Who is J.R.R. Tolkien?

Birth Name : John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Born : January 3, 1892 / Bloemfontein / Orange Free State / South Africa

Died : September 2, 1973 / Bournemouth / Dorset / England / UK

Biography

English writer, scholar and philologist.

Tolkien's father was a bank manager in South Africa. When his father died in 1896 Tolkien was 4 years old. His mother took him and his younger brother to his father's native village of Sarehole, near Birmingham, England.

The landscapes and Nordic mythology of the Midlands may have been the source for Tolkien's fertile imagination to write about 'the Shire' and 'hobbits' in his later book the Hobbit (1937).

Tolkien's mother introduced him to Latin, French, and German. While at school he was taught or taught himself Greek, Middle English, Old English, Old Norse, Gothic, Modern and medieval Welsh, Finnish, Spanish, and Italian. Other languages of which he had a working knowledge include Serbian, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, and Lombardic. In addition to these languages, Tolkien invented 14 different languages and assorted alphabets for his Middle-earth dwellers.

After his mother's death in 1904 (when he was 12 years old) he was looked after by Father Francis Xavier Morgan a RC priest of the Congregation of the Oratory. Tolkien was educated at King Edward VI school in Birmingham. He studied linguistics at Exeter College, Oxford, and took his B.A. in 1915. From 1915 to 1918 he fought in World War I with the Lancashire Fusiliers.

It is believed that his experiences during the Battle of Jutland may have been fueled the darker side of his subsequent novels.

Upon his return he worked as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary (1918-20) and took his M.A. in 1919.

In 1920 he became a teacher in English at the University of Leeds. He then went on to Merton College in Oxford, where he became Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925-45) and Merton professor of English Language and Literature (1945-59).

His first scholarly publication was an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1925). He also wrote books on Chaucer (1934) and Beowulf (1937).

In 1939 Tolkien gave the Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland titled: "On Fairy-Stories".

Tolkien will however be remembered most for his books the Hobbit (1937) and the Lord of the Rings (1954-55). The Hobbit began as a bedtime story for his children that in his own words "grew in the telling". He wrote Lord of the Rings over a period of about 14 years which started by him sending his children bits and pieces of the story in his letters.

Tolkien also discussed parts of his novels with fellow Oxfordian and fantasy writer CS Lewis during their 'meetings'. He was trying to create a fantasy world so that he could explain how he had invented certain languages, and in doing so created 'Middle Earth'. However among his peers at Oxford his works were not well received as they were not considered 'scholarly'.

It was after LOTR was published in paperback in the United States in 1965 that he developed his legendary cult following and also imitators. Tolkien was W. P. Ker lecturer at Glasgow University in 1953.

In 1954 both the University of Liege and University College, Dublin, awarder him honorary doctorates. He received the CBE in 1972.

He served as vice-president of the Philological Society and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an honorary fellow of Exeter College, and an honorary member of Hid islenzka Bokmennta-felag.

Tolkien was one of the translators for The Jerusalem Bible.

Made up languages as a young child. Widely considered as the founder of modern fantasy; the man who changed children's faerie tales into epic adventures.

The original publication of The Lord of the Rings was delayed two times. A publisher had agreed to Tolkien wish to use different colors of ink for different parts of the book. In particular, he wanted the writing on the Ring to be printed in red ink. That deal fell apart, and he went back to Allen & Unwin. The second reason was that he wanted The Silmarillion to be published alongside Rings. No publisher would agree to this, so The Silmarillion was not published until after his death.

As of 2001, his novel, 'The Lord of the Rings', has sold over 52 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 25 different languages.

Tolkien won the 'International Fantasy Award' in 1957 for his book 'The Lord of the Rings'. In 1973 he won the first 'Gandalf Award' (named after a character from his books) as Grandmaster (lifetime fantasy achivement). After his death he has been awarded the 'Locus Award' in 1978 for 'The Silmarillion' and the 'Mythopoeic Award' in 1981 for 'Unifinished Tales'. The 'Balrog Award' is also named after a character from his books.

Tolkien's reaction to several proposed film productions of his books was that he considered his works to be unstageable; he simply didn't feel that they could be successfully translated to a dramatic form. Although he had sold the film rights long before he died, he had no real expectation that "The Lord of the Rings" could be successfully filmed.

In 1999, 250,000 Amazon.com customers voted his The Lord of the Rings as the "book of the millenium". It was first published 1954.

Despite the immense popularity of his books today Tolkien did not greatly benefit from their sales. His son Christopher Tolkien was able to publish much of his works posthumously after his manuscripts were found.

Tolkien and his wife, Edith, are buried together in a single grave in the Catholic section of Wolvercote cemetery in the northern suburbs of Oxford. The legend on the headstone reads: "Edith Mary Tolkien, Lúthien, 1889-1971" and "John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892-1973". The character names are those of lovers in Tolkien's novel, 'The Silmarillion'.