Tolkien on 'The Hobbit'

J. R. R. Tolkien talks about how he created The Hobbit


"The actual beginning, though it was not really the beginning, but the actual flash point was - I remember very clearly I ?? I took umm I still see the corner in my house in 22 Northmoor Road ??. I got an enormous pile of exam papers there, and uhh markings.. examinations.. summertime?.. it was enormous... very laborious. And unfortunately it was boring. And I remember picking up a paper and actually throwing.. I nearly gave an extra mark for it, an extra five marks actually - there was one page on this particular paper left blank - glorious - nothing to read. So I scribbled on it - I can't think why: "In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tolkien
• interview
• hobbit
• beginning

[dafticaldandy]

i watched the hobbit as a child and i was never afraid. i wished and still wish to be able to live on middle-earth and go on a grand adventure.

[tpricej3frenz]

Awesome,thanks for sharing

[richmanpoman1]

Dame Judy Dench, female narrator at the end.

[ParkerAlen213]

I don't see it as a kids book. More like a young adult book

[WierdNumbers123]

I hope Tolkien gave the guy with the extra blank page an A+

[LaurelinB]

To The Professor - the man who brought us all together!

[michaelforthriller]

He was the real Gandalf .

[HistoryLubber]

@sleedolfine15 A moral crusade against whom or what? Evil? The desire for power? If you are implying that the mention of evil and its destruction is a "moral crusade," we can do for more crusading.

[Songsmirth]

@HistoryLubber Interesting. I did a study on, "Alice in Wonderland" and it wasn't originally meant for children. A lot of them were. Alice was a political satyr of it's day and when you read the origional, you can see it! I got the privilage of seeing some of the author's handwritten notes at the British Museum years ago. One day, I'm going to go back and spend 2/3 days there instead of one. Thanks History for the comment. :) Songs

[HistoryLubber]

@Songsmirth Tolkien actually talked about exposing young children to that sort of darkness. I pulled up the quote from Michael Drout's "The Tolkien Encyclopedia," Tolkien wrote, '‎'It is one lesson of fairy-stories…that on callow, lumpish, and selfish youth, peril, sorrow, and the shadow of death can bestow dignity, and even sometimes wisdom.'

Tolkien's appeal to children in the Hobbit is usually by making light of tragedy. Usually through the character of Gandalf.