 While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre.This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature—or, more precisely, of high fantasy.In 2008, "The Times" ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".