Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien The works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", have exerted considerable influence since their publication. A culture of fandom sprang up in the 1960s, but reception by the establishment of literary criticism has been slower. Nevertheless, academic studies on Tolkien's works have been appearing at an increasing pace since the mid-1980s. "The Lord of the Rings" has received mixed reviews since its inception, ranging from terrible to excellent. Recent reviews in various media have been, in a majority, highly positive and Tolkien's literary achievement is slowly
J. R. R. Tolkien published in three volumes. The story of this continuous redrafting is told in the posthumous series "The History of Middle-earth", edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien. From around 1936, Tolkien began to extend this framework to include the tale of "The Fall of Númenor", which was inspired by the legend of Atlantis. Tolkien had appointed his son Christopher to be his literary executor, and he (with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, later a well-known fantasy author in his own right) organized some of this material into a single coherent volume, published as "The Silmarillion" in 1977. It received the Locus