“There's nothing in "The Lord of the Rings" except that it's a foundation of one's feeling for trees, flowers and England generally.” J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien planned to dedicate his lore “to England; to my country” (Letters, 144 #131; cf. 250 #190)), yet the books and films are an astonishing global phenomenon. Why? Maybe the world over there is an appetite for Elves, Hobbits, Wargs, Nazgûl, and nasty little fellows like Gollum. Maybe its success speaks to the voyeur in us: the appeal of wandering inside one man’s densely constructed fantasy; or maybe it is because we sense that the fantasy world that is Middle-earth is jammed full of moral, political, philosophical, and religious ideas with which we wrestle and perhaps have some sympathy. Maybe we agree with Tolkien that the Hobbits are happy and free? More, perhaps we sense that they are happier and freer than us?
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