Writing

J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, is often considered the father of the modern fantasy genre. Before Tolkien, the fantastic had largely been relegated to ancient myths, folklore, and children’s fairytales. It was not seen as the sort of thing one would find in a novel written for adults (outside of the Horror genre). While The Lord of the Rings was not overtly allegorical like C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, Tolkien himself described his books as “fundamentally religio