The Grey Havens - Tolkien: UK's #1 Best Seller of the Century

"Golden Lotus", June, 1998.

UK's #1 Best Seller of the Century - "The Lord of the Rings"

People would think a book which can represent the 20th century must be a book that received the Nobel or Pulitzer Prizes. But in the British mind, their book of the century obviously is not so. According to the questionnaires sent out by "Water Stone Books" in 1997, the result was astonishing. The book on the top of the list was "The Lord of the Rings" an intriguing story of fantasy, which has never obtained any kind of prize.

Classical Works

If there is any doubt how a fantasy novel could capture so many British readers' hearts and even become the book of the century, you just have to look at two numbers: it has been translated into over 20 languages, and already sold more than twenty five million copies.
The spokesman of Harper Collins (British Publisher), David Marshall said, "If you say it is the best selling novel in history, you won't find too many people who would argue with you."
In the UK, there's a fan club called The Tolkien Society which has grown to two hundred seventy thousand members. In the U.S., many universities have courses for this novel - for instance, the University of California at San Diego, Rice University in Texas, etc.
Because of its popularity, this book became the subject of movies and T.V. dramas twenty years ago in the U.K., and is the basis for many popular electronic games for youngsters using its complicated plot as the content.
Those facts show "The Lord of the Rings" must have a very special fascination.
"The Lord of the Rings" was written by a linguistics and literary professor, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, of Oxford University in 1954 (actually started much earlier, but finally published in that year). It is a series of stories about little people who live in holes called Hobbits. One of the Hobbits, named Bilbo Baggins, discovered a magic ring which can make a person invisible, but the ring was evil and started to invade the world of good people step by step. Fortunately, the power of justice found it out in time and after Bilbo's successor, Frodo, inherited the ring, the confrontation of good and evil began. Not only the plot of this book attracts people, but the characterization of the figures in the stories, such as Hobbits, dwarves, dragons, demons, magicians, and knights, etc. are so vivid and interesting that it enthralls the reading public.

The Reasons

It is a typical story of the confrontation of good and evil. So how could such a traditional and universal topic be recognized as a British household book and stay in the #1 position as the "Book of the Century" list? Does it have something special? How could an illusory novel become the representative novel of the century? Maybe we can find some answers from the words of the readers:

"Why? I guess there are several reasons. Tolkien himself said he was similar to the Hobbits, which he invented, who enjoy smoking a pipe in front of a fireplace. This is the type of man who courageously fought in World War II. And Tolkien himself was a soldier in World War I. That is why his two best sellers are both about a person who relies on his courage to save the whole world. The stories are about valiant heroes, and they both have happy endings. Today, on the contrary, people are squeezed into worthless small pieces by politics and social rules which are controlled by a few politicians. So, people feel more at ease with those warm and sincere Hobbits who always want to help others. The world which people want to see and hear today is NOT the fighting in Sarajevo or abused children in Belgium. It is about the human nature that is capable of doing something good for others, even if an unnoticeable tiny event."----? started teaching "Tolkien Study" in 1976 at the Rice University, Texas, and had been living in Taiwan for two years, Professor Jane Chance expresses her personal view while conducting our interview over the Internet.

At the tender age of 18, and representing a new generation of human beings that are going to graduate from high school, Olivier Stulp sent us an e-mail from Holland. He told us, "The reason this book has been greeted with great delight in Europe is because it has a splendid story, giving total satisfaction to the readers. At the same time, it brings us a message: most people tend to have daydreams or illusions, but not everyone can create a big scale, elaborately designed 'Dream Land' out of it. Tolkien brings such a Dream Land to those wanting to escape from this world who have always dreamed of themselves as great magicians or heroic fighters. I also think the same reason those computer games are so popular today is because one can be lost in the game and become a hero. I myself daydream a lot. In the complete freedom of my mind, I can make up many strange stories and a most wonderful, beautiful world. And then when something doesn't comply with my wishes or whenever I am depressed I can go into hiding in this world."

"In our real world the last one to win is not always the good guy, and terrible things always seem to happen to innocent people. That is why we need a place to hide and there's no better hiding place than the country described in 'The Lord of the Rings'. There, the spirit of bravery is overflowing, there are real men and women, and those marvelous little hobbits, too." Far in Croatia in Eastern Europe, Josip Tosic said so from his heart.

As a Taiwanese son-in-law, Erik Tracy sent us his thought: "There are many reasons why his books are so popular and you will get different answers from different people. But for me personally, the reason why I find them so satisfying is that Tolkien has successfully created a secondary reality; like a woven tapestry, his books have threads which cross and form patterns that are satisfying to ponder on, but then as you follow the threads to other parts of the tapestry you are left in awe when you see the larger patterns. For me, it is pure joy to be able to open the first book and savor the moment that yet again I can escape totally into a wondrous world of myth and magic where everything makes sense; there is purpose, there is truth, and there is something to be gained by reading the books. Each reading results in more discoveries. As to why 'fantasy' was ranked high - Tolkien wrote an essay called 'On Fairy Stories' in which he defended the worth of fantasy tales, which others condemned as unworthy of serious study, much less reading them. They were categorically relegated to children and not 'serious' adults. Tolkien contended that the adult mind had a greater need of fantasy than children. There was a compelling reason why the adult mind seeks to flee the mundane busy, noisy, and troublesome 'real' world. He called this 'escape', and defended that this desire should not be viewed as bad but needed. Fantasy serves another purpose for the adult which he termed 'recovery'- to recover the mundane and make it worthy of attention and wonderment. Fantasy can create the image of dragons, or wondrous plants - and yet behold an ordinary tree! What an equally marvelous creation of life. But they are taken for granted in the 'real' world by busy people. For Tolkien, fantasy served to refresh the reader that trees, dogs, and a butterfly are no less interesting than ents, balrogs, or dragons. Lastly, fantasy can lead the reader on a tale in which there is sadness that gets turned to joy which he called 'consolation'- the happy ending. Fantasy can therefore make the reader feel good about the tale and leave one happy and that maybe, just maybe, the 'real' world holds hope, too for a good ending."

A system analyst, Jeremy Beker of Virginia, explained his attraction of "The Lord of the Rings" like this:
"Different from other fantasy novels, Tolkien created a perfect world. His detailed and smooth writing skills make readers believe his story is real. The world he drew was so complicated yet he used an old traditional pattern: Justice confronting/defeating Evil."

An assistant researcher of the Colorado State College, Peter Darling goes a step further. He emphasizes: "'The Lord of the Rings' is no doubt a literary epic. It embraces such a wide spectrum of ideas and subjects that it makes it hard to resist reading it again and again. Because so much pressure is in our lives, people need a place to escape and relax. Tolkien created this kind of world for us. So, it didn't come to me as a surprise that this book became the top of the 'Book of the Century' list."

Buddhism Holds Identical Views - Sanctuary of the Mind

The 20th Century is a century of material incentive, and it brings advancements as such a rapid pace. And while it brings us many conveniences, it also unfortunately has brought us horrible world war - not once - but twice. Now, war is over, but its shadow still remains. There's a lack of trust between nations where countries warily guard against each other. And there is a general feeling that personal relationships lack love and trust leaving a sense of remoteness and coldness between people.
Therefore, a Utopia with humanity, justice, and noble achievement naturally becomes a most desirable place for people to escape to from this noisy and confused reality. From the surface, the fascination of this novel is because the story has a complicated ever-changing plot filled with so many curious characters. But the views of our international friends reveal that "The Lord of the Rings" offers a sanctuary of the mind to the reader. Since Tolkien's descriptions are so vivid the laughter, the sadness, and the happiness makes you feel as if you are physically in the story, and temporarily forget the pressures and unhappiness of the real world. A step further, you can experience the feelings along with the characters in the book; the happiness and satisfaction which you are unable to enjoy in the real world.
But you can escape just for a short while, not for a whole life. The imperfect world will still be there when you close the book. Your problems will still be there, if you don't solve them.
Is there really no other way out? Buddha taught us "everything is up to heart and only the heart alone." All methods on earth originated from the "heart". If you can solve the problem of the "heart", your external problems are going to be readily solved. Therefore, the real shelter exists only within our innerself. When the "heart" is clear and calm, no matter how hard the storm blows outside, there will be no affect on us at all. So, the clear and calm "heart" is actually the best sanctuary of the mind.

Here you can find pages concerning J.R.R. Tolkien's life, work, what other people said about him and his books...