Elves in fiction Norse-style elves. However, the elves found in the works of the 20th-century philologist and fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien have formed the view of elves in modern fantasy like no other singular source. The first appearance of modern fantasy elves occurred in "The King of Elfland's Daughter", a 1924 novel by Lord Dunsany. The next modern work featuring elves was "The Hobbit", a 1937 novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. Elves played a major role in many of Tolkien's later works, notably "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien's elves were followed by grim Norse-style elves of human size in
J R J R J R is a novel by William Gaddis published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975. In the story, a schoolboy secretly amasses a fortune in penny stocks. "J R" won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1976. It was Gaddis' first novel since the 1955 publication of "The Recognitions". To complete the novel, Gaddis received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Excerpts of the work were published in "The Dutton Review", "Antaeus", and "Harper's" magazine. "J R" tells the story of the eponymous J R Vansant, an 11-year-old schoolboy who