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Marathon Reading of "The Fellowship of the Ring"
Will Run Friday & Saturday, Sept. 27-28

Posted September 16, 2002

HOLLAND -- The department of English at Hope College will sponsor a marathon reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" in the college's Pine Grove on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 27-28.

The reading will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, and from 10 a.m. to approximately 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Visitors are welcome to come and go at any time, and to stay for as little or as long as they wish. Refreshments will be available.

Students, faculty and administrators will do the reading in 10-minute segments, for a total more than 100 readers during the estimated 17-hour duration of the marathon.

"The reading is an opportunity to celebrate and enjoy together a great literary classic," said faculty member Curtis Gruenler.

"The Fellowship of the Ring" is the first book in the acclaimed fantasy series "The Lord of the Rings," by British author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), which has sold over 50 million copies since its publication in 1954-55. Its merits have been controversial in the academic literary community, according to Gruenler.

The books are in the process of being adapted to film by director Peter Jackson, with stars Elijah Wood and Ian McKlellan. The film version of "The Fellowship of the Ring" was released last December, and the second film, "The Two Towers," will be released this December.

Adapting the verse written on the ring referred to in the book's title, the marathon's organizers are promoting the reading with the slogan: "One book to rule them all, one book to find them, one book to bring them all and in the Pine Grove bind them."

The Pine Grove is located in the central Hope campus, east of College Avenue and south of 10th Street.

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