The most famous work in the epic fantasy genre is The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien over the course of ten years and published in 1954. Over the last few decades, there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not a story in this genre could be considered a valuable literary work. It was suggested that fantasy was clichéd and too unrealistic to be in touch with the daily life. However, when one reads between the lines, one can find a different interpretation within the same story; an interpretation that might not be as clichéd and farfetched as one might think. While it is often claimed that literary works in the genre fantasy cannot have any literary value, the The Lord of the Rings-trilogy contains the beautiful, the true and the good (Flood) and therefore is original, is historical or ethical relevant and has human truth value, which are necessary qualities for a literary work to be valuable.
First of all, the The Lord of the Rings-trilogy contains the beautiful and is original, not for the present day, but for its literary standards of its time, when epic fantasy was not nearly as frequently written as in this day. Avid readers of fantasy claim the book to be unoriginal, since it follows the structure of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth or the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is a predetermined structure, based on the typical epic fantasy adventure. It typically consists of a cycle of twelve stages, depending on which variant is used, (Campbell 391) and each story contains at least some the same standard archetypical characters. Examples of these are the hero, like Frodo, the magician, like Gandalf, and the trickster, a humorous sidekick like Sam. This trilogy concerns the journey of these heroes, as they se...
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...th value. The books contain more than just an epic tale: they are about what really matters, like good and evil, and on top of that, they are original in the sense of a modern-day myth.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 1949. Novato: New World Library, 2008. Print.
Flood, John. "Judging Literature." Introduction to Literature. Academy Building, Groningen. 14 October 2013. Lecture.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. "Letter 131." The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humprey Carpenter &
Christopher Tolkien. Expanded ed. Hammersmith: HarperCollins, late 1951. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. "Letter 156." The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humprey Carpenter & Christopher Tolkien. Expanded ed. Hammersmith: HarperCollins, 04 Nov 1954. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Now Read On…” Interview by Dennis Gerrolt. BBC Radio 4. BBC, 1971. Web. 11 Jan. 2014.
In movies, novels, and life, people are named as heroes. The heroes we establish and the heroes we recognize, however, may not meet the criteria for a mythic hero. A mythic hero ventures forth on his journey, and comes forth from the hero’s path to greatness. Joseph Campbell, a mythologist who studied many of the great human myths and religious tales, realized, in studying these myths and tales, that there were certain steps that every hero went through. Campbell called this “The Hero’s Journey”; it is based on Carl Jung's idea that all human beings have an archetype. After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative. One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby.
It will be the contention of this paper that much of Tolkien's unique vision was directly shaped by recurring images in the Catholic culture which shaped JRRT, and which are not shared by non-Catholics generally. The expression of these images in Lord of the Rings will then concern us.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968.
The paper will begin with a look at the life of Tolkien. This will serve the purpose of providing some context for the novel. Looking into the life of Tolkien will also serve to give the reader some insight into the mind that gave birth to such a rich land and why the novel may have some importance for sufferers of mental illness. Next will likely be a short summation of the
Any great novel seeks to explore human nature, our morality, our trust in each other, the delicate inner workings of our societies. A classic that does more than explore the ways of our world, it exposes them, down to the nitty-gritty bare bones. These books force us to look at the world around us and truly see everything that is happening around us, not just the outer layers.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Throughout his works, Tolkien includes, in varying degrees, every major component of our Primary World: landforms, minerals, weather and climate, natural vegetation, agriculture, political units, population distribution, races, languages, transportation routes, and even house types. “He did more than merely describe these individual comp...
The Hobbit shows J.R.R. Tolkien’s belief in the ancient heroic tales of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics. He asserts that a being goes through many adventures with the help of friends who believe that anything can happen. Tolkien reveals how bravery and courage make ordinary individuals succeed at ordinary tasks.
Very few books can challenge the Bible in terms of sales. “The Hobbit”, and its successors, is one of them. Written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the book has sold about 100 million copies till date. It features the story of a hobbit and his adventures. The book is very well written, and contains many different characteristics that appeal to the reader. One of these is the plot, which can be easily fit in a Hero's Journey chart. A Hero's Journey chart is divided into 3 ‘acts’, which are further divided into a total of 23 archetypal steps. J.R.R. Tolkien exceptionally develops three archetypal steps, namely ‘ Refusal of the Call’,' The Approach’, and ‘The Road Back’ in “The Hobbit.”
Thompson, Kristin. The Frodo franchise: The Lord of the rings and modern Hollywood. Berkeley: University of California P, 2007.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Return of the King. First Ballantine Books Ed. Ballantine Books, 1965. Print.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again. New York: Ballantine, 1982. Print
Tolkien, J.R.R. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954. Print.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most successful books of all time (selling over 100 million copies [Shippey]). It is also an excellent example of a fantasy novel due to the presence of magic, supernatural creatures, and adventure (through elements of quest within the novel). Magic is a key element to any fantasy novel, especially prevalent in The Hobbit. Fantasy novels can have a certain majestic feel or characters that use their magical powers in peculiar ways, that are (usually) obviously fake (Saricks 36-39). An example of this in The Hobbit would be Gandalf on page 21.
The Fellowship of the Ring is a modern day epic. When use in English classes, the term epic is a story “told on a grand scale, with armies, heroes, gods, and the brutal forces of nature depicted over long character arcs and sweeping landscapes” (Ray). While many of the elements of an epic are present in this work of literature, there are some elements of an epic that do not fit. In many ways, The Fellowship of the Ring does not fit the elements of an epic. The different ways the term epic fits and does not fit will be discussed in the next three paragraphs.
J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a peerless fantasy of epic proportions. While eschewing allegory in favor of an historical perspective, Tolkien has imprinted the work with many of his own closely held Catholic beliefs. In a lecture concerning Tolkien’s writing given to students at Villanova University, Dr. Tomas W. Smith put it this way