Rings" is of course

0:27:43.463,0:27:45.557
a fundamentally religious [br]and Catholic work;

0:27:45.639,0:27:47.102
unconsciously so at first,

0:27:47.152,0:27:49.006
but consciously in the revision."

0:27:49.006,0:27:51.532
That is why I have not put in[br]or have cut out,

0:27:51.532,0:27:54.164
practically all references [br]to anything like religion.

0:27:54.194,0:27:57.084
to cults or practices [br]in the imaginary world."

0:27:57.290,0:28:01.630
"For the religious element is absorbed[br]into the story and the symbolism..."

0:28:02.666,0:28:05.664
Much has been made[br]in Tolkien scholarship of this letter,

0:28:05.704,0:28:09.379
for it seems to conflict with his other[br]more public statements.

0:28:09.477,0:28:11.409
"People do not fully understand

0:28:11.439,0:28:14.221
"the difference between[br]an allegory and an application.

0:28:14.273,0:28:17.147
"But what does it actually mean[br]for a book to be religious,

0:28:17.157,0:28:19.594
"or, in this case, a Catholic work?"

0:28:19.824,0:28:22.273
Do we have to, as many have done,

0:28:22.293,0:28:24.912
make the case for Frodo[br]as a Jesus figure?

0:28:24.952,0:28:28.452
Or make direct parallels [br]between Christianity and Middle Earth?

0:28:28.942,0:28:31.802
Certainly, there are strong [br]Christian elements throughout,

0:28:31.832,0:28:33.999
most evident in the larger themes

0:28:34.039,0:28:36.772
of the importance [br]of sacrifice and selflessness,

0:28:36.782,0:28:38.884
the focus on hope and redemption,

0:28:38.934,0:28:41.844
the lure of temptations[br]and the existence of evil.

0:28:42.124,0:28:44.258
These values and others however,

0:28:44.314,0:28:48.112
also overlap with similar themes[br]in Pagan literature,

0:28:48.112,0:28:49.564
or Norse myths,

0:28:49.564,0:28:53.066
or countless other sources[br]Tolkien would have studied.

0:28:53.156,0:28:55.834
Perhaps it is simply a case[br]that being a Catholic

0:28:55.907,0:28:58.822
was an important part [br]of Tolkien's identity,

0:28:58.822,0:29:01.500
and his personal values,[br]fears and concerns

0:29:01.550,0:29:04.762
would naturally be manifested in his work.

0:29:05.492,0:29:07.938
"You are obliged, any author I imagine,

0:29:07.938,0:29:13.284
"is obliged to call on his stock[br]- private stock.

0:29:18.445,0:29:20.188
"I am dreading the publication

0:29:20.188,0:29:22.930
"for it will be impossible[br]not to mind what is said.

0:29:22.970,0:29:25.932
"I have exposed my heart[br]to be shot at."

0:29:26.504,0:29:29.874
Tolkien wanted "The Lord of the Rings"[br]published in one huge volume,

0:29:29.887,0:29:32.309
with the Silmarilion attached.

0:29:32.369,0:29:33.960
But the publishers refused.

0:29:33.990,0:29:36.205
And so, the book [br]was split into three volumes,

0:29:36.215,0:29:40.008
and published from 1954 to 1955.

0:29:40.428,0:29:43.349
When it was finally issued[br]in its entirety,

0:29:43.359,0:29:46.199
for the most part[br]the reviews were positive.

0:29:46.343,0:29:47.936
"One reviewer once said,

0:29:47.956,0:29:50.448
"this is a jolly book,[br]all the right boys come home

0:29:50.448,0:29:52.495
" and everyone's always happy and glad...

0:29:52.495,0:29:53.688
"It isn't true of course.

0:29:53.688,0:29:55.211
"He can't have read the story.

0:29:55.240,0:29:58.807
His good friend C.S. Lewis[br]wrote enthusiastically to Tolkien.

0:29:58.867,0:30:00.221
"I congratulate you.

0:30:00.261,0:30:03.255
"All the long years you have spent[br]on it are justified."

0:30:03.395,0:30:05.549
And championed him in print.

0:30:05.763,0:30:09.580
The poet W.H. Auden called it [br]a masterpiece

0:30:10.272,0:30:12.639
and in his review in the New York Times,

0:30:12.669,0:30:15.783
compared it to Milton's "Paradise Lost".

0:30:15.853,0:30:17.350
In "The Lord of the Rings",

0:30:17.360,0:30:19.645
Tolkien takes Anglo-Saxon and Norse sagas,

0:30:19.645,0:30:23.846
ancient Celtic poetry, Milton, [br]Dickens, Browning, and more,

0:30:23.896,0:30:26.048
to create his world

0:30:26.048,0:30:29.336
- but his comparison with Milton[br]is an important one.

0:30:29.376,0:30:33.445
Historically, great poets aspire[br]to write a national epic

0:30:33.505,0:30:36.134
in imitation of Homer or Virgil.

0:30:36.194,0:30:40.521
Milton famously tried to go beyond [br]the boundaries of a national epic

0:30:40.531,0:30:43.585
to explain the origins of all Humanity.

0:30:43.745,0:30:46.433
Many have argued [br]that "The Lord of the Rings"

0:30:46.453,0:30:49.512
is a national epic for England or Europe.

0:30:49.542,0:30:53.247
In general Tolkien was never[br]as explicit as Milton in his motives,

0:30:53.417,0:30:58.140
but admitted he was inspired[br]by Finland's national epic the Kalevala,

0:30:58.754,0:31:01.649
and throughout his life[br]insisted that Middle Earth

0:31:01.659,0:31:03.723
was not an imaginary world,

0:31:03.723,0:31:08.046
but rather an imaginary historical moment[br]in our very real world.

0:31:11.820,0:31:14.585
Tolkien's new genre - "heroic fantasy",

0:31:14.615,0:31:17.258
"epic fantasy", "world-building fiction"

0:31:17.258,0:31:19.244
- whatever we choose to call it -

0:31:19.304,0:31:21.302
is now a huge part of our culture,

0:31:21.332,0:31:25.276
and has inspired an entire industry[br]of movies, books, and games,

0:31:25.276,0:31:28.108
centered around epic quests in new worlds.

0:31:28.557,0:31:31.755
Without Tolkien, [br]would we even have Star Wars?

0:31:31.806,0:31:34.090
Game of Thrones? Harry Potter?

0:31:34.140,0:31:38.583
Or games like Dungeons and Dragons, [br]World of Warcraft, Magic: The Gathering?

0:31:39.767,0:31:42.156
Tolkien was a giant of literature

0:31:42.156,0:31:44.431
who created a world so fully formed,

0:31:44.461,0:31:47.008
so complex and so enigmatic

0:31:47.038,0:31:49.886
that we forget that the creation[br]of Middle Earth

0:31:49.886,0:31:53.182
changed the entire literary landscape.

0:31:54.292,0:31:57.095
"Of course, "The Lord of the Rings" [br]does not belong to me.

0:31:57.105,0:31:58.582
"It has been brought forth

0:31:58.628,0:32:01.141
"and must now go its appointed way[br]in the world,

0:32:01.141,0:32:03.904
"though naturally, I take[br]a deep interest in its fortunes,

0:32:03.938,0:32:05.842
"as a parent would of a child."

0:32:05.923,0:32:08.382
"I am comforted to know [br]that is has good friends

0:32:08.412,0:32:11.082
"to defend it against[br]the malice of its enemies."

0:32:18.740,0:32:20.315
And now for a quick ad.

0:32:20.385,0:32:22.585
The Manhattan Rare Book Company

0:32:22.585,0:32:25.971
specializes in fine books, manuscripts, [br]art, and photography.

0:32:26.011,0:32:29.019
They offer only items [br]that have been carefully selected

0:32:29.049,0:32:32.333
to meet their high standards [br]of quality and importance.

0:32:32.333,0:32:34.295
At the moment, Manhattan Rare Books

0:32:34.295,0:32:37.402
is featuring a number of items[br]by J.R.R. Tolkien,

0:32:37.432,0:32:40.255
including two letters written by Tolkien,

0:32:40.255,0:32:43.156
introducing "The Lord of the Rings"[br]to a fan of "The Hobbit"

0:32:43.176,0:32:45.902
- and a highly important[br]Tolkien manuscript,

0:32:45.932,0:32:49.575
complete with a beautiful[br]hand drawn genealogical chart.

0:32:49.625,0:32:53.746
Details and images can be found[br]at Manhattanrarebooks.com.

0:32:54.166,0:32:57.947
Please feel free to contact them[br]to discuss your collecting interests,

0:32:57.997,0:33:00.352
whether you are looking[br]for a specific book,

0:33:00.352,0:33:01.907
manuscript, or photograph,

0:33:01.957,0:33:04.492
or have more general questions[br]concerning collecting,

0:33:04.492,0:33:07.130
they will be happy[br]to provide their assistance.

0:33:07.160,0:33:08.968
Thanks for listening.

0:33:09.433,0:33:12.103