Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien, an English novelist and scholar, won fame due to his original epic trilogy "The Lord of the Rings". This outstanding work, that by the mid-1960s became a sociocultural phenomenon, consists of "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King".

J.R.R. Tolkien was educated at Oxford and participated in World War I. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon and of English language and literature (1945-59) at the University of Oxford.

Tolkien began writing his trilogy as an undergraduate. While working on it, he created "The Hobbit", of 1937, which was an introduction to it. Both "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" are set in a mythical past; the latter work chronicles the struggle between various good and evil kingdoms for possession of a magical ring that can shift the balance of power in the world.

The trilogy is remarkable for its fantasy types - elves, dwarves, hpbbits - and its sustained imaginative storytelling. It is regarded as a rare, successful modern version of the heroic epic. A prequel of "The Lord of the Rings", "The Silmarillion", was published in 1977. "Unfinished Tales" was published in 1980. An animated film version of the first two books of the trilogy appeared in 1978. The film version of "The Lord of the Rings" came out in the year 2002. Its success was tremendous.