Tolkien's themes and major influences stem from his love of mythology and his love for storytelling. Starting with "The Silmarillion" Tolkien began creating a the vast world of Middle Earth and even made up an entire elvish language to go along with it. Tolkien also loved to tell stories and in 1930 he started working on a story that was geared towards a younger audience, the book becoming "The Hobbit". The major themes encountered in "The Hobbit" are very similar to a coming of age story. Bilbo goes from a simple-lived hobbit to a grand adventurer. "The Lord of the Rings" is a heroic epic story and even themed by the Shamonic journey through many of the characters. Tolkien often told stories of wild adventure that always had purpose.
Tolkien's writing subject did not become a hit right off the bat. At the time publishers were mainly concerned with a new style of writing: realism. But over time Tolkien's storys of fantasy and adventure took off and to this day are still the cornerstone of todays fantasy writing. In fact when "The Lord of the Rings" was published in paperback in the U.S. it received cult status within the college community and many of the fantasy writers of today cite Tolkien as an influence in their writing (including my favorite R.A. Salvatore).
Works Cited
- Rogers, Debra Webster. "J.R.R. Tolkien" In Twayne's English Authors Series Online, New York: G.K. Hall & Co. Online, 1999.
-"J.R.R. Tolkien", Encyclodeadia Britannica Online. 09 April 2010.
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