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The Hobbit (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)

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The Novel

Perhaps exactly how The Hobbit: Or, There and Back Again came to be written will never be settled. J. R. R. Tolkien himself said that inspiration for the beginning of the story came to him one day when, in the midst of grading examinations, he found that a student had turned in a blank sheet of paper. On that sheet, Tolkien wrote, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” He said that names always suggested stories to him, and that he immediately wanted to find out what hobbits were. Tolkien’s children also recall hearing parts of the story told to...

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