The Hobbit

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This article is about the book. For other uses, see Hobbit (disambiguation)
The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again
Cover to the 1937 first edition
Cover to the 1937 first edition
Author J. R. R. Tolkien
Cover artist J. R. R. Tolkien
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Fantasy novel, Children's literature
Publisher George Allen & Unwin (UK) & Houghton Mifflin Co. (U.S.)
Publication date 1937
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio book
ISBN NA
Preceded by The Silmarillion
Followed by The Lord of the Rings
Middle-earth Portal

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a fantasy novel for children[1][2][3] written by J. R. R. Tolkien in the tradition of the fairy tale. It was first published on September 21, 1937 to wide acclaim. While it stands in its own right, it is often marketed as a prelude to Tolkien's monumental novel The Lord of the Rings.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The Hobbit is set in a time "between the dawn of Faerie and the Dominion of Men",[4] and follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins (the "Hobbit" of the title) as he leaves his comedic-rustic village and moves into darker, deeper territory[5] along with the thirteen Dwarves, and wizard Gandalf he encounters various denizens of the Wilderland, in order to reach and win his share of Smaug the Dragon's hoard. Through accepting the nature of his "Tookish" half (a disrespectable, romantic, fey and adventurous side of his family tree) and utilising both his wits and common sense during the quest, Bilbo develops a new level of maturity, competence and wisdom.[6]

[edit] Characters in The Hobbit

  • Bilbo Baggins, the titular protagonist, a respectable, comfort-loving, middle-aged hobbit. He joins the adventure as a reluctant burglar.
  • Gandalf, an itinerant wizard who introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves and then appears and disappears at key points throughout the story.
  • Thorin Oakenshield, bombastic head of the company and heir to a dwarven kingdom under the Lonely Mountain.
  • Smaug, a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarven kingdom of Thorin's grandfather.

The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other Dwarves of the company; elves; men (humans); trolls; goblins; giant spiders; eagles; Wargs (evil wolves); Elrond the sage; Gollum, a mysterious creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear-form; and Bard the Bowman, a heroic archer of Lake-town.

[edit] Synopsis

In the first chapter, Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for the thirteen dwarves, whose ambition is to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug. Gandalf proposes to enter by stealth, unveiling an old map showing a secret door and puts forward Bilbo as a "burglar". The Dwarves, and in spite of himself, Bilbo, agree.

Early on in the book, Gandalf saves the bumbling company from trolls, and they pass through Rivendell, teased by singing elves. Hiding from storm giants, the company enter the Misty Mountains and are captured by goblins. Though Gandalf rescues the dwarves from the goblin tunnels, Bilbo becomes lost. Groping along, Bilbo finds a magic ring and, risking death, plays a game of riddles with a creature called Gollum. Bilbo barely wins and with the help of the ring, which confers invisibility when worn, he saves himself for the first time, and rejoins the company. Bilbo's reputation is thus improved. They pass through Mirkwood, where Bilbo saves the dwarves from giant spiders. After the dwarves are captured by Wood-elves, he rescues them from prison. By this time it is Bilbo whom the group relies on in Gandalf's absence, and he in turn relies on his ring.

Arriving in Lake-town the people welcome the travellers, hopeful the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug's demise. The dwarves enter the secret dwarf door in the mountain and Bilbo scouts the dragon's lair - learning of a weakness in Smaugs armour. The dragon deduces that Lake-town aided the intruder so he sets out to destroy the town in anger. A noble thrush overheard Bilbo's report about Smaug's weakness, and reports it to Bard the Bowman who slays the Dragon.

The dwarves take possession of the mountain and the hoard. Bilbo finds the prized Arkenstone gem and hides it away. The Lake-men and Wood-elves request reparations, payment for their aid, and settlement of old claims on the treasure. Thorin refuses and summons his kin from the north to reinforce his position. Bilbo tries to ransom the Arkenstone to head off a war, but the dwarves are intransigent. Thorin, livid, banishes Bilbo. War looms inevitable.

Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men, and elves defer their differences and band together, and a fierce battle ensues. Only with the timely arrival of the eagles and Beorn, is the Battle of Five Armies won. Thorin recognises Bilbo's wisdom and selflessness, and dies. The treasure is divided fairly, but, having no need or desire for it, Bilbo refuses most of his share. Nevertheless, he returns home with enough to make himself a very wealthy hobbit.

[edit] Concept and creation

[edit] Writing

In a 1955 letter to W. H. Auden, Tolkien recollects that in the late 1920s, when he was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, he began The Hobbit when he was marking School Certificate papers. He found one blank piece of paper. Suddenly inspired he wrote the words "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." He did not go any further than that at the time, although in the following years he drew up Thrór's map, outlining the geography of the tale. It was eventually published when a family friend named Elaine Griffiths was shown a typescript of the story in the early 1930s. When she later went to work for George Allen & Unwin, she revealed the existence of the story to a staffmember named Susan Dagnall, who in turn asked Tolkien if she could look at the (still incomplete) manuscript. He complied and Ms. Dagnall, impressed by it, urged him to complete the book. Once this was done in late 1936, she then showed the book to Stanley Unwin, who then asked his 10-year-old son Rayner to review it. Rayner wrote such an enthusiastic review of the book that it was published by Allen & Unwin.

Tolkien introduced or mentioned characters and places that figured prominently[citation needed] in his legendarium, specifically Elrond and Gondolin, along with elements from Germanic legend.

In May and June 2007, HarperCollins and Houghton Mifflin published The History of The Hobbit in the United Kingdom. Much like The History of Middle-earth, The History of The Hobbit examines in two volumes previously unpublished original drafts of The Hobbit with extensive commentary by John Rateliff. In celebration and recognition of the 70th anniversary of The Hobbit, The History was published in the United States on September 21, 2007, exactly 70 years after the initial publication of Tolkien's work.

[edit] Publication

Dustcover of the first edition of The Hobbit. This cover was designed by Tolkien himself, as was the binding illustrated at the top of this article.
Dustcover of the first edition of The Hobbit. This cover was designed by Tolkien himself, as was the binding illustrated at the top of this article.

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of The Hobbit on September 21, 1937. It was illustrated with many black-and-white drawings by Tolkien himself. The original printing numbered a mere 1,500 copies and sold out by December due to enthusiastic reviews.[7] Houghton Mifflin of Boston and New York prepared an American edition to be released early in 1938 in which four of the illustrations would be colour plates. Allen & Unwin decided to incorporate the colour illustrations into their second printing, released at the end of 1937.[7] Despite the book's popularity, wartime conditions forced the London publisher to print small runs of the remaining two printings of the first edition.

The first printing of the first English language edition rarely sells for under $10,000 US dollars in any whole condition, and clean copies in original dust jackets signed by the author are routinely advertised for over $100,000.[citation needed]

New English-language editions of The Hobbit spring up often, despite the book's age, with at least fifty editions having been published to date. Each comes from a different publisher or bears distinctive cover art, internal art, or substantial changes in format. The text of each generally adheres to the Allen & Unwin edition extant at the time it is published. In addition, the Hobbit has been translated into over forty languages. Some languages have seen multiple translations.

[edit] Revisions

In December 1937, Tolkien's publishers asked for a sequel, and the author began work on what would become The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien eventually decided to include both it and The Hobbit in a cycle of fantasy writings (to which he applied the word legendarium) which he had worked on since 1917; it had yet to be fully revised upon his death in 1973. An edited version of these writings was posthumously published as The Silmarillion in 1977.

In the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle-game, and he and Bilbo part amicably.[8] During the writing of The Lord of the Rings Tolkien saw the need to revise these passages, in order to reflect his new concept of the ring and its powerful hold on Gollum. Tolkien tried many different passages in the chapter that would become chapter 2 of The Lord of the Rings, "The Shadow of the Past". Eventually Tolkien decided a rewrite of The Hobbit was in order, and he sent a sample chapter of this rewrite ("Riddles in the Dark") to his publishers. He heard nothing further for months. When he was sent galley proofs of a new edition he learned to his surprise the new chapter had been incorporated as the result of a misunderstanding.[9]

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien retroactively establishes that the events of The Hobbit take place during the "Third Age" of Middle-earth,[10] a fictional prehistoric Earth[10][11]. He presents himself as the translator of the supposedly historic Red Book of Westmarch, where Bilbo and Frodo's stories were recorded. In the book's prologue, as well as in the chapter "The Shadow of the Past", Tolkien explains the original version of the riddle-game as a "lie" that Bilbo made up because of the One Ring's influence on him, and which he originally wrote down in his diary, the basis of The Hobbit. Revised versions of The Hobbit would contain the "true" version of events.[10] Later, Bilbo finally confesses the true story at the Council of Elrond, although Gandalf had deduced the truth earlier.[12]

Tolkien made other small changes in order to conform the narrative to events in The Lord of the Rings and in the ideas he was continually developing for the Quenta Silmarillion[citation needed]. This first revision became the second edition, published in 1951 in both UK and American editions.[7]

Minor corrections to the text appeared in the third (1966) and fourth editions (1978).[13] For example, the phrase elves that are now called Gnomes appears in the first[14] and second[15] editions on page 63. Tolkien had used "Gnome" in his earlier writing to refer to the second kindred of the High Elves – the Noldor (or "Deep Elves"). Tolkien thought that "gnome", being derived from the Greek gnosis (knowledge), was a good name for the Noldor he created to be the wisest of the other Elves, but with its English connotations of a small, secretive, and unattractive creature (see garden gnome) Tolkien ultimately replaced the phrase with High Elves of the West, my kin in the third edition[16].

In its final revision, The Hobbit still has many differences in tone from The Lord of the Rings. For example, Orcs are called "goblins" in The Hobbit, but more often referred to as Orcs in The Lord of the Rings.[17] Many of these inconsistencies occur because Tolkien originally wrote the book as a children's story separate from (but connected to) his mythological work, [9] and his concept of Middle-earth was to change and evolve throughout his life and writings.[18]

[edit] Style

The basic form of the story is that of a quest, told in episodes. Tolkien fills the story with a wealth of detail regarding minor characters and distant events which can make his imaginary world seem to have more depth, but has been seen by some[Who?] to slow down the pace.[citation needed] The narrative voice often addresses the reader directly, a device which the author himself came to dislike.[19] (Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien claims he had to restrain himself from rewriting the book entirely when revising it after a period of nearly 20 years.[9])

The novel draws on Tolkien's knowledge of historical languages and early European texts, the names of Gandalf and all but one of the thirteen dwarves being taken directly from the Old Norse poem "Voluspa" from the Elder Edda.[20] and its illustrations (provided by the author) make use of Anglo-Saxon runes. The story is filled with information on calendars and moon phases, detailed geographical descriptions that fit well with the accompanying maps — attention to detail that is also found in Tolkien's later work.

[edit] Major themes

The Hobbit may be read as Tolkien's parable of the First World War, where the hero is plucked from his rural home, and thrown into a far off war where traditional types of heroism are shown to be futile[21] and as such explores the theme of heroism.

The Jungian concept of individuation is reflected through theme of growing maturity and capability, with the author seen to be contrasting Bilbo's personal growth against the lack of that of the dwarves. [6]

Greed plays a central role in the novel, with many of the episodes stemming from one or more of the characters simple desire for food (be it Trolls eating Dwarves, or Dwarves eating Wood-elf fare) or a desire for objects, such as gold and jewels.[citation needed]

[edit] Adaptations

Over the years, The Hobbit has been adapted for other media multiple times.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast The Hobbit radio drama, adapted by Michael Kilgarriff, in eight parts (4 hours) from September to November 1968, which starred Anthony Jackson as narrator, Paul Daneman as Bilbo and Heron Carvic as Gandalf.

Nicol Williamson's abridged reading of the book was released on four LP records in 1974 by Argo Records.

The Hobbit, an animated version of the story, produced by Rankin/Bass, debuted as a television movie in the United States in 1977.

The American radio theatre company The Mind's Eye produced an audio adaptation of "The Hobbit" which was released on six one-hour audio cassettes in 1979.

The BBC children's television series Jackanory presented an adaptation of The Hobbit in 1979.[22] Unusually for the programme, the adaptation had multiple storytellers. According to one of the narrators David Wood , the release of the production on video has been repeatedly stopped by the Tolkien Estate.[23]

A three part comic book adaptation with script by Chuck Dixon and Sean Deming and illustrated by David Wenzel was published by Eclipse Comics in 1989. A reprint collected in one volume was released by Del Rey Books in 2001.

Robert Inglis adapted and performed a one-man theatre play of The Hobbit. This performance led to him being asked to read/perform the unabridged audiobook for The Lord of the Rings for Recorded Books in 1990. In 1991 he read the unabridged version of The Hobbit.

In 2004 an Operatic version of the story was written and had it's world premiere in Canada. The score is currently being revised and will have it's American premiere in the Spring of 2008 at the Sarasota Opera in Sarasota, Florida.

A live-action film version is being discussed as a prequel to the Lord of The Rings film trilogy.[24]

[edit] Games

The Hobbit has been the subject of several board games, including "The Lonely Mountain" (1984), "The Battle of Five Armies" (1984), and "The Hobbit Adventure Boardgame" (1997) all published by Iron Crown Enterprises.

Games Workshop released a "Battle of Five Armies" (2005) tabletop wargame using 10mm figures, based on their Warmaster rules.

Several computer and video games, both official and unofficial, have been based on the story. One of the first was The Hobbit, an award winning (Golden Joystick Award for Strategy Game of the Year 1983) computer game developed in 1982 by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House for most computers available at the time, from the more popular computers such as the ZX Spectrum, and the Commodore 64, through to the Dragon 32 and Oric computers. By arrangement with publishers, a copy of the novel was included with each game sold. Sierra Entertainment published a platform game titled The Hobbit in 2003 for Windows PCs, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. It was a similar version of which was also published for the Game Boy Advance.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Houghton Mifflin - Children's Books. Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  2. ^ Auden, W.H. "The Hero is a Hobbit", The New York Times, 1954-10-31. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. 
  3. ^ Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature. Retrieved on 2007-09-29. “[...] honors books for younger readers (from “Young Adults” to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia.”
  4. ^ Eaton, Anne T.. "A Delightfully Imaginative Journey", The New York Times, 1938-03-13. 
  5. ^ Langford, David (2001). "Lord of the Royalties". SFX magazine. Retrieved on 2007-09-29. 
  6. ^ a b Matthews, Dorothy. "The Psychological Journey of Bilbo Baggins", A Tolkien Compass, 27-40. 
  7. ^ a b c Hammond, Wayne; Douglas A. Anderson (1993). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 15,18,21,48,54. ISBN 0-938768-42-5. 
  8. ^ Anderson, The Annotated Hobbit (1988)
  9. ^ a b c Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography. London: George Allen & Unwin. OCLC 3046822. 
  10. ^ a b c J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Prologue. ISBN 0-395-08255-2. 
  11. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #211, footnote. ISBN 0-395-31555-7. 
  12. ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1987). The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Council of Elrond". ISBN 0-395-08255-2. 
  13. ^ Anderson, The Annotated Hobbit (1988), 322-328
  14. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). The Hobbit. London: George Allen & Unwin, 63. 
  15. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1951). The Hobbit. London: George Allen & Unwin, 63. 
  16. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1966). The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 62. 
  17. ^ Anderson, The Annotated Hobbit (1988)
  18. ^ Christopher Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth
  19. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). Tolkien: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-04-928037-6. 
  20. ^ Tolkien's Middle-earth: Lesson Plans, Unit Two. Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  21. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey: Tolkien and the Great War, Review, The Times 2003 Tolkien and the Great War, Review, The Times 2003
  22. ^ "The Hobbit". Jackanory. Internet Movie Database: Jackanory, "The Hobbit" (1979)
  23. ^ David Woods, website [1]
  24. ^ Benjamin Svetkey. "'The Hobbit': Peace in Middle-Earth?", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  • Tolkien, J. R. R.; Douglas A. Anderson (1988). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
J. R. R. Tolkien
Bibliography
Fiction Songs for the Philologists (1936) • The Hobbit or There and Back Again (1937) • Leaf by Niggle (1945) • The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (1945) • Farmer Giles of Ham (1949) • The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (1953) • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954), The Return of the King (1955) • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (1962) • The Road Goes Ever On (1967) • Tree and Leaf (1964) • The Tolkien Reader (1966) • Smith of Wootton Major (1967)
Posthumous Fiction The Father Christmas Letters (1976) • The Silmarillion (1977) • Unfinished Tales (1980) • Bilbo's Last Song (1990) • The History of Middle-earth (12 Volumes) (1983–1996) • Roverandom (1998) • The Children of Húrin (2007) • The History of The Hobbit (2007)
Academic A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (trans. 1925) • Some Contributions to Middle-English Lexicography (1925) • The Devil's Coach Horses (1925) • Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad (1929) • The Name 'Nodens' (1932) • Sigelwara Land parts I and II, in Medium Aevum (1932-34) • Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale (1934) • Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1937) • The Reeve's Tale: version prepared for recitation at the 'summer diversions' (1939) • On Fairy-Stories (1939) • Sir Orfeo (1944) • Ofermod and Beorhtnoth's Death (1953) • Middle English "Losenger": Sketch of an etymological and semantic enquiry (1953) • Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle (1962) • English and Welsh (1963) • Introduction to Tree and Leaf (1964) • Contributions to the Jerusalem Bible (as translator and lexicographer) (1966) • Tolkien on Tolkien (autobiographical) (1966)
Other Posthumous Finn and Hengest (1982) • The Monsters and the Critics (1983) • Beowulf and the Critics (2002)
v • d • e
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Films: Animated version (1977) · Planned live action version (2009)
Miscellanea: Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien · Middle-earth in video games
Characters: Bilbo · Gandalf · Thorin Oakenshield · Balin · Dwalin · Fíli · Kíli · Dori · Nori · Ori · Óin · Glóin · Bifur · Bofur · Bombur · Tom, Bert and Bill · Elrond · Great Goblin · Gollum · Lord of the Eagles · Beorn · Elvenking · Bard · Master of Lake-town · Smaug
Related works: The History of The Hobbit · The Lord of The Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring · The Two Towers · The Return of the King) · The Adventures of Tom Bombadil · The Silmarillion · Unfinished Tales · The History of Middle-earth (includes The History of The Lord of the Rings) · Bilbo's Last Song · The Children of Húrin

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