was Lord of the Rings banned in USSR and if yes, why?

by CornPlanter

I don't remember any translation of it being released, neither in Russia nor any other USSR state that I had knowledge of. I first had a chance to read it only after the collapse of the union. A work of such importance most likely would have been translated and released (was it?) unless banned. And while I can remember hearing somewhere it was indeed banned, I have no real evidence or source for it. Nor any idea why, except maybe the "power corrupts" message?

TankArchives

Повесть о Кольце (Tale of the Ring) was published in 1990, which was a translation of LotR, albeit a heavily abridged one. Fellowship of the Ring was published in 1982, but none of the other books followed . The Hobbit movie (Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса, Хоббита) also came out in 1985.

Clearly it wasn't banned, but presumably fantasy was just not a very popular genre.