John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, also found Tolkien (Eng. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) was an English writer, linguist, philologist, best known as the author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Tolkien was Oxford Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925–1945), English Language and Literature (1945–1959). An orthodox Catholic, along with close friend C. S. Lewis, he was a member of the Inklings literary society. On March 28, 1972, Tolkien received the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II.
Anyone who speaks the language can say "green sun". Many can imagine it or draw it. But that's not all - although even this can be much more impressive than all the numerous stories and novels "from life" that are awarded literary prizes.
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher produced several works based on his father's notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion.
This book, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, forms a single collection of fairy tales, poems, stories, artificial languages and literary essays about fictional world called Arda and its part of Middle-earth. In 1951-1955, Tolkien used the word "legendarium" to refer to most of this collection.
Many authors wrote fantasy before Tolkien, however, due to his great popularity and strong influence on the genre, many call Tolkien the "father" of modern fantasy literature, meaning mainly "high fantasy".
In Russian, the writer's surname is spelled both "Tolkien" and "Tolkien" in various sources, which often causes controversy among fans of creativity.
To create a Secondary World, where the green sun would be in its place, where we would gain sincere and unconditional Secondary Faith in it - this, apparently, requires both thought and work, and besides, it requires some special skill, similar to skill elves.
(quote from "Tree and Leaf")
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
In a letter to Richard Jeffery dated December 17, 1972, Tolkien notes: "My last name is constantly written as Tolkein ... I don’t know why - I always pronounce the ending as“ keen ”". Thus, the spelling "Tolkien" more accurately reflects the original pronunciation of the surname. In English, the stress is not fixed, some members of the Tolkien family used the stress on the last syllable - "kin".
According to surviving information, most of Tolkien's paternal ancestors were artisans. The Tolkien family comes from Saxony (Germany), but since the 18th century the writer's ancestors settled in England, quickly becoming "native English". The surname "Tolkien" is an anglicisation of the nickname "Tollkiehn" (German: tollkuhn, "recklessly brave"). Grandmother told little Ronald that their family descended from the famous Hohenzollerns.
Tolkien's mother's parents, John and Edith Suffield, lived in Birmingham, where they owned a large store in the city center from 1812.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now the Free State, South Africa). His parents, Arthur Reuel Tolkien (1857–1895), an English bank manager, and Mabel Tolkien (née Suffield) (1870–1904), arrived in South Africa shortly before their son's birth in connection with Arthur's promotion. On February 17, 1894, Arthur and Mabel had a second son, Hilary Arthur Ruel.
As a child, Tolkien was bitten by a tarantula, and this event later influenced his work. The sick boy was cared for by a doctor named Thornton Quimby, and is thought to have been the model for Gandalf the Grey.
I should add something to the many theories and conjectures I have heard or read about the motives and meaning of the story. The main motive was the desire of the narrator to try to write a really long story that could hold the attention of readers for a long time, entertain them, please or inspire ...
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
In early 1895, after the death of the father of the family, the Tolkien family returned to England. Left alone with two children, Mabel asks for help from relatives. The return home was difficult: Tolkien's mother's relatives did not approve of her marriage. After the death of his father from rheumatic fever, the family settled in Sarehole, near Birmingham.
Mabel Tolkien was left alone with two small children in her arms and with a very modest income, which was just enough to live on. In an effort to find support in life, she immersed herself in religion, converted to Catholicism (this led to a final break with her Anglican relatives) and gave her children an appropriate education, as a result, Tolkien remained a deeply religious person all his life.
Tolkien's strong religious beliefs played a significant role in C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity, although to Tolkien's dismay, Lewis preferred the Anglican faith to the Catholic one.
As for various kinds of subtext, this was not the intention of the author. The book is neither allegorical nor thematic.
(Foreword to The Lord of the Rings)
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
Mabel also taught her son the basics Latin, and also instilled a love of botany, and Tolkien with early years loved to paint landscapes and trees. He read a lot, and from the very beginning he disliked Stevenson's Treasure Island and the Grimm Brothers' Pied Piper, but he liked Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Indian stories, George MacDonald's fantasy works and Andrew's Book of Fairies Lang.
Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904, at the age of 34; before her death, she entrusted the upbringing of children to Father Francis Morgan, a priest of the Birmingham Church, a strong and extraordinary personality. It was Francis Morgan who developed Tolkien's interest in philology, for which he was later very grateful to him.
Preschool children spend in nature. These two years were enough for Tolkien for all the descriptions of forests and fields in his works. In 1900, Tolkien entered King Edward's School, where he learned Old English and began to study others - Welsh, Old Norse, Finnish, Gothic.
He showed an early talent for linguistics, after studying Old Welsh and Finnish he began to develop "elvish" languages. Subsequently, he studied at the school of St. Philip (St. Philip's School) and Oxford College Exeter.
In 1911, while studying at the school of King Edward Tolkien with three friends - Rob Gilson (eng. Rob Gilson), Geoffrey Smith (eng. Geoffrey Smith) and Christopher Wiseman (eng. Christopher Wiseman) - organized a semi-secret circle called the CHKBO - " Tea Club and Barrovian Society” (Eng. T.C.B.S., Tea Club and Barrovian Society).
This name is due to the fact that friends loved tea, which was sold near the school in the supermarket Barrow (Eng. Barrow), as well as in the school library, although this was forbidden. Even after leaving school, members of the Cheka kept in touch, for example, they met in December 1914 at Wiseman's house in London.
Much can be thought out, according to the tastes of lovers of allegories or references to reality. But I have, and have always had, a sincere dislike of allegory in all its manifestations, ever since I was old and dull enough to notice it. I much more like a story, real or fictional, that would in various ways interacted with the reader's experience.
(Foreword to The Lord of the Rings) Many of the living deserve to die, and many of the dead deserve to live. Can you give it back to them? That's the same. Then do not rush to condemn to death. No one, even the wisest of the wise, can see all the intricacies of fate.
(quote from The Lord of the Rings)
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel
In the summer of 1911, Tolkien traveled to Switzerland, which he later mentions in a 1968 letter, noting that Bilbo Baggins's journey through the Misty Mountains was based on the journey Tolkien and his twelve companions made from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. In October of that year, he began his studies at Oxford University, Exeter College.
In 1908 he met Edith Mary Brett, who had a great influence on his work.
Falling in love prevented Tolkien from going to college right away, besides, Edith was a Protestant and three years older than him. Father Francis took from John honestly that he would not meet with Edith until he was 21 years old - that is, until the age of majority, when Father Francis ceased to be his guardian. Tolkien fulfilled his promise by not writing a single line to Mary Edith until that age. They didn't even meet or talk.
In the evening, on the same day when Tolkien turned 21, he wrote a letter to Edith, where he declared his love and offered his hand and heart. Edith replied that she had already agreed to marry another person, because she decided that Tolkien had long forgotten her. In the end, she returned the wedding ring to the groom and announced that she was marrying Tolkien. In addition, at his insistence, she converted to Catholicism.
The engagement took place in Birmingham in January 1913, and the wedding took place on March 22, 1916 in English city Warwick, in St. Mary's Catholic Church. Their union with Edith Brett proved to be a long and happy one. The couple lived together for 56 years and raised 3 sons: John Francis Reuel (1917), Michael Hilary Reuel (1920), Christopher Reuel (1924), and daughter Priscilla Mary Reuel (1929).
In 1914, Tolkien enlisted in the Military Training Corps in order to delay the draft for military service and earn a bachelor's degree. In 1915, Tolkien graduated with honors from the university and went to serve as a lieutenant in the Lancashire Rifles, soon John was called to the front and participated in the First World War.
John survived the bloody battle on the Somme, where two of his best friends from the Cheka (“tea club”) died, after which he hated war, fell ill with typhus, and after a long treatment was sent home with a disability.
He devoted the following years to a scientific career: first teaching at the University of Leeds, in 1922 he received the position of professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature at Oxford University, where he became one of the youngest professors (at 30 years old) and soon earned a reputation as one of the best philologists in the world.
At the same time, he began to write the great cycle of myths and legends of Middle-Earth (Eng. Middle-Earth), which would later become The Silmarillion. There were four children in his family, for them he first composed, narrated, and then recorded The Hobbit, which was later published in 1937 by Sir Stanley Unwin.
The Hobbit was a success, and Anuin suggested Tolkien write a sequel, but work on the trilogy took long time and the book was not finished until 1954, when Tolkien was about to retire.
The trilogy was published and was a huge success, which surprised the author and publisher a lot. Unwin expected to lose considerable money, but he personally liked the book very much, and he was very eager to publish his friend's work. For the convenience of publication, the book was divided into three parts, so that after the publication and sale of the first part, it became clear whether it was worth printing the rest.
After the death of his wife in 1971, Tolkien returned to Oxford.
At the end of 1972, he suffers greatly from indigestion, X-ray shows dyspepsia. Doctors prescribe him a diet and require him to completely eliminate the use of wine. August 28, 1973 Tolkien goes to Bournemouth, to an old friend - Denis Tolhurst.
August 30, Thursday, he attends Mrs. Tolhurst's birthday party. Felt not very well, ate little, but drank some champagne. It got worse at night, and in the morning Tolkien was taken to a private clinic, where he was found to have a bleeding stomach ulcer.
Despite optimistic forecasts at the beginning, pleurisy developed by Saturday, and on the night of Sunday, September 2, 1973, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died at the age of eighty-one.
All works published after 1973, including The Silmarillion, were published by his son Christopher.
Even as a child, John and his comrades came up with several languages in order to communicate with each other. This passion for learning existing languages and constructing new ones stayed with him throughout his life.
Tolkien is the creator of several artificial languages: Quenya, or the language of the high elves; Sindarin is the language of the Gray Elves. Tolkien knew dozens of languages, composed new languages, largely guided by the beauty of sound.
He himself said: “No one believes me when I say that my long book is an attempt to create a world in which the language that corresponds to my personal aesthetics could turn out to be natural. However, it's true."
You can read more about Tolkien's linguistic hobbies in the lecture The Secret Vice (Russian), read by him at Oxford in 1931.
Artworks
- Published during his lifetime
* 1925 - "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (with E. B. Gordon)
* 1937 - "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" / The Hobbit or There and Back Again - with this book Tolkien entered literature. The book originally arose as a work for the family circle - Tolkien began to tell the tale of the hobbit to his children. Appearing almost by accident in print, the story of the adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins unexpectedly gained wide popularity among readers of all ages. Already in this fairy tale a huge mythological layer was laid. Now the book is known more as a kind of prologue to The Lord of the Rings.
* 1945 - Leaf by Niggle
* 1945 - The Lay of Aotrou and Itrun
* 1949 - Farmer Giles of Ham
* 1953 - "The Return of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" / The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (play)
* 1954-1955 - "The Lord of the Rings" / The Lord of the Rings. The book, back in the mid-1970s, was among the most read and published books in the world. The central work of Tolkien. The Middle-earth epic was published in 1954-1955 in England and after some time gave rise to a real Tolkien cult, which began in America in the 60s.
1954 - The Fellowship of the Ring
1954 - "Two fortresses" / The Two Towers
1955 - The Return of the King
* 1962 - "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book" / The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (verse cycle).
* 1967 - "The road hurries into the distance and into the distance" / The Road Goes Ever On (with Donald Swann)
* 1967 - Smith of Wootton Major
Published posthumously
* 1977 - The Silmarillion / The Silmarillion
* 1980 - "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth" / Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth
* 1983–1996 - The History of Middle-earth
* 1997 - "Roverandom" / The Roverandom
* 2007 - "Children of Hurin" / The Children of Hurin
* 2009 - "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun" / The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
Tolkien's works had a huge impact on the world culture of the 20th and even the 21st century. They have been repeatedly adapted for cinema, animation, audio plays, theater stage, computer games. They created concept albums, illustrations, comics. A large number of imitations of Tolkien's books, their continuations or antitheses, have been created in literature.
Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" has been filmed several times, first as animated films Ralph Bakshi (1978) and Rankin/Bass (1980), and in 2001-2003, Peter Jackson made three big-budget blockbuster The Lord of the Rings films that won multiple awards and grossed over $2 billion at the box office.
There is also a film adaptation of The Hobbit (1977). A number of computer games have been created based on Tolkien's books and their adaptations, the most famous of which are the Battle for Middle-Earth strategy and MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online. Music bands, such as Blind Guardian, Battlelore, Summoning, composed many songs about characters and events from Tolkien's books.
Many famous writers fantasy admit that they turned to this genre under the influence of Tolkien's epic, for example, Robert Jordan, Nick Perumov, Terry Brooks, Robert Salvatore. A contemporary of Professor Ursula Le Guin notes the poetic and rhythmic nature of his style.
However, many famous authors criticize Tolkien. Thus, in particular, China Mieville, acknowledging that “The Lord of the Rings, without a doubt, had the most influence on the fantasy genre,” calls it “village, conservative, anti-modernist, terribly Christian and anti-intellectual.”
Objects named after Tolkien
* asteroid (2675) Tolkien;
* marine crustacean Leucothoe tolkieni from the Nazca and Sala y Gomez submarine ridges ( Pacific Ocean);
* rove beetle Gabrius tolkieni Schillhammer, 1997 (Inhabits Nepal (Khandbari, Induwa Khola Valley));
* genus of fossil trilobites Tolkienia from the family Acastidae (Phacopida).
The names of geographical objects of Middle-earth and the names of characters appearing in Tolkien's works are named after many real geographical objects and animals.
Prizes and awards
* 1957, International Fantasy Award in the Fiction category for The Lord of the Rings (1955)
* 1974 Hugo Award. Gandalf Award "Grand Master of Fantasy"
* 1978, Locus Award in the Fantasy Novel category for The Silmarillion (1977)
* 1978 Hugo Award. Gandalf Award for Book-Length Fantasy for The Silmarillion (1977)
* 1979, Balrog Awards. Professional Achievement(Professional Achievement)
* 1981, Balrog Awards in the Collection/Anthology category for Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth (1980)
* 1981, Mythopoeic Awards in the Fantasy Mythopoeic Award category for Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien (1980)
* 1989, Mythopoeic Awards in the Inkling Mythopoeic Research Award category for The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings. Part I) (1988)
* 1990, Grand Ring in the Large Form (Translation) category for The Two Towers (1954)
* 1991, Grand Ring in the Large Form (Translation) category for The Lord of the Rings (1955)
* 2000, Mythopoeic Awards in the Inkling Mythopoeic Research Award category for Roverandom (1998)
* 2002, Deutscher Phantastik Preis in the category " Best Author»
* 2003, Mythopoeic Awards in the Inkling Mythopoeic Research Award category for Beowulf and the Critics (2002)
* 2009, Mythopoeic Awards in the Inkling Mythopoeic Research Award for The History of The Hobbit (2007)
* 2009, Prometheus Awards. Inducted into the Hall of Fame for The Lord of the Rings (1955)
Evil sets in motion enormous forces and with constant success - but only in vain; it only prepares the ground on which unexpected goodness will sprout. This is how it happens by and large; so it is with our own lives... 
J. R. R. Tolkien(full name - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien / John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) (1892-1973) - English writer. The books The Hobbit or There and Back Again and The Lord of the Rings brought him fame, although he published many other works. After his death, the book The Silmarillion was published on the basis of the surviving records; Subsequently, other of his texts were published, they continue to be published at the present time.
The name John was traditionally given in the Tolkien family to the eldest son of the eldest son. His mother named him Ronald - instead of Rosalind (she thought that a girl would be born). Close relatives usually called him Ronald, and friends and colleagues - John or John Ronald. Ruel is the surname of a friend of Tolkien's grandfather. This name was borne by Tolkien's father, Tolkien's brother, Tolkien himself, as well as all his children and grandchildren. Tolkien himself noted that this name is found in the Old Testament (in the Russian tradition - Raguel). Often Tolkien was referred to by his initials JRRT, especially in later years. He liked to sign with a monogram of these four letters.
1891 March Mabel Suffield, Tolkien's mother-to-be, sails from England to South Africa. April 16 Mabel Suffield and Arthur Tolkien get married in Cape Town. They go to live in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Boer Orange Republic (now part of South Africa).
1894 February 17 Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, second son of Mabel and Arthur, is born in Bloemfontein.
1896 February 15 In Africa, Arthur Tolkien dies unexpectedly of illness. Mabel Tolkien and the children stay with their parents. In the summer, Mabel Tolkien rents an apartment with her children and lives separately with her children.
1900 spring Mabel Tolkien converts to the Catholic faith (together with children), as a result of which he quarrels with for the most part Rodney. Tolkien goes to school in the fall.
1902 Father Francis Xavier Morgan, Tolkien's future guardian, becomes Mabel Tolkien's confessor.
1904 November 14 Mabel Tolkien dies of diabetes, father Francis, according to her will, becomes the guardian of her children.
1908 Tolkien, aged sixteen, meets nineteen-year-old Edith Bratt, his future wife.
1909 Upon learning of Tolkien's affair, Father Francis forbids him to associate with Edith until he comes of age (twenty-one years old).
Tolkien achieves considerable success in the school rugby team.
1913 January 3 Tolkien comes of age and proposes to Edith Bratt. Edith breaks off her engagement to another and accepts Tolkien's proposal.
1914 January 8 Edith Bratt converts to the Catholic faith for Tolkien. Soon there is an engagement. On September 24, Tolkien writes the poem "Earendel's Journey", which is considered the beginning of mythology, the development of which he later devoted his whole life to.
1915 July Tolkien receives a bachelor's degree from Oxford and joins the army as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers.
1916 Tolkien trains as a signalman. He is assigned as a battalion signalman. March 22 Tolkien and Edith Bratt are married in Warwick.
June 4 Tolkien leaves for London and from there to the war in France. July 15 Tolkien (as a signalman) first participates in battle. October 27 Tolkien falls ill with "trench fever" and is returned to England. He himself never fought again.
1917 January-February Tolkien, recovering, begins to write the "Book of Lost Tales" - the future "Silmarillion". November 16 Tolkien's eldest son, John Francis Reuel, is born.
1920 autumn Tolkien takes a position as an English teacher at the University of Leeds and moves to Leeds. In October Tolkien's second son, Michael Hilary Reuel, is born.
1924 Tolkien becomes professor of English at Leeds. November 21 The third is born, younger son Tolkien, Christopher John Reuel.
1925 Tolkien is elected Professor of Old English at Oxford and moves there with his family early the following year.
1926 Tolkien meets and becomes friends with Clive Lewis (future famous writer).
1929 end of the year Tolkien's only daughter, Priscilla Mary Ruel, is born.
1930-33 Tolkien writes The Hobbit.
In the early 30s. an informal literary club, the Inklings, gathers around Lewis, which includes Tolkien and other people who later became famous writers.
1936 The Hobbit is accepted for publication.
1937 September 21 The Hobbit is out of print by Allen & Unwin. The book is a success and the publishers are asking for a sequel. Tolkien offers them The Silmarillion, but the publishers want a book about hobbits. By December 19, Tolkien is writing the first chapter of The Hobbit sequel - the future Lord of the Rings.
1949 autumn Tolkien completes the main text of The Lord of the Rings. He does not want to give it to Allen & Unwin, because they refused to publish The Silmarillion and in 1950-52 he tries to give The Lord of the Rings, along with The Silmarillion, to Collins, which at first shows interest.
1952 Collins refuses to publish The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien arranges to give it to Allen & Unwin.
1954 July 29 The first volume of The Lord of the Rings is published in England. November 11 The second volume of The Lord of the Rings is released in England. Tolkien is urgently required to complete the appendices, which are to be published in the third volume.
1955 October 20 The third volume of The Lord of the Rings comes out of print in England, with appendices but no alphabetical index.
1959 summer Tolkien retires.
John Tolkien (often erroneously spelled Tolkien in Russian) is a man whose name will forever remain a part of world literature. Given author during his life he wrote only a few full-fledged literary works, but each of them became a small brick in the foundation of the whole world - the world of fantasy. John Tolkien is often called the ancestor of this genre, its father and creator. Subsequently, some fairy worlds created by many writers, however, it was Tolkien's world that always acted in such cases in the form of a kind of tracing paper, a kind of example for millions of other authors in different parts of the Earth.Tolkien reads "Namárië" + Tolkien Caricatures
Our today's story is dedicated to the life and work of one of the brightest writers of our time. The person who created for us the whole world, in which fairy tales seem alive and real...
Early years, childhood and Tolkien's family
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in January 1892 in the city of Bloemfontein, which is today part of the Republic of South Africa. In the very south of the Black Continent, his family ended up due to promotion his father, who was entrusted with the right to manage the representative office of one of the local banks. As noted in some sources, the mother of our today's hero - Mabel Tolkien - arrived in South Africa already in her seventh month of pregnancy. Thus, the first child of the Tolkien couple was born almost immediately after the move. Subsequently, the family appeared younger brother John, and then a younger sister.As a child, John was completely an ordinary child. He often played with his peers and spent a lot of time away from home. The only memorable episode from his early childhood was that of a tarantula bite. According to the medical records, John Tolkien was treated by a certain doctor named Thornton. According to some researchers, it was he who later became the prototype of the wise and kind wizard Gandalf, one of the main characters in three Tolkien books at once. In addition, the same tarantula that bit the boy in early childhood. The image of the spider was embodied in the evil spider Shelob, who attacks the heroes of Tolkien's book in one of its episodes.
In 1896, after the death of the father of the family from a protracted fever, the entire family of our today's hero moved back to England. Here, mother Mabel Tolkien with her three children settled in the suburbs of Birmingham, where she lived until her death. This period became very difficult in the life of the family of the future writer. Money was constantly lacking, and the only consolation for Mabel Tolkien and her children was literature and religion. Early enough, John learned to read. However, during this period, most of his desktop literature consisted of religious books. Subsequently, fairy tales of some English and European writers were added to them. So, Tolkien's favorite works were the books "Alice in Wonderland", "Treasure Island" and some others. It was this strange symbiosis of fairy-tale and religious literature that laid the foundations for corporate identity, which was organically embodied by him in the future.
After the death of his mother, which happened in 1904, John was brought up by his grandfather - a priest of the local Anglican Church. It was he, according to many, who instilled in the future writer a love for philology and linguistics. At his suggestion, Tolkien entered the King Edward School, where he began to study Old English, Gothic, Welsh, Old Norse and some other languages. This knowledge was later very useful to the writer in the development of the languages of Middle-earth.
Subsequently, for several years, John Tolkien studied at Oxford University.
Creativity of Tolkien - writer
After graduation, John Tolkien was drafted into the army and participated in many bloody battles as part of the Lancashire Rifles. During the First World War, many of his friends died and subsequently hatred of military action remained with Tolkien until the end of his life.History of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
From the front, John returned disabled and subsequently earned his living exclusively teaching activities. He taught at the University of Leeds and then at Oxford University. So he earned the fame of one of the best philologists in the world, and later also the fame of a writer.
In the twenties, Tolkien began to write his first literary work- The Silmarillion, which consisted of short stories and contained a description of the fictional world of Middle-earth. However, work on this work was completed somewhat later. Trying to please his children, John set about writing a lighter and "more fabulous" work, which was soon called "The Hobbit or There and Back Again".
In this book, the world of Middle-earth came to life for the first time and appeared before readers in the form of a holistic image. The Hobbit was published in 1937 and became quite successful among the British.
Despite this fact, for a long time Tolkien did not seriously think about professional writing career. He continued to teach, and in parallel with this he worked on the cycle of legends of the Silmarillion and the creation of the languages of Middle-earth.
In the period from 1945 to 1954, he wrote exclusively small works - mostly stories and fairy tales. However, already in 1954, the book "The Fellowship of the Ring" saw the light, which became the first part famous series"Lord of the Rings". It was followed by other parts - "The Two Strongholds" and "Return of the King". The books were published in Britain and later in the USA. From that moment on, a real “Tolkien boom” began around the world.
Tolkien's Confession, The Lord of the Rings
In the sixties, the popularity of the Lord of the Rings epic became so great that it became one of the main trends of the time. Tea houses, restaurants, public institutions and even botanical gardens were named after Tolkien's heroes. Some time later, many prominent figures even advocated the presentation of Tolkien Nobel Prize in the field of literature. This award, however, bypassed it. Although awards and various literary prizes in the personal collection of the writer still accumulated a lot. 
In addition, already at that time, John Tolkien sold the rights to screen adaptations of his works. Subsequently, prominent figures in England and the United States created numerous audio performances, games, animated films and even full-fledged Hollywood blockbusters based on Tolkien's books. However, the author himself did not find most of all this. In 1971, after the death of his wife Edith Mary, the writer fell into a protracted depression. Literally a year later, he was found to have a bleeding stomach ulcer, and some time later, pleurisy. On September 2, 1973, Tolkien died of numerous illnesses. The great author is buried in the same grave with his wife. Many of his works (mostly short stories) published posthumously.
Who is Tolkien John Ronald Reuel? Even children, and first of all, they know that this is the creator of the famous "Hobbit". In Russia, his name became very popular with the release of the cult film. In the homeland of the writer, his works became famous back in the mid-60s, when the student audience of a circulation of a million copies of The Lord of the Rings was not enough. For thousands of young English-speaking readers, the story of Frodo the hobbit has become a favorite. The work created by John Tolkien sold out faster than Lord of the Flies and The Catcher in the Rye.
passion for the hobbit
Meanwhile, in New York, youths were running around with homemade badges that said: “Long live Frodo!”, And everything like that. Among the youth there was a fashion for organizing parties in the Hobbit style. Tolkien societies were created.
But the books that John Tolkien wrote were not only read by students. Among his fans were housewives, and rocket men, and pop stars. Respectable fathers of families discussed the trilogy in London pubs.
It is not easy to talk about who the fantasy author John Tolkien was in real life. The author himself cult books was convinced that true life the writer is contained in his works, and not in the facts of his biography.
Childhood
Tolkien John Ronald Reuel was born in 1892 in South Africa. There, by occupation, was the father of the future writer. In 1895, his mother went with him to England. A year later, news came announcing the death of his father.
Ronald's childhood (that's what his relatives and friends called the writer) passed in the suburbs of Birmingham. At the age of four he began to read. And just a few years later, he experienced an inexpressible desire for the study of ancient languages. Latin for Ronald was like music. And the pleasure of studying it could only be compared with reading myths and heroic legends. But, as John Tolkien later admitted, these books existed in the world in insufficient quantities. Such literature was too scarce to satisfy his reading needs.
Hobbies
At school, in addition to Latin and French, Ronald also studied German and Greek. He became interested in the history of languages and comparative philology quite early, attended literary circles, studied Gothic and even tried to create new ones. Such hobbies, unusual for teenagers, predetermined his fate.
In 1904, his mother died. Thanks to the care of the spiritual guardian, Ronald was able to continue his studies at Oxford University. His specialty was
Army
When the war began, Ronald was in his last year. And after passing the final exams brilliantly, he volunteered for the army. The second lieutenant fell to several months of the bloody battle of the Somme, and then two years in the hospital with a diagnosis of trench typhus.
teaching
After the war, he worked on compiling a dictionary, then received the title of professor of English. In 1925, his account of one of the ancient Germanic legends was published, in the summer of that year, John Tolkien was invited to Oxford. He was too young by the standards of the famous university: only 34 years old. However, behind John Tolkien, whose biography is no less interesting than books, had rich life experience and brilliant works on philology.
mystery book
By this time, the writer was already not only married, but also had three sons. At night, when family chores were over, he continued the mysterious work he had begun as a student - the story magical land. Over time, the legend was filled with more and more details, and John Tolkien felt obliged to tell this story to others.
In 1937, the fairy tale "The Hobbit" was published, which brought the author unprecedented fame. The popularity of the book was so great that the publishers asked the writer to create a sequel. Then Tolkien began work on his epic. But the three-part saga came out only eighteen years later. Tolkien developed all his life. Refinement of the Elvish dialect is being carried out today.
Tolkien characters
Hobbits are incredibly charming creatures that resemble children. They combine frivolity and steadfastness, ingenuity and innocence, sincerity and cunning. And oddly enough, these characters give the world created by Tolkien, authenticity.
The protagonist of the first story constantly risks to get out of the maelstrom of all sorts of misadventures. He has to be bold and inventive. With the help of this image, Tolkien seems to be telling his young readers about the limitlessness of the possibilities that they have. And another feature of Tolkien's characters is love of freedom. Hobbits get along just fine without leaders.
"Lord of the Rings"
Why did the professor from Oxford strike the minds of modern readers so much? What are his books about?
Tolkien's works are dedicated to the eternal. And the components of this seemingly abstract concept are good and evil, duty and honor, great and small. In the center of the plot is a ring, which is nothing more than a symbol and tool of unlimited power, that is, what almost every person secretly dreams of.
This topic is very relevant at all times. Everyone wants power and is sure that they know exactly how to properly use it. Tyrants and other terrible personalities in history, as contemporaries believe, are stupid and unfair. But the one who wants to acquire power today will supposedly be wiser, more humane and more humane. And maybe make the whole world happier.
Only Tolkien's heroes refuse the ring. There are kings and brave warriors, mysterious magicians and omniscient sages, beautiful princesses and gentle elves in the work of the English writer, but in the end they all bow to a simple hobbit who was able to fulfill his duty and was not tempted by power.
In recent years, the writer has been surrounded universal recognition received the title of Doctor of Literature. Tolkien died in 1973, and four years later the final version of The Silmarillion was published. The work was completed by the writer's son.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Eng. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; January 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, Orange Republic - September 2, 1973 Bournemouth, England) - English writer, poet, philologist, professor at Oxford University. Best known as the author classical works"high fantasy": "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion".
Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College. Oxford University (1925-1945), Merton English Language and Literature at Merton College (English) Russian. Oxford University (1945-1959). Together with close friend C.S. Lewis, he was a member of the Inklings, an informal literary society. On March 28, 1972, he received the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) from Queen Elizabeth II.
After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher produced several works based on his father's vast corpus of notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. This book, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, constitutes a single collection of fairy tales, poems, stories, artificial languages and literary essays about a fictional world called Arda and its part of Middle-earth. In 1951-1955, Tolkien used the word "Legendarium" to refer to most of this collection. Many authors wrote fantasy before Tolkien, however, due to his great popularity and strong influence on the genre, many call Tolkien the "father" of modern fantasy literature, meaning mainly "high fantasy".
In 2008, the British newspaper The Times ranked him sixth on their list of "The 50 Greatest British writers since 1945". In 2009, the American magazine Forbes named him the fifth highest-earning celebrity who died.
