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