Relationship to the British Novel

As a novel, The Hobbit was a unique twist from the standard British novel. It presented a view of fantasy but not within the context of Gothic Romanticism like books such as The Castle of Ortranto. Many scholars consider The Hobbit to be the first fantasy written and taken seriously. Part of this is due to Tolkien’s own desire to take fantasy seriously. As part of Kocher’s analysis of Aragorn, he points out that in the essay “On Fairy-stories” Tolkien states that fairy tales are not “about fairies” rather they are about “the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm.” Thus, with The Hobbit, the way was paved for more serious fantasy within the British novel. 

-E