Convinced Soviet censors would not allow a straightforward translation of Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings,’ one translator transformed the epic fantasy into a science fiction novel and hid the magic theme behind the facade of rational scientific discoveries.
Why bringing ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to the USSR was a quest akin to a fiction tale
After the book was dismissed by Soviet censorship, independent translators took a great risk spreading Tolkien’s fiction in the Soviet Union.