The Creative Spark
The ironic distance between subconscious inspiration and conscious awareness of what to do that inspiration is portrayed in a recreation of the single moment which forever changed Tolkien’s destiny. He is all alone in his study grading exams when suddenly the subconscious takes control and he is moved to write down “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” This fate-altering moment concludes on that note of irony as Tolkien’s conscious awareness immediately begins asking pertinent questions like what in the world a hobbit is and why it lives underground.
Terror and Inspiration
The opening scene of the book reveals another irony in the concept of artistic creation. A very young Tolkien is running at full speed to escape the clutches of his nurse only to unexpectedly meet up with an African tarantula that proceeds to bite him. This terrifying incident becomes the inspiration for the creation—many decades later—of the giant spider Shelob in this epic fantasy novel.
Peers and Sour Grapes
The irony of the ugliest sort raises its head when Tolkien’s peers at Oxford University reveal the sweetness of consuming sour grapes upon the initial publication of The Hobbit. The incredible and unexpected commercial success led most of his fellow professors to denigrate Tolkien’s standing as unworthy of University standards, dismissing the book as a “lowly fairy tale.” Ironically, Tolkien is still managing to bring students to Oxford while the names of all his peers were never known by enough people to earn the distinction of being forgotten.
Requested and Rejected
In the wake of the unimaginable success of The Hobbit, publisher Stanley Unwin all but demanded a sequel. Little did he know that this sequel would not be delivered for more than a decade. When the requested sequel finally arrived at the publishing house neither Stanley nor his son Rayner—who as a child had convinced his father to publish The Hobbit—were in their offices as both were out of town on business. Ironically, perhaps the only editor working for the company not family with the name Tolkien reviewed The Lord of the Rings for publication and decided it was unfit for publication, returning the manuscript to the author with a form rejection letter.
The Silmarillion
The irony of being a writer of such precise attention to detail is made even more concrete in the story of the publication of The Silmarillion. This book had actually been begun by Tolkien before that day in his study when his subconscious guided his pen to write about a hobbit living in a hole. He was still working on the book after The Lord of the Rings had attained legendary status. Despite his success having earned Tolkien the cache to publish a laundry list if he’d so desired, he would ironically not live long enough to see the book he had spent the most years of his life writing finally hit bookstores.
