Tolkien fanzines, fandom and the literary tradition in the 1960s

This article summarizes the manner in which fanzine authors contextualize J. R. R. Tolkien’s fiction within diverse literary traditions. Although rarely the topic of academic discussions in the 1960s, fanzine authors regularly contextualize The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings , and Tolkien’s unfinished fiction in terms of genre, canon and literary tradition. After examining and categorizing the authors and texts discussed in 80 fan letters and articles, I found that fan authors are almost evenly divided in the ways they contextualize Tolkien’s fiction: as part of the fantasy tradition, as an inheritor of the epic or mythological genealogy, or as part of a third more eclectic tradition.