Pete writes “It is always interesting to learn how contemporaries viewed what are now considered classics and the BBC does just that with this piece.
“The Fellowship of the Ring, the first instalment of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings, was published 50 years ago. But what did critics of the day make of the book?
One of the most popular books in literary history it is also a regular winner of recent polls to find the nation’s favourite novel – last year it topped the BBC’s Big Read survey.
But Tolkien’s public did not always look so favourably upon this epic work.””
Good and Evil
“Mr Tolkien describes a tremendous conflict between good and evil… but his good people are consistently good, his evil figures immovably evil,” wrote the Observer’s Mr Muir. ”
Their criticism is what makes it great and timeless. To get caught up in the ups and downs of ordinary life does nothing to inspire or to stretch the imagination.