The Two Towers
1954
- ents
- orcs
- hobbits
- magic
- ficción fantástica inglesa
- ficción
- translations into spanish
- readers for new literates
- the lord of the rings
- english fantasy fiction
The story
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, is set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth -- home to many strange beings, and most notably hobbits, a peace-loving "little people," cheerful and shy. Since its original British publication in 1954-55, the saga has entranced readers of all ages. It is at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale. Critic Michael Straight has hailed it as one of the "very few works of genius in recent literature." Middle-earth is a world receptive to poets, scholars, children, and all other people of good will. Donald Barr has described it as "a scrubbed morning world, and a ringing nightmare world...especially sunlit, and shadowed by perils very fundamental, of a peculiarly uncompounded darkness." The story of this world is one of high and heroic adventure. Barr compared it to Beowulf, C.S. Lewis to Orlando Furioso, W.H. Auden to The Thirty-nine Steps. In fact the saga is sui generis -- a triumph of imagination which springs to life within its own framework and on its own terms. - Jacket flap. Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape the rest of the company were attacked by Orcs. Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin – alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go. J.R.R. Tolkien’s great work of imaginative fiction has been labelled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail. --- **Al
What it’s like
Sun-washed open grassland gives way to dim, root-tangled forest, and the prose lingers on river light, wind moving through long grass, and the damp hush of old trees, so reading it feels like a slow walk through an invented countryside. The voice is measured and faintly archaic, with songs and verse breaking into the travel, as if the book were being chanted aloud by a fire. Pacing alternates long, quiet stretches of trudging with sudden spikes of dread: a stalking presence in the dark and brief, sharp skirmishes with Orcs. Violence is present but not graphic, and fear lands harder than gore. Tone is wistful and steadily sorrowful, lifted by the comic warmth of hobbits' homely bickering and appetite. The emotional thread is companionship under mounting weight, a small, steadfast friendship holding against a larger darkness. It suits a rainy weekend with a mug of tea, a long reread, or a late evening for anyone who loves vast invented landscapes and language that sounds old. It is for readers who prefer immersion to speed, and it works equally well in its Spanish translation, which keeps the same unhurried world.
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