Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - Softcover

Harvard Lampoon; Beard, Henry; Kenney, Douglas C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451070542 ISBN 13: 9780451070548

Publisher: Signet, 1976

Synopsis

First published in 1969, the New York Times bestseller Bored of the Rings is back--and just in time for the major motion picture release of The Hobbit. This classic parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional universe is a timeless comedic masterpiece.

The classic parody of The Lord of the Rings is back! With a brand-new "boreword" by Henry Beard.

The Power almighty rests in this Lone Ring.

The Power, alrighty, for doing your Own Thing.

If broken or busted, it cannot be remade

If found, send to Sorhed (the postage is prepaid).

It's up to Boggie Frito Bugger and his band of misfits--including inept wizard Goodgulf Grayteeth, halfwit Spam Gangree, twins Moxie and Pepsi, and Arrowroot of Arrowshirt--to carry the Great Ring to Fordor and cast it into the Zazu Pits.

Can they avoid death by hickey tree and escape the dread ballhog? Can the fellowship overcome the narcs and Nozdruls hounding their every move and save Lower Middle Earth once and for all? Yes, of course--this isn't Hamlet, you know.

About this title

Review

First published in 1969, Bored of the Rings quickly became a cult book for its relentless, slapstick pastiche of The Lord of the Rings. Gollancz's 2001 edition marks the first appearance in Britain and in hardback.

Authors Beard and Kenny carry irreverence cheerfully beyond the borders of good taste. For some, it's a hilarious antidote to uncritical worship of Tolkien. For others, it's outright blasphemy. You choose...

Here's the formula. Take the rough plot of The Lord of the Rings. Give everyone daft names: Bilbo Baggins becomes Dildo Bugger, Sauron is Sorhed, and the hobbits Merry, Pippin and Sam are now the boggies Moxie, Pepsi and Spam. Make them all cowardly, dumb, self-serving and/or insane. Cram Middle Earth with droll American brand names, some now rather dated...

Bored of the Rings lurches drunkenly through Tolkien's narrative, scrawling graffiti on noble citadels and firing off gags with such machine-gun speed that something hits the funny bone on almost every page. A warning: "The halberd has fallen! The fewmets have hit the windmill!" A doom-laden prophecy: "Five-eleven's your height, one-ninety your weight, you cash in your chips around page eighty-eight."

Some pokes at the original are quite shrewd. The tiresomely lyrical Tom Bombadil mutates with hideous plausibility into dope freak Tim Benzedrine: "Toke-a-lid! Smoke-a-lid! Pop the mescalino!" Tortuous arguments about the disposal of the Ring are neatly condensed to: "'Alas,' explained Goodgulf." (Guess who?)

Cheap laughs abound despite occasional misfires. Even the map is chuckleworthy. But as the US paperback jacket warned, those who revere Tolkien "will not touch this gobbler with a ten-foot battle-lance". --David Langford

Book Description

212,000 copies sold in HB, now in paperback in time for the third Lord of the Rings film.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1976
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451070542
• ISBN 13: 9780451070548
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback