Synopsis
A guide to reading "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.
Tolkien's masterpiece, and arguably the greatest fantasy work in Western literature, is a massive and complex epic simultaneously about the history of the imaginary kingdom of Middle Earth and the difficult quest of a group of adventurers as they strike out against the dark forces of Sauron, the Dark Lord.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1999-09-15 |
| Size | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 3.8 in | | Weight: | 56.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
This four volume, deluxe paperback boxed set contains J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterworks THE HOBBIT and the three volumes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS (THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWO TOWERS, and THE RETURN OF THE KING) in their definitive text settings complete with maps and cover illustrations by the celebrated artist Alan Lee. In THE HOBBIT, Bilbo Baggins is whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in Hobbiton by the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves. He finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a THE LORD OF THE RINGS tells of the great and dangerous quest undertaken by Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the dwarf; Legolas the elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. J.R.R. Tolkien's three volume masterpiece is at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale -- a story of high and heroic adventure set in the unforgettable landscape of Middle-Earth.
Tolkien's epic masterworks are newly jacketed in a handsome boxed set.
Industry Reviews
"The first thing that one asks of an adventure story is that the adventure should be various and exciting; in this respect Mr. Tolkien's invention is unflagging, and, on the primitive level of wanting to know what happens next, 'The Fellowship of the Ring' is a least as good as 'The Thirty-Nine Steps'....Mr. Tolkien is fortunate in possessing an amazing gift for naming and a wonderfully exact eye for description....Lastly, if one is to take a tale of this kind seriously, one must feel that, however superficially unlike the world we live in its characters and events may be, it nevertheless holds up the mirror to the only nature we know, our own; in this, too, Mr Tolkien has succeeded superbly....No fiction I have read in the last five years has given me more joy than 'The Fellowship of the Ring.'"
New York Times Book Review - W. H. Auden (10/31/1954)
"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" and those who are going to read them."
Nessel
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