Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

==== ''The Lord of the Rings'' ====

{{main|The Lord of the Rings}}

The request for a sequel prompted Tolkien to begin what became his most famous work: the epic novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (originally published in three volumes in 1954–1955). Tolkien spent more than ten years writing the primary narrative and appendices for ''The Lord of the Rings'', during which time he received the constant support of the [[Inklings]], in particular his closest friend [[C.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Lewis]], the author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''. Both ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are set against the background of ''The Silmarillion'', but in a time long after it.<ref name="The New Hobbit">{{harvnb|Carpenter|1977|pp=187–208}}</ref>

Tolkien at first intended ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be a children's tale in the style of ''The Hobbit'', but it quickly grew darker and more serious in the writing.<ref>{{cite news |date=5 June 1955 |title=Oxford Calling |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-oxford.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411062443/http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-oxford.html |archive-date=11 April 2009}}</ref> Though a direct sequel to ''The Hobbit'', it addressed an older audience, drawing on the immense [[backstory]] of [[Beleriand]] that Tolkien had constructed in previous years, and which eventually saw posthumous publication in ''The Silmarillion'' and other volumes.<ref name="The New Hobbit" /> Tolkien strongly influenced the [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]] genre that grew up after the book's success.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2020 |publisher=[[Wiley Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-65602-9 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |pages=335–349 |chapter=Later Fantasy Fiction: Tolkien's Legacy |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |orig-date=2014}}</ref>

''The Lord of the Rings'' became immensely popular in the 1960s and has remained so ever since, ranking as one of the most popular works of fiction of the 20th century, judged by both sales and reader surveys.<ref>{{cite news |last=Seiler |first=Andy |date=16 December 2003 |title='Rings' comes full circle |work=[[USA Today]] |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-12-12-lotr-main_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019074732/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2003-12-12-lotr-main_x.htm |archive-date=19 October 2012}}</ref> In the 2003 "[[Big Read]]" survey conducted by the BBC, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was found to be the UK's "Best-loved Novel".<ref>{{cite web |date=April 2003 |title=BBC – The Big Read |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031065136/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |archive-date=31 October 2012 |access-date=2 November 2012 |website=BBC}}</ref> Australians voted ''The Lord of the Rings'' "My Favourite Book" in a 2004 survey conducted by the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|Australian ABC]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Cooper |first=Callista |date=5 December 2005 |title=Epic trilogy tops favorite film poll |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1523327.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116213130/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1523327.htm |archive-date=16 January 2006 |website=ABC News}}</ref> In a 1999 poll of [[Amazon (company)|Amazon.com]] customers, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium".<ref>{{cite web |last=O'Hehir |first=Andrew |date=4 June 2001 |title=The book of the century |url=http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/04/tolkien/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213000712/http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/04/tolkien/ |archive-date=13 February 2006 |website=Salon}}</ref> In 2002 Tolkien was voted the 92nd "[[100 Greatest Britons|greatest Briton]]" in a poll conducted by the BBC, and in 2004 he was voted 35th in the [[SABC3's Great South Africans]], the only person to appear in both lists. His popularity is not limited to the English-speaking world: in a 2004 poll inspired by the UK's "Big Read" survey, about 250,000 Germans found ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be their favourite work of literature.<ref>{{cite news |last=Diver |first=Krysia |date=5 October 2004 |title=A lord for Germany |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/04/1096871805007.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817074109/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/04/1096871805007.html |archive-date=17 August 2007}}</ref>