J.R.R. Tolkien

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J. R. R. Tolkien in 1972, in his study at Merton Street.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, philologist and university professor (but the good kind - not a socialist), best known as the author of several influential fantasy books such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

He had a lifelong interest in and love of language, and also created several constructed languages. Tolkien also created the Middle-earth legendarium, a fantasy world with a detailed geography, history, and inhabited by Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits.

Biography

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to English parents, Arthur Reuel Tolkien and Mabel, née Suffield. At the age of three he returned to England with his mother and younger brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel. His father died in Africa before he could rejoin them. Tolkien spent his early childhood in Sarehole, a Worcestershire village, which later influenced him in the creation of the Shire. Now living in Birmingham, he attended King Edward's School. Mabel Tolkien and her children, converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1900, which estranged her from her family. She died in 1904 of diabetes, leaving her sons in the care of Father Francis Morgan. Tolkien grew up in the industrial Edgbaston area of Birmingham, which later influenced his vision of Mordor. In 1916 Tolkien married Edith Mary Bratt, with whom he had four children: John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla. He was professor at the University of Oxford from 1925 to 1959, of Anglo-Saxon and English language and literature. After his death, the masses of his literary work he left behind has been in the care of his son Christopher Tolkien, who continued to organize and publish Tolkien's writings.

He and several others (among them C. S. Lewis) were members of a literary club called the Inklings. Tolkien and Lewis were good friends, and Tolkien had a large role in Lewis's eventual embracing of Christianity

Bibliography

• The Hobbit (1937)
• Leaf by Niggle (1945)
• Farmer Giles of Ham (1949, a medieval fable)
• The Lord of the Rings, in three volumes:
  • The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
  • The Two Towers (1955)
  • The Return of the King (1955)
• Smith of Wootton Major (1967)
• The Father Christmas Letters (1976)
• The Silmarillion (1977)
• Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth (1980)
• The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)
• Mr. Bliss (1982)
• The Monsters and the Critics (1983, a collection of essays)
• The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996 in twelve volumes)
• Roverandom (1998)
• The Children of Húrin (2007)
• The History of The Hobbit (2007, in two volumes)

See also

• Tolkien's languages and scripts
• Category:Middle-earth