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JRR Tolkien: 'I Never Expected a Money Success'

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday October 28 2015, @10:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the one-ring-to-rule-them-all dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

"I never expected a money success," said Tolkien, pacing the room, as he does constantly when he speaks. "In fact, I never even thought of commercial publication when I wrote The Hobbit back in the Thirties.

"It all began when I was reading exam papers to earn a bit of extra money. That was agony. One of the tragedies of the underpaid professor is that he has to do menial jobs. He is expected to maintain a certain position and to send his children to good schools. Well, one day I came to a blank page in an exam book and I scribbled on it. 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

The piece is a pleasant read about the greatest fantasy writer of all time.

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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by q.kontinuum on Thursday October 29 2015, @07:27AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday October 29 2015, @07:27AM (#255918) Journal

    Why is the summary all about Tolkien when the article itself is supposed to be about Terry Pratchett?

    The piece is a pleasant read about the greatest fantasy writer of all time.

    No offence, I like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings quite a lot, and I see it had quite some impact on later fantasy novels. But its not remotely as entertaining as Terry Pratchett and IMO has far less bearing on modern society. Nor did it inspire me remotely as much as Terry Pratchetts books did.

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  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday October 29 2015, @08:00AM

    by isostatic (365) on Thursday October 29 2015, @08:00AM (#255923) Journal

    Fantasy is supposed to be escapism. The most ridiculous parts of disk world end up being true in real life.

    • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday October 29 2015, @09:11AM

      by q.kontinuum (532) on Thursday October 29 2015, @09:11AM (#255941) Journal

      For me, Fantasy is also a way to deal with reality by distorting it enough to not be personally connected. I think LOTR also relates to reality in a way...

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