The Hobbit or There And Back Again

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Taschenbuch
Ausgabe vom 20. März 1991
Verkaufsrang: 486 (je kleiner desto beliebter)
EAN/ISBN: 9780261102217
ASIN: 0261102214 (Amazon-Bestellnummer)
The Hobbit or There And Back Again - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Dieses aus fünf CDs bestehende Set enthält die beste jemals aufgenommene englische Hörspielfassung von J.R.R. Tolkiens legendärem Roman The Hobbit. Die BBC realisierte das ambitionierte Projekt '68, bemühte sich, das zauberhafte, manchmal ländlich-raue Feeling des Buches möglichst originalgetreu umzusetzen und engagierte dazu die besten Sprecher, Geräuschexperten und Musiker, die in England zu finden waren. Das Ergebnis klingt herrlich ungeschliffen und somit absolut authentisch. Mit späteren, glatt gebügelten Hörspielversuchen haben diese Aufnahmen nichts zu tun, hier wimmelt es nur so von impulsiven Charakteren, wundervollen, kauzigen Stimmen und imposanten Klangeffekten. Neben den Tonträgern (der fünfte versammelt noch einmal gesondert sämtliche Musikstücke der achtteiligen Radio-Ausstrahlung) enthält das sehr liebevoll aufgemachte Set noch eine Mirkwood-Karte und ein Booklet mit interessanten Linernotes von Producer John Powell. Tolkien-Fans, die auch nur halbwegs des Englischen mächtig sind, MÜSSEN dieses Audio-Juwel haben. -Michael Rensen

Poor Bilbo Baggins! An unassuming and rather plump hobbit (as most of these small, furry-footed people tend to be ), Baggins finds himself unwittingly drawn into adventure by a wizard named Gandalf and 13 dwarves bound for the Lonely Mountain, where a dragon named Smaug hordes a stolen treasure. Before he knows what is happening, Baggins finds himself on the road to danger. Wizards, dwarves and dragons may seem the stuff of children's fairy tales, but The Hobbit is in a class of its own-light-hearted enough for younger readers, yet with a dark edge guaranteed to intrigue an older audience. In the best tradition of the archetypal hero's quest, Bilbo Baggins sets out on his fateful journey a callow, untested soul and returns-tempered by hardship, danger and loss-a better man-er, hobbit.
This book is the predecessor to Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, and though that trilogy can be thoroughly enjoyed without first reading The Hobbit, much that happens in the later novels is foreshadowed here. A word of caution, however: as Bilbo discovers early on, travel and adventure are addictive things; embark on this journey to the Lonely Mountain with Tolkien's reluctant hero, and you might not be able to stop there. And the road taken to the distant mountains of Mordor in the ensuing trilogy is an even more perilous one.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
The hobbit-hole in question belongs to one Bilbo Baggins, an upstanding member of a "little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves." He is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased when sitting by his own fire with a pipe, a glass of good beer, and a meal to look forward to. Certainly this particular hobbit is the last person one would expect to see set off on a hazardous journey; indeed, when Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, "looking for someone to share in an adventure," Baggins fervently wishes the wizard elsewhere. No such luck, however; soon 13 fortune-seeking dwarves have arrived on the hobbit's doorstep in search of a burglar, and before he can even grab his hat or an umbrella, Bilbo Baggins is swept out his door and into a dangerous adventure.
The dwarves' goal is to return to their ancestral home in the Lonely Mountains and reclaim a stolen fortune from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, they and their reluctant companion meet giant spiders, hostile elves, ravening wolves-and, most perilous of all, a subterranean creature named Gollum from whom Bilbo wins a magical ring in a riddling contest. It is from this life-or-death game in the dark that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, would eventually spring. Though The Hobbit is lighter in tone than the trilogy that follows, it has, like Bilbo Baggins himself, unexpected iron at its core. Don't be fooled by its fairy-tale demeanor; this is very much a story for adults, though older children will enjoy it, too. By the time Bilbo returns to his comfortable hobbit-hole, he is a different person altogether, well primed for the bigger adventures to come-and so is the reader. -Alix Wilber