An artifact that changed the course of culture in some way of its own.

Tolkien’s own cover design for the three books of LOTR

OverviewWhat the topic demands?(4-5)How LOTR fits into the topic 1. Brief description(6-9) 2. Influences(10) 3. Reception(11-15) 4. Legacy(16-21) 5. Conclusion(22) 6. References(23)

An artifact that changed the course of culture in some way of its own.

Culture: It involves anything in practice and has to be cultivated.

Not necessarily only literature or art related.

Candidates can be anything which changed the thought or action of people in any field.

Music: Hindi Rock.

Sports: 20-20 or the IPL

Computer Science: Linux, Google.

Academics: IITs, the coaching culture for IITs.

LOTRAuthor: J. R. R. Tolkein

Genres: High fantasy, adventure novel.

Volumes: 1. The Fellowship of the Ring 2. The Twin Towers. 3. The Return of the King

Published in 1954-55.

The title refers to the chief antagonist Sauron, the creator of the one ring that rules the other rings of power.

Defeated 3000 years from the story’s present time.

Now regaining power and desired the Ring of Power.

InfluencesInfluenced by Tolkien’s interest in philology,

religion, fairy tales, William Morris and the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.

The shire influenced by the countryside around Stonyhurst college in Lancashire where Tolkien stayed during 1940’s.

ReceptionGot both positive and negative reviews.

Reviews range from excellent to terrible.

Positive CriticismSunday Telegraph quoted “among the

greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century.”

Sunday Times wrote “the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them.”

Positive CriticismW. H. Auden regarded it as a masterpiece .

In some cases it even outdid the achievements of Paradise lost.

Negative CriticismNew York Times reviewer Judith Shulevitz

critized “formulated a high-minded belief in the importance of his mission as a literary preservationist, which turns out to be death to literature itself.

C. S. Lewis wrote, "here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book which will break your heart."

Negative CriticismSome critics considered it as racist.

Critics also saw social class as being the determinant factor between good and evil.

LegacyOn fantasy genre

On Music

On Mass Media

On popular culture

On Fantasy GenreExpanded the demand for fantasy fiction.

The word Tolkienesque added to the oxford dictionary.

Several video games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warcraft inspired by it.

The alternate plurals for elf and dwarf (-ves instead of –fs) popularised.

On MusicInspired lyrically and musically the Rock

Bands of 70’s.

Classical and New Age musicians also inspired.

On Mass MediaAdapted four times for radio

The movie series Lord of The Rings .

The second movie The Twin Towers broke 1 billion dollar barrier and won 11 oscars.

Also adapted for stage performances.

On Popular Culture“Frodo lives” and “Gandalf for the President”

were famous among the people.

Computer, video and tabletop games have been made based on it.

A man with a tatoo of Lord Sauran’s helmet

ConclusionConsidering the above mentioned effects of

LOTR on the society, I acknowledge LOTR to be a perfect candidate to fit into what is demanded by the topic.

Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOTR

The book “The Lord Of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien.

http://images.google.co.in/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi.

The movie series “The Lord Of The Rings”

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