Tolkien Against the Grain

With over 150 million copies sold, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling prose narratives of the twentieth century and remains beloved by fans across the globe. The genre-defining story it tells of an unlikely provincial hero fated to save the world from destruction—and the close-knit, multi-species fellowship that aids him on his quest—has become the template for countless imitators in fantasy and science fiction, to say nothing of the series’ own adaptations into numerous popular films, television shows, and games.