The Hobbit Video Showcase

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in a time "Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men", The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. It was published on September 21, 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic children's book.

Bilbo's journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into darker, deeper territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature, or type of creature, of Tolkien's Wilderland. By accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey and adventurous side of his nature (the "Tookish" side) and applying his wits and common sense, Bilbo develops a new level of maturity, competence and wisdom.

The final chapters deal with the climactic Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict. Critics have cited Tolkien's own experiences and the themes of other writers who fought in World War I, along with the author's professional knowledge of Anglo-Saxon literature and personal interest in fairy tales, as the chief influences.

Due to the book's critical and financial success, Tolkien's publishers requested a sequel. As work on the The Lord of the Rings progressed, Tolkien made retrospective accommodations for it in one chapter of The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled.

The work has never been out of print since the paper shortages of the Second World War. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, and gaming, both board and video games. Some of these adaptations have received critical recognition of their own, including a video game that won the Golden Joystick Award, a scenario of a war game that won an Origins Award, and an animated picture nominated for a Hugo Award.

The Hobbit is a 1977 animated television movie adaptation of the book by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film was made by Rankin/Bass Productions and manages to economically retell most of the story within its 78-minute duration. An LP with the soundtrack and dialogue from the film was also released in 1977 by Disney through its Buena Vista Records label and an edited version, along with accompanying "storyteller read-alongs," was later issued for the Mouse Factory's Disneyland Records imprint. Harry N. Abrams published a large coffee-table illustrated edition of the book featuring concept art and stills. A second album by Glenn Yarbrough of music "inspired" by The Hobbit was also released.

The film was first broadcast on NBC in the United States, on November 27, 1977 (on Sunday night, three days after Thanksgiving) and is presented in a heart-warming style, featuring a lot of songs (many of which are based on poems and lyrics from the book). Much of the story has been simplified and several episodes and key scenes are omitted.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (See J. R. R. Tolkien's own phonetic transcription published on the illustration in The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One. by Christopher Tolkien. London: Unwin Hyman, August 1988. (The History of Middle-earth; 6) ISBN 0-04-440162-0. The position of the stress is not entirely fixed: stress on the second syllable (tol rather than kien) has been used by some members of the Tolkien family.; in General American also Wells, John. 1990. Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow: Longman, ISBN 0582053838. This pronunciation no doubt arose because many General American speakers lack vowels of the ? and ?? types, thus this becomes the closest approximation to the RP pronunciation possible in their phonologies.) (3 January 1892 ? 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature from 1945 to 1959.Biography, page 111, 200, 266. He was a close friend of C. S. Lewis?they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.

After his death, Tolkien's son, Christopher, published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and Middle-earthMiddle-earth" is derived from an Anglicized form of Old Norse Miðgarðr, the land inhabited by humans in Norse mythology within it. Between 1951 and 1955 Tolkien applied the word legendarium to the larger part of these writings.Letters, nos. 131, 153, 154, 163.

While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, The author emphasizes the impact of not only Tolkien but also of William Morris, George MacDonald, Robert E. Howard and E. R. Eddison. the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when they were published in paperback in the United States led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature?or more precisely, high fantasy. Tolkien's writings have inspired many other works of fantasy and have had a lasting effect on the entire field. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".(5 January 2008). The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. The Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.