Tolkien john. English writer John Tolkien: biography, creativity, best books

English science fiction writer, linguist John Ronald Ruel Tolkien (John Ronald Ruel Tolkien) was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, Orange Republic (now South Africa). His father was a manager of an English bank, his parents settled in South Africa shortly before John's birth in connection with his father's promotion.

In February 1896, the father died, the mother and the children returned to England and settled Sirhole near the city of Birmingham. In 1904, his mother died, and John and his younger brother remained under the tutelage of the Catholic priest Francis Morgan.

Since 1920, Tolkien taught at the University of Leeds, in 1924 he was approved as a professor, from 1925 to 1959 he taught at Oxford University.

Tolkien's Dictionary of Medieval English was published in 1922. He researched Jeffrey Chaucer and the medieval epic Beowulf, and published three Middle English monuments: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with Eric Gordon, Ancrene Wisse) and "Sir Orfeo" (Sir Orfeo). Tolkien even "finished writing" the lost verses of the famous "Elder Edda", a collection of ancient Icelandic myths of the 13th century.

Tolkien invented several of his languages \u200b\u200b- for example, Quenya (the language of the "high elves"), Sindarin (the language of the "gray elves"), Khuzdul (the secret language of the dwarves). Their invention influenced his literary work.

In the 1920s, he began writing a cycle of myths and legends of Middle-earth, which later became The Silmarillion (published after Tolkien's death in 1977).

In the early 1930s, around Tolkien's friend, writer Clive Lewis, an informal literary club, Inklings (Inklings; inkling; sometimes considered a derivative of the word ink, ink), gathered around Tolkien's friend, writer Clive Lewis, a number of whose members were fond of northern mythology. The club soon fell apart, but with the previous name, Oxford graduate Tangi Lin formed a new one, which also included Tolkien and Lewis. The Inklings have met regularly for two decades, read and discussed excerpts from their writings. Tolkien is known to have read chapters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to the Inklings, which he was writing at the time.

The Hobbit was published in 1937 and was illustrated with over one hundred drawings by Tolkien that explained the story. The Hobbit was an extraordinary success immediately after publication, winning the New York Herald Tribune Prize for Best Book of the Year.

In 1954-1955 Tolkien's trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" ("The Fellowship of the Ring", "Two Towers" and "Return of the King") was published. The epic novel was translated into many languages \u200b\u200bof the world and sold at first in a million copies, and today it has surpassed the bar of twenty million. The novel gave impetus to the development of the fantasy genre and role-playing movement. The book has become a cult book among young people in many countries. Detachments of Tolkienists, dressed in knightly armor, to this day in the USA, England, Canada, New Zealand. There is also a Tolkien movement in Russia.

The film rights to the novel were sold by Tolkien in 1968, but the epic did not appear until 2001. In 2012-2014, a film trilogy based on The Hobbit was released, which describes the history preceding the events of The Lord of the Rings.

During the life of John Tolkien, the story "Leaf by Niggle" (1945), the poem "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" (1945), the tale "Farmer Giles from Ham" (Farmer Giles of Ham, 1949), a collection of poems "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" (The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 1962), the story "The Blacksmith from the Big Wootton" (Smith of Wootton Major, 1967), etc.

In the last years of his life, Tolkien was surrounded by universal acclaim. In June 1972, he received the title of Doctor of Literature from the University of Oxford, and in 1973 at Buckingham Palace Queen Elizabeth presented the writer with the Order of the British Empire, second degree.

All of his works published after 1973 were published by his son Christopher. Among them are "Letters of the Christmas Grandfather" (The Father Christmas Letters, 1976), "The Silmarillion" (The Silmarillion, 1977), "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth" (1980), "Monsters and Critics "(The Monsters And The Critics And Others Esseys, 1983)," History of Middle-earth "in 12 volumes (The History of Middle-earth, 1983-1986)," Tales from the Perilous Realm "(1997) , "The History of The Hobbit" (The History of The Hobbit, 2009), "The Fall of Arthur" (The Fall of Arthur, 2013), etc.

John Tolkien's previously unpublished novella Beren and Luthien is expected to be released in May 2017 in the UK.

John Tolkien was married to Edith Brett since 1916, the couple lived together for 55 years and raised three sons and a daughter.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

John Tolkien (or Tolkien) is a man whose name has forever become a part of world classics. In his entire life, the writer wrote only a few famous literary works, but each of them became a legend in the world of fantasy. Tolkien is often called the father, the creator of this genre. The fairy worlds created by other authors took Tolkien's stencil as a basis, then based on the example they created their own stories.

Tolkien's books

Tolkien's two most popular books are and. To date, the number of released copies of "The Lord of the Ring" is more than 200 million. The writer's works, in comparison with the books of modern writers of the fantasy genre, continue to be sold and republished with great success.

The fan club of the writer was founded half a century ago and today the number of its members is only growing. Fans of the Professor (as Tolkien is called) gather for themed evenings, conduct role-playing games, write apocrypha, fanfiction, freely communicate in the language of orcs, dwarves, elves, or simply like to read Tolkien's books in a pleasant atmosphere.

The writer's novels had a tremendous impact on the world culture of the twentieth century. They have been repeatedly filmed in films, adapted for animation, audio plays, computer games and theatrical plays.

List of books by Tolkien Alnine:

Short biography of John Tolkien

The future writer was born in South Africa in 1892. In 1896, after the death of his father, the family moved to England. In 1904, his mother died, Tolkien, along with his brothers, was sent to a boarding school with a close relative, a priest in Birmington. John received a good education in college, his specialization was the study of Germanic and Anglo-Saxon languages \u200b\u200bin classical literature.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was enlisted as a lieutenant in the regiment of riflemen. While on the battlefield, the author never stopped writing. Due to illness, he was demobilized. In 1916 he got married.

Tolkien did not give up his studies of linguistics, in 1920 he became one of the teachers at the University of Leeds, and some time later - a professor at Oxford University. It was during working weekdays that the idea of \u200b\u200bthe "hobbit" came to him.

The book about the short Bilbo Baggins was published in 1937. At first it was attributed to children's literature, although the author himself insisted on the opposite. Tolkien independently painted all the illustrations for the story.

The first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954. Books have become a real boon for fans of science fiction. Initially, the trilogy received several negative reviews from critics, but after that the audience accepted Tolkien's world.

The professor left his teaching post in 1959, writing an essay, a collection of poetry, and a fairy tale. " In 1971, the writer's wife died, two years later Tolkien also died. In marriage, they had four children.

The author of The Lord of the Rings, John Tolkien is a talented writer who became the progenitor of a new genre in the world of literature and influenced the writers of the following years. It's no wonder that modern fantasy is based on archetypes invented by John. The master of the pen was imitated by Christopher Paolini, Terry Brooks and other authors of works.

Childhood and youth

Few people know that in fact John Ronald Ruel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in the African town of Bloemfontein, which until 1902 was the capital of the Orange Republic. His father Arthur Tolkien, the bank manager, together with his pregnant wife Mabel Suffield moved to this sunny place due to a promotion, and on February 17, 1894, the lovers had a second son, Hilary.

It is known that Tolkien's nationality is determined by German blood - the writer's distant relatives were from Lower Saxony, and John's surname, according to the writer himself, comes from the word "tollkühn", which means "recklessly brave. According to the surviving information, most of John's ancestors were artisans, while the writer's great-great-grandfather was the owner of a bookstore, and his son sold fabrics and stockings.

Tolkien's childhood was not rich in events, but the writer often recalled an incident that happened to him in early childhood. One day while walking in the garden under the scorching sun, the boy stepped on a tarantula, and he immediately bit little John. The child in panic rushed down the street until the nanny caught him and sucked the poison from the wound.

John used to say that that event did not leave eerie memories of the eight-legged creatures and that he was not possessed by arachnophobia. But, nevertheless, creepy spiders are often found in his many works and pose a danger to fabulous creatures.

When John was 4 years old, he went with Mabel and his younger brother to visit relatives in England. But while the mother and sons were admiring the British landscapes, a misfortune happened in Bloemfontein: the main breadwinner in the family died of rheumatic fever, leaving his wife and children without a livelihood.

It so happened that the widow, along with the boys, settled in Sairhole, in the homeland of her ancestors. But Mabel's parents greeted her inhospitable, because at one time Tolkien's grandparents did not approve of the marriage of their daughter and an English banker.

The parent of John and Hilary, who could hardly make ends meet, did everything in her power. The woman made a bold and eccentric decision for that time - she converted to Catholicism, which was an egregious act for England of those times, which did not accept such a branch of Christianity. This allowed the Baptist family to disown Mabel once and for all.

Suffield spun like a squirrel in a wheel. She herself taught children to read and write, and John was known as a diligent student: by the age of four, the boy had learned to read and swallowed the works of the classics one after another. George MacDonald was also Tolkien's favorites, and the works of the brothers Grimm and the future writer did not like it.

In 1904, Mabel died of diabetes, and the boys remained in the care of her spiritual mentor Francis Morgan, who served as a priest in the Birmingham church and was fond of philology. In his free time, Tolkien enjoyed painting landscapes, studying botany and ancient languages \u200b\u200b- Welsh, Old Norse, Finnish and Gothic, thereby showing linguistic talent. When John was 8 years old, the boy entered the school of King Edward.

In 1911, the talented young man, together with his comrades Rob, Geoffrey and Christopher, organized the secret Tea Club and the Barrowian Society. The fact is that the guys loved tea that was illegally sold in the school and library. In the fall of the same year, John continued his studies, his choice fell on the prestigious Oxford University, where the gifted guy entered without much difficulty.

Literature

It so happened that after graduating from university, John went to serve in the army: in 1914, the guy expressed a desire to become a participant in the First World War. The young man took part in bloody battles and even survived the Battle of the Somme, in which he lost two comrades, because of which hatred of military actions pursued Tolkien for the rest of his life.

From the front, John returned disabled and began to earn money as a teaching activity, then climbed the career ladder, and at the age of 30 received the position of professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature. Of course, John Tolkien was a talented philologist. Later, he said that he invented fairy-tale worlds only so that the invented language, corresponding to his personal aesthetics, seemed natural.

At the same time, a man who was reputed to be the best linguist at Oxford University took up an inkwell and a quill and invented his own world, which began at school. Thus, the writer created a collection of myths and legends, called "Middle-earth", but later became "The Silmarillion" (the cycle was published by the writer's son in 1977).

Further, on September 21, 1937, Tolkien delighted fantasy fans with the book The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. It is noteworthy that John came up with this work for his young children, in order to tell the offspring in the family circle about the brave adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the wise wizard Gandalf, the owner of one of the rings of power. But this fairy tale accidentally got into print and won wildly popularity among readers of all ages.

In 1945, Tolkien presented to the public the story "Niggle's Leaf", saturated with religious allegories, and in 1949 the humorous tale "Farmer Giles of Ham" was published. Six years later, Tolkien begins to work on the epic novel "The Lord of the Rings", which is a continuation of the tales of the adventures of a brave hobbit and a powerful wizard in the wonderful world of Middle-earth.

John's manuscript turned out to be voluminous, so the publishing house decided to divide the book into three parts - "The Fellowship of the Ring" (1954), "Two Fortresses" (1954) and "The Return of the King" (1955). The book became so famous that Tolkien's "boom" began in the USA, the people of America swept away John's books from store shelves.

In the 1960s, in the homeland of jazz, the cult of Tolkien began, which brought John recognition and fame, it was even said that it was time for the master to present the Nobel Prize for Literature. Unfortunately, however, this award bypassed Tolkien.

John then wrote the cycle of poems The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Poems from the Scarlet Book (1962), The Road Goes Away and Away (1967) and the story The Blacksmith of the Great Wootton (1967).

The rest of the manuscripts, such as Tales of a Fairy Land (1997), Children of Hurin (2007), The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (2009) were published posthumously by John's son Christopher, who later also became the writer who created The History of Middle-earth ", Where he analyzed the unpublished works of his father (the cycle includes the volumes" The Book of Lost Tales "," The Organization of Middle-earth "," Ring of Morgoth "and others).

World of middle earth

It is worth noting that Tolkien's works contain biblical plots, and the books themselves are the real world, passed through the prism of literary allegories, for example, there is a parallel between Frodo and that can be seen with the naked eye.

Rumor has it that from an early age John dreamed about the Flood, was interested in the history of Atlantis, books and epic poems, including trying to translate the story of Beowulf. Therefore, the creation of Middle-earth is not an accident caused by creative inspiration, but a true pattern.

The middle world (as his son calls part of Tolkien's fictional universe) is what John Ruel devoted his whole life to. Middle-earth is the setting for some of the writer's works, where events from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and, in part, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales develop.

It is noteworthy that the world, which immerses every reader in magical adventures and the confrontation between good and evil, is thought out to the smallest detail. John not only meticulously described the territory and the races inhabiting it, but also drew several maps that cover part of the fictional space (not all have reached publication).

He also invented a chronology of events before the Solar years, which begin from the Velian era and end with the last battle that completes the history of Arda - Dagor Dagorat. In the books themselves, the writer calls Middle-earth the component of Arda, located in the east and representing the dwelling place of mortals.

Indeed, John used to say more than once that the continent was on our planet. True, it existed in the distant past and was a brief episode in the history of the Earth. However, the author spoke of Middle-earth as a secondary reality and another level of imagination.

The area is divided by the Misty Mountains, the Forochel Bay surrounded by blue mountains to the north, and the citadel of the corsairs to the south. Also Middle-earth includes the state of Gondor, the region of Mordor, the country of Harad, etc.

The continent invented by Tolkien is inhabited by both people and sharp-sighted elves, hardworking gnomes, cunning hobbits, giant Ents and other fabulous creatures speaking the languages \u200b\u200bof Quenya, Sindarin and Khuzdul created by the writer.

As for flora and fauna, the invented world is inhabited by ordinary animals, the characters of the books often ride around on horses and ponies. And from plants in Middle-earth wheat, tobacco, rye, root crops grow, and grapes are also cultivated.

Personal life

Mabel gave her son the love of God, so John Tolkien remained a devout Catholic all his life, knowing all the church rites. As for politics, here the writer was a traditionalist and sometimes advocated the collapse of Great Britain, and also disliked industrialization, preferring a simple, measured rural life.

It is known from John's biography that he was an exemplary family man. In 1908, the fantasy author met Edith Brett, who at that time was an orphan and lived in a boarding house. The lovers often sat in a cafe, looked from the balcony at the sidewalk and amused themselves by throwing lumps of sugar at passers-by.

But the priest Francis Morgan did not like the relationship between John and Edith: the guardian believed that such a pastime interfered with her studies, and besides, the girl professed a different religion (Brett was a Protestant, but converted to Catholicism for the sake of marriage). Morgan set a condition for John - he can count on the blessing only when he turns 21.

Edith thought that Tolkien had forgotten her, and even managed to accept a marriage proposal from another boyfriend, but as soon as John became an adult, he was not slow to write a letter to Brett in which he confessed his feelings.

Thus, on March 22, 1916, the young people had a wedding in Warwick. In a happy marriage that lasted 56 years, four children were born: John, Michael, Christopher and daughter Priscill.

Death

Edith Tolkien died at the age of 82, and John survived his wife for a year and eight months. The great writer died on September 2, 1973 from a bleeding ulcer. The writer was buried in the same grave with Edith at Wolvercote Cemetery.

It is worth saying that John had a tremendous influence on the culture of the following years. Based on John's manuscripts, board and computer games, plays, musical compositions, animation and feature films were invented. The most popular movie trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", where the main roles were performed, and other actors.

Quotes

• "No man can judge his own holiness"
• "Goblins are not villains, they just have a high level of corruption."
• "The true story of the writer is contained in his books, not in the facts of his biography."
• "When you write a complex story, you have to draw a map right away - then it will be too late."
• "Do not dismiss grandmother's fairy tales, because only they save the knowledge forgotten by those who considered themselves wise"

Bibliography

• 1925 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• 1937 - The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
• 1945 - "Niggle's Brush Sheet"
• 1945 - "The Ballad of Aotru and Itrun"
• 1949 - Farmer Giles of Ham
• 1953 - "The Return of Beorchtnot, son of Beorchthelm"
• 1954-1955 - "The Lord of the Rings"
• 1962 - "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Poems from the Scarlet Book"
• 1967 - "The road goes into the distance and into the distance"
• 1967 - The Big Wootton Blacksmith

Books published posthumously:

• 1976 - "Letters from Christmas Grandfather"
• 1977 - The Silmarillion
• 1998 - "Roverandom"
• 2007 - Children of Hurin
• 2009 - The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
• 2013 - The Fall of Arthur
• 2015 - "History of Kullervo"
• 2017 - "The Tale of Beren and Lúthien"

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; January 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, Orange Republic - September 2, 1973 Bournemouth, England) is an English writer, poet, philologist, professor at Oxford University. He is best known as the author of the classic works of "high fantasy": "The Hobbit, or There and Back", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion".

Tolkien served as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College. Oxford University (1925-1945), Merton's English and Literature at Merton College (English) Russian. Oxford University (1945-1959). Together with his close friend C.S. Lewis, he was a member of the informal literary society "Inklings". On March 28, 1972, he was promoted to 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 extensive body of notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. This book, along with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is a single collection of fairy tales, poems, stories, artificial languages \u200b\u200band 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 works in the fantasy genre before Tolkien, however, due to the 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 the list of "50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". In 2009, the American magazine Forbes named him the fifth among the deceased celebrities with the highest income.

John Tolkien's brief biography of the English writer and philologist is outlined in this article.

John Tolkien short biography

John Tolkien years of life — 1892-1973

John Ronald Ruela Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloomfotein, South Africa. Tolkien returned to England at a conscious age, after the death of his father in 1896.

When he was 12 years old, he lost his mother. A Catholic priest became John's tutor and guardian. Religion has had a significant impact on the writer's work.

After graduating from Oxford University, Tolkien was enlisted as a lieutenant in the Lancashire Rifle Regiment and participated in the First World War. He survived the bloody battle on the Somme, which caused huge losses, and was released from military service due to illness.

In 1916, Tolkien married Edith Brett, whom he loved from the age of 16 and with whom he did not part until her death in 1972. They had 4 children. Edith became the prototype of one of Tolkien's favorite images - the elven beauty Luthien.
Tolkien began teaching at the University of Leeds in 1920, and a few years later became a professor at Oxford University.

In 1937 the magical story "The Hobbit, or There and Back" was published. He also created over 100 illustrations for his story.

Over the years, while working in scientific publications, Tolkien created what is considered his masterpiece - the Lord of the Rings book series, inspired in part by ancient European myths, but with its own set of maps, lore and languages.