the hobbit – WikiChoeclaiste

His creative endeavours at this time also included letters from Father Christmas to his children—illustrated manuscripts that featured warring gnomes and goblins, and a helpful
polar bear—alongside the creation of elven languages and an attendant mythology, including The Book of Lost Tales, which he had been creating since 1917.
This down-to-earth style, also found in later fantasy such as Richard Adams’ Watership Down and Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, accepts readers into the fictional world,
rather than cajoling or attempting to convince them of its reality.
[38] Tolkien intended The Hobbit as a “fairy-story” and wrote it in a tone suited to addressing children;[39] he said later that the book was not specifically written for
children, but had rather been created out of his interest in mythology and legend.
Originally this world was self-contained, but as Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings, he decided these stories could fit into the legendarium he had been working on
privately for decades.
Many follow the original scheme at least loosely, but many others are illustrated by other artists, especially the many translated editions.
[26] The additional illustrations proved so appealing that George Allen & Unwin adopted the colour plates as well for their second printing, with exception of Bilbo Woke Up
with the Early Sun in His Eyes.
[46] Sullivan credits the first publication of The Hobbit as an important step in the development of high fantasy, and further credits the 1960s paperback debuts of The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings as essential to the creation of a mass market for fiction of this kind as well as the fantasy genre’s current status.
Houghton Mifflin rewarded these hopes with the replacement of the frontispiece (The Hill: Hobbiton-across-the Water) in colour and the addition of new colour plates: Rivendell,
Bilbo Woke Up with the Early Sun in His Eyes, Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves and Conversation with Smaug, which features a dwarvish curse written in Tolkien’s invented script Tengwar, and signed with two “þ” (“Th”) runes.
[21] Originally Allen & Unwin planned to illustrate the book only with the endpaper maps, but Tolkien’s first tendered sketches so charmed the publisher’s staff that they
opted to include them without raising the book’s price despite the extra cost.
[40] Many of the initial reviews refer to the work as a fairy story.
Many fairy tale motifs, such as the repetition of similar events seen in the dwarves’ arrival at Bilbo’s and Beorn’s homes, and folklore themes, such as trolls turning to
stone, are to be found in the story.
The story is told in the form of a picaresque or episodic quest;[1] several chapters introduce a new type of monster or threat as Bilbo progresses through the landscape.
[16] Setting [edit] The setting of The Hobbit, as described on its original dust jacket, is “ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men” in an unnamed
fantasy world.
This project, too, became the subject of many iterations and much correspondence, with Tolkien always writing disparagingly of his own ability to draw.
One example of the use of song to maintain tone is when Thorin and Company are kidnapped by goblins, who, when marching them into the underworld, sing: Clap!
The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.
He wished Thror’s Map to be tipped in (that is, glued in after the book has been bound) at first mention in the text, and with the moon letter runes on the reverse so they
could be seen when held up to the light.
[20] In the end the cost, as well as the shading of the maps, which would be difficult to reproduce, resulted in the final design of two maps as endpapers, Thror’s map, and
the Map of Wilderland (see Rhovanion), both printed in black and red on the paper’s cream background.
[41] The work is much longer than Tolkien’s ideal proposed in his essay On Fairy-Stories.
Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien’s changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled.
[51] The general form—that of a journey into strange lands, told in a light-hearted mood and interspersed with songs—may be following the model of The Icelandic Journals by
William Morris, an important literary influence on Tolkien.
The author’s scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences, but more recent fiction including adventure
stories and the works of William Morris also played a part.
[49] The basic form of the story is that of a quest,[50] told in episodes.
Both are key elements of works intended for children,[33] as is the “home-away-home” (or there and back again) plot structure typical of the Bildungsroman.
[47] Style [edit] Further information: Tolkien’s prose style and Quests in Middle-earth Tolkien’s prose is unpretentious and straightforward, taking as given the existence
of his imaginary world and describing its details in a matter-of-fact way, while often introducing the new and fantastic in an almost casual manner.
Bilbo accepts only a small portion of his share of the treasure, having no want or need for more, but still returns home a very wealthy hobbit roughly a year and a month after
he first left.
[43][44] The two genres are not mutually exclusive, so some definitions of high fantasy include works for children by authors such as L. Frank Baum and Lloyd Alexander alongside
the works of Gene Wolfe and Jonathan Swift, which are more often considered adult literature.
For the most part of the book, each chapter introduces a different denizen of the Wilderland, some helpful and friendly towards the protagonists, and others threatening or
dangerous.
Through several iterations, the final design ended up as mostly the author’s.
All but one of the illustrations were a full page, and one, the Mirkwood illustration, required a separate plate.
The publisher would not relent on this, so Tolkien pinned his hopes on the American edition to be published about six months later.
The work has never been out of print.
Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games, and video games.
Narrative Characters [edit] Main article: List of The Hobbit characters Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist, is a respectable, reserved and well-to-do hobbit—a race resembling
short humans with furry, leathery feet who live in underground houses and are mainly farmers and gardeners.
“[19] Even the maps, of which Tolkien originally proposed five, were considered and debated.
[23] The original jacket design contained several shades of various colours, but Tolkien redrew it several times using fewer colours each time.
[42] The book is popularly called (and often marketed as) a fantasy novel, but like Peter Pan and Wendy by J. M. Barrie and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald,
both of which influenced Tolkien and contain fantasy elements, it is primarily identified as being children’s literature.
[34] While Tolkien later claimed to dislike the aspect of the narrative voice addressing the reader directly,[35] the narrative voice contributes significantly to the success
of the novel.
[37] Emer O’Sullivan, in her Comparative Children’s Literature, notes The Hobbit as one of a handful of children’s books that have been accepted into mainstream literature,
alongside Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World (1991) and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1997–2007).
I doubt any author today, however famous, would get such scrupulous attention.
These themes have led critics to view Tolkien’s own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story.
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings became the end of the “Third Age” of Middle Earth within Arda.
The publisher accepted all of these as well, giving the first edition ten black-and-white illustrations plus the two endpaper maps.
Rayner Unwin, in his publishing memoir, comments: “In 1937 alone Tolkien wrote 26 letters to George Allen & Unwin… detailed, fluent, often pungent, but infinitely polite
and exasperatingly precise…
[62] Tolkien was one of the first critics to treat Beowulf as a literary work with value beyond the merely historical, with his 1936 lecture Beowulf: the Monsters and the
Critics.
[60] Tolkien is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: the juxtaposition of old and new styles of expression is seen by the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey as one
of the major themes explored in The Hobbit.
In many ways the Smaug episode reflects and references the dragon of Beowulf, and Tolkien uses the episode to put into practice some of the ground-breaking literary theories
he had developed about the Old English poem in its portrayal of the dragon as having bestial intelligence.
Anderson’s commentary makes note of the sources Tolkien brought together in preparing the text, and chronicles the changes Tolkien made to the published editions.
C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien (and later author of The Chronicles of Narnia between 1949 and 1954), writing in The Times reports: The truth is that in this book a number
of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar’s with the poet’s grasp of mythology…
[114] Tolkien sent this revised version of the chapter “Riddles in the Dark” to Unwin as an example of the kinds of changes needed to bring the book into conformity with The
Lord of the Rings,[115] but he heard nothing back for years.
[113] Tolkien subsequently began work on The New Hobbit, which would eventually become The Lord of the Rings,[113] a course that would not only change the context of the original
story, but lead to substantial changes to the character of Gollum.
[90] Tolkien saw the idea of animism as closely linked to the emergence of human language and myth: “…The first men to talk of ‘trees and stars’ saw things very differently.
[79] However, MacDonald’s influence on Tolkien was more profound than the shaping of individual characters and episodes; his works helped Tolkien form his whole thinking on
the role of fantasy within his Christian faith.
[71] 19th century fiction [edit] Further information: Tolkien’s modern sources Bilbo’s character and adventures match many details of William Morris’s expedition in Iceland.
[8] In the second edition edits, to reflect the new concept of the One Ring and its corrupting abilities, Tolkien made Gollum more aggressive towards Bilbo and distraught
at losing the ring.
[116] In The Lord of the Rings, the original version of the riddle game is explained as a lie made up by Bilbo under the harmful influence of the Ring, whereas the revised
version contains the “true” account.
[133] Many of the thematic and stylistic differences arose because Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a story for children, and The Lord of the Rings for the same audience, who had
subsequently grown up since its publication.
[127] With The History of The Hobbit, published in two parts in 2007, John D. Rateliff provides the full text of the earliest and intermediary drafts of the book, alongside
commentary that shows relationships to Tolkien’s scholarly and creative works, both contemporary and later.
[135] In education [edit] The style and themes of the book have been seen to help stretch young readers’ literacy skills, preparing them to approach the works of Dickens and
Shakespeare.
The Hobbit began as a stand-alone story, but with the writing of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien felt the need to bring it into closer alignment with that work.
[121] These were mostly small edits; for example, changing the phrase “elves that are now called Gnomes” from the first,[122] and second editions,[123] on page 63, to “High
Elves of the West, my kin” in the third edition.
The Hobbit may be read as Tolkien’s parable of World War I with the hero being plucked from his rural home and thrown into a far-off war where traditional types of heroism
are shown to be futile.
In addition, Rateliff provides the abandoned 1960s retelling of the first three chapters, which sought to harmonise The Hobbit with The Lord of the Rings, and previously unpublished
illustrations by Tolkien.
Other specific plot elements and features in The Hobbit that show similarities to Beowulf include the title of thief, as Bilbo is called by Gollum and later by Smaug, and
Smaug’s personality, which leads to the destruction of Lake-town.
[124] Tolkien had used “gnome” in his earlier writing to refer to the second kindred of the High Elves—the Noldor (or “Deep Elves”)—thinking that “gnome”, derived from the
Greek gnosis (knowledge), was a good name for the wisest of the elves.
However, to correct a note on the map saying that Thrain had been King Under the Mountain, Tolkien introduced a distant ancestor Thrain I in the third edition text, who both
founded the kingdom and discovered the Arkenstone.
[95] Similarities to the works of other writers who faced the Great War are seen in The Hobbit, including portraying warfare as anti-pastoral: in “The Desolation of Smaug”,
both the area under the influence of Smaug before his demise and the setting for the Battle of Five Armies later are described as barren, damaged landscapes.
[75] Incidents in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are similar in narrative and style to the novel,[76] and its overall style and imagery have been suggested as having
had an influence on Tolkien.
[69] And although Tolkien denied that he used allegory, the dwarves taking Bilbo out of his complacent existence has been seen as an eloquent metaphor for the “impoverishment
of Western society without Jews.
“[91] Interpretation [edit] Further information: The Great War and Middle-earth As in plot and setting, Tolkien brings his literary theories to bear in forming characters
and their interactions.
[58] Old English literature [edit] Further information: Beowulf and Middle-earth Themes from Old English literature, especially from Beowulf, shape the ancient world which
Bilbo stepped into.
Countering a presentist interpretation are those who say this approach misses out on much of the original’s value as a children’s book and as a work of high fantasy in its
own right, and that it disregards the book’s influence on these genres.
[a][56] But while their names are Norse, the characters of the dwarves are based on fairy tales such as Snow White and Snow-White and Rose-Red as collected by the Brothers
Grimm, while the latter tale may have influenced the character of Beorn.
Tolkien wrote the later story in much less humorous tones and infused it with more complex moral and philosophical themes.
In using his elf-sword, Bilbo finally takes his first independent heroic action.
[101] More recently, the book has been recognized as “Most Important 20th-Century Novel (for Older Readers)” in the Children’s Books of the Century poll in Books for Keeps.
[103] Publication of the sequel The Lord of the Rings altered many critics’ reception of the work.
[92] Smaug the dragon with his golden hoard may be seen as an example of the traditional relationship between evil and metallurgy as collated in the depiction of Pandæmonium
with its “Belched fire and rolling smoke” in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
[107] Despite the book’s popularity, paper rationing due to World War II and not ending until 1949 meant that the Allen & Unwin edition of the book was often unavailable during
this period.
As Janet Brennan Croft notes, Tolkien’s literary reaction to war at this time differed from most post-war writers by eschewing irony as a method for distancing events and
instead using mythology to mediate his experiences.
Lewis compares the book to Alice in Wonderland in that both children and adults may find different things to enjoy in it, and places it alongside Flatland, Phantastes, and
The Wind in the Willows.
[125] This edition also introduced a new version of the history of Erebor.
He abandoned the new revision at chapter three after he received criticism that it “just wasn’t The Hobbit”, implying it had lost much of its light-hearted tone and quick
pace.
Further, it may exercise the reading skills of advanced younger readers better than much modern fiction for teenagers.
[86] Whilst greed is a recurring theme in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters’ simple desire for food (be it trolls eating dwarves
or dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for beautiful objects, such as gold and jewels,[87] it is only by the Arkenstone’s influence upon Thorin that greed, and its attendant vices “coveting” and “malignancy”, come fully to the fore in
the story and provide the moral crux of the tale.
The plots share the same basic structure in the same sequence: the stories are both quests starting at Bag End, the home of Bilbo Baggins; Bilbo hosts a party that sets the
novel’s main plot into motion; Gandalf sends the protagonist into a quest eastward; Elrond offers a haven and advice; the adventurers escape dangerous creatures underground (Goblin Town/Moria); they engage another group of elves (Mirkwood/Lothlórien);
they traverse a desolate region (Desolation of Smaug/the Dead Marshes); they are received and nourished by a small settlement of men (Esgaroth/Ithilien); they fight in a massive battle (The Battle of Five Armies/Battle of Pelennor Fields);
their journey climaxes within an infamous mountain peak (Lonely Mountain/Mount Doom); a descendant of kings is restored to his ancestral throne (Bard/Aragorn); and the questing party returns home to find it in a deteriorated condition (having
possessions auctioned off/the Scouring of the Shire).
[84] Shippey comments that Bilbo is nothing like a king, and that Chance’s talk of “types” just muddies the waters, though he agrees with her that there are “self-images of
Tolkien” throughout his fiction; and she is right, too, in seeing Middle-earth as a balance between creativity and scholarship, “Germanic past and Christian present”.
[137] Adaptations [edit] Main article: Adaptations of The Hobbit The Hobbit has been adapted many times for a variety of media, starting with a March 1953 stage production
by St. Margaret’s School, Edinburgh.
[96] The Hobbit makes a warning against repeating the tragedies of World War I,[97] and Tolkien’s attitude as a veteran may well be summed up by Bilbo’s comment: “Victory
after all, I suppose!
Tolkien took the opportunity to align the narrative more closely to The Lord of the Rings and to cosmological developments from his still unpublished Quenta Silmarillion as
it stood at that time.
[63] Tolkien greatly prefers this motif over the later medieval trend of using the dragon as a symbolic or allegorical figure, such as in the legend of St.
Instead of approaching The Hobbit as a children’s book in its own right, critics such as Randel Helms picked up on the idea of The Hobbit as being a “prelude”, relegating
the story to a dry-run for the later work.
“[70] The scholar of literature James L. Hodge describes the story as picaresque, a genre of fiction in which a hero relies on his wits to survive a series of risky episodes.
[74] The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes that Bilbo’s character and adventures match many details of Morris’s expedition in Iceland.
Tolkien borrowed several elements from Beowulf, including a monstrous, intelligent dragon.
[53] The Hobbit is no exception to this; the work shows influences from northern European literature, myths and languages,[47] especially from the Poetic Edda and the Prose
Edda.
This journey of maturation, where Bilbo gains a clear sense of identity and confidence in the outside world, may be seen in psychological terms as a Bildungsroman rather than
a traditional quest.
[118] Tolkien began a new version in 1960, attempting to adjust the tone of The Hobbit to its sequel.
By his naming the sword “Sting” we see Bilbo’s acceptance of the kinds of cultural and linguistic practices found in Beowulf, signifying his entrance into the ancient world
in which he found himself.
[83] The analogue of the “underworld” and the hero returning from it with a boon (such as the ring, or Elvish blades) that benefits his society is seen to fit the mythic archetypes
regarding initiation and male coming-of-age as described by Joseph Campbell.
I fancy the author of Beowulf would say much the same.
[47] Commentators such as Paul Kocher,[104] John D. Rateliff[105] and C. W. Sullivan[47] encourage readers to treat the works separately, both because The Hobbit was conceived,
published, and received independently of the later work, and to avoid dashing readers’ expectations of tone and style.
[130] The enduring popularity of The Hobbit makes early printings of the book attractive collectors’ items.

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Primary
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). The Hobbit
(1st ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin.
––– (1951). The Hobbit (2nd ed.). London: George Allen & Unwin.
––– (1966). The Hobbit (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-07122-9.
• Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters
of J. R. R. Tolkien Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1988) [1937]. Anderson, Douglas A. (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-3954-7690-1.
• Tolkien, J. R.
R. (2003) [1937]. Anderson, Douglas A. (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-713727-5.
Secondary
• Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-04-928037-3.
• Chance,
Jane (2001). Tolkien’s Art. University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 978-0-618-47885-9.
• Drout, Michael D. C., ed. (2007). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-4159-6942-0.
• Grenby, Matthew
(2008). Children’s Literature. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-618-47885-9.
• Hammond, Wayne G.; Anderson, Douglas A. (1993). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books. ISBN 0-938768-42-5.
• Lobdell,
Jared C. (2004). The World of the Rings: Language, Religion, and Adventure in Tolkien. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9569-4.
• Rateliff, John D. (2007). The History of the Hobbit. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-723555-1.
• Solopova, Elizabeth
(2009). Languages, Myths and History: An Introduction to the Linguistic and Literary Background of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Fiction. New York City: North Landing Books. ISBN 978-0-9816607-1-4.
• St. Clair, Gloriana (2000). “Tolkien’s Cauldron: Northern
Literature and The Lord of the Rings”. Carnegie Mellon University.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tir_na_nog/1813435848/’]