Works

The video about is a long (almost two hours), detailed discussion of the works, inspirations, and scholarship of Tolkien. It is an excellent resource for those interested in Tolkien’s works and how they came to be.

In Tolkien’s lifetime, he wrote and published many works–both in fiction (fantasy) and non-fiction. He began publishing in works from he debating society in 1910, at the age of 18, and continued until the year he died. He wrote for almost his entire life, much of his work was to remain unpublished in his lifetime, but is now being released by the Tolkien Estate with the help of his son, Christopher.  A detailed chronologically ordered list of his publications (from 1910-present) can be found here. I will just focus on his main works in the fantasy genre. Though, for an understanding of how Tolkien views the writing of fantasy and what stories themselves “should do,” his essay “On Fairy Stories” lends itself excellently to explanations of such topics.

The cover of the first edition of The Hobbit, drawing by Tolkien himself

The Hobbit was first published in 1937, and had begun before that as a set of stories Tolkien was telling to his children in the years 1928-1930. He was encouraged to write the stories down and did so. The Hobbit was intended as a children’s book, but has since and even in Tolkien’s lifetime, been loved by adults and children alike. It follows the adventures of a young hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. The novel, a best-seller in its time, is still one of the best-selling novels in the 21st century and has had several movie adaptations, the most recent and well-known done (in what will be three parts) by Peter Jackson.

First edition

The Lord of the Rings was initially intended as a sequel to The Hobbit, and it is, but not as a children’s story. When he began writing the novel in 1936, after he had submitted The Hobbit to the publisher, at some point along the way he said he had “forgotten children” in his writing of the novel and The Lord of the Rings became a sequel of epic proportions. The Lord of the the Rings is actually comprised of three books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. The Fellowship of the Ring was not published until eighteen years later, in 1954.

The Silmarillion, which Tolkien has writings on dating back to 1914, was not published until after his death in 1973 by Christopher. After Tolkien died, Christopher took up the difficult task of sorting through all of Tolkien’s unfinished manuscripts, notes, etc. to build a complete piece for publication. The Silmarillion is essentially the histories of Middle-earth. It contains Tolkien’s mythologies, the histories of the different peoples within the realm of Middle-earth, dates, names, etc.

Christopher, working with The Tolkien Estate, has continued to published many of his father’s unfinished works. Not only works of fiction in his realm of Middle-earth, but also translations like The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (an Old Norse poem). Because Tolkien wrote almost his entire life, there are still (I imagine) many works to be discovered among his notes and writings.

If you are interested in the works of Tolkien (and you should be!), here is the official website wherein you’ll find special editions, illustrated works (by Tolkien himself as well as Alan Lee), and other such publications.