Writer John Tolkien Ronald Ruel: biography, creativity, books and reviews. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien Arthur Reuel Tolkien

John Tolkien (or Tolkien) is a man whose name has forever become part of the world classics. Throughout his 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-tale 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 copies of The Lord of the Ring has been released over 200 million. Compared to the books of modern fantasy writers, the writer’s works continue to be sold and republished with great success.

The writer's fan club 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 theme nights, conduct role-playing games, write apocrypha, fan fiction, communicate freely in the language of orcs, gnomes, elves, or simply like to read Tolkien’s books in a pleasant atmosphere.

The writer's novels had a colossal influence on world culture of the 20th century. They have been repeatedly filmed in films, adapted for animation, audio plays, computer games and theatrical plays.

List of Tolkien books online:

Brief 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 and his brothers were sent to a boarding school with a close relative, a priest, in Birmingham. John received a good college education, specializing in the study of Germanic and Anglo-Saxon languages ​​in classical literature.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was enlisted as a lieutenant in a rifle regiment. While on the battlefield, the author did not stop 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 after some time - a professor at the University of Oxford. It was during his working days that the idea of ​​the “hobbit” came to him.

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

The first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954. The books have become a real find for science fiction lovers. The trilogy initially received some negative reviews from critics, but audiences eventually embraced Tolkien's world.

The professor left his teaching post in 1959, having written an essay, a collection of poems, and a fairy tale." In 1971, the writer’s wife died, and two years later Tolkien died too. In their marriage they had four children.

British writer, outstanding linguist and founder of the literary genre of fantasy. He wrote the famous novels about Middle-earth: “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” and “The Silmarillion”. He became a pioneer in creating fairy tales for adults.

Biography

Tolkien successfully taught Anglo-Saxon and English language and literature at Oxford University. He was a member of the Inklings society, which included his good friend Clive Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. In 1927, Tolkien was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Based on his father's notes and manuscripts, Christopher Tolkien, the son of the famous storyteller, organized the publication of the so-called legendarium - all the additional stories, legends, history, explanations and actual linguistic works related to the fictional world of Arda. The most popular of Tolkien's unpublished works was The Silmarillion. This happened after the death of the author himself.

Although Tolkien was not the first to become interested in the fantasy genre, the completeness of his works, the perfection of his plan, and the thoughtfulness of his picture of the world make him worthy of the title of the founder of fantasy literature.

Family Tolkien

Most biographers agree that the Tolkiens are descended from Saxon craftsmen. In the 17th century, the ancestors of John Tolkien's father settled in England. The writer's surname comes from the word "Tollkiehn", which can be translated as "brave". According to John Ronald's grandmother, their ancestors even included the Hohenzollerns themselves.

Mabel Suffield, who was destined to become the mother of the great author, was a native Englishwoman. Her parents lived in Birmingham and were quite successful businessmen. Their store in the city center brought in a consistently good income.

Childhood

On January 3, 1892, John Tolkien was born in South Africa. At this time, his parents lived in the city of Bloemfontein, where Arthur Reuel Tolkien (1870-1904) held the position of bank manager. Two years later, a second child appeared in the Tolkien family - Hilary Arthur Ruel.

The terrible heat was a difficult test for young children, and the local nature turned out to be even more dangerous. Lions and snakes were part of the daily life of the British family. A tarantula bite caused a serious illness for young John. The future writer owed his recovery to the doctor Thornton Quimby. According to critics, it was his image that the writer took as a basis when creating the Lord of the Rings character Gandalf the Grey.

In 1994, the parents took the children back to the UK. In February 1996, Arthur Tolkien passed away. He was tormented by rheumatic fever and, as a result of bleeding, the head of the Tolkien family left the world, leaving his wife and two sons with virtually no means of subsistence.

Mabel was forced to ask for help from her family, which was not easy for her - her relatives did not approve of her marriage. The Tolkiens settled near Birmingham, in Sayrehole. The children really liked the village. The magnificent nature, hills and old trees made this place a paradise for boys to play. The family's income was more than modest; they had difficulty making ends meet. Being in a difficult situation, the mother of two boys found solace in religion, becoming a Catholic. This decision caused a break with relatives who adhered to the Anglican religion. Thanks to their mother, the children also had strong religious beliefs. John Tolkien was a committed Catholic until the end of his days. Under the influence of the writer, Clive Lewis also converted to Christianity, but he found the order of the Anglican Church closer.

Despite financial difficulties, Mabel's sons received a good education. Their mother did a lot of raising them. By the age of four, John Ruel could read. This skill opened up the world of literature for the boy and marked the beginning of the formation of literary tastes. He was not interested in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, and he did not like “Treasure Island,” but he enjoyed rereading “Alice in Wonderland” by Carroll, “The Book of Fairies” by Lang and all sorts of stories about Indians. In addition to reading, Tolkien was interested in botany and drawing - he was especially good at landscapes. As a child, John learned the basics of Latin and Greek, which became the first stone in building the incredibly broad linguistic knowledge of the future university professor. In 1900, John became a student at King Edward's School, where his linguistic talent was appreciated. He studies Old English, Old Norse, Gothic, Welsh and Finnish.

John Ronald's mother was only 34 years old when diabetes took her life. In 1904 the children left Sayrehole, returning to Birmingham. A church minister and distant relative, Father Francis, took care of them. Deprived of the open spaces of Sayrehole, longing for his mother, John Ronald completely immerses himself in books and painting. He amazes teachers with his erudition, showing a deep interest in medieval literature. Takes up the task of studying the Old Icelandic language on his own.

The writer's close school friends were Geoffrey Smith, Christopher Wiseman and Rob Gilson. Friends will remain dear to John even after graduation. When Tolkien was fifteen years old, he and his cousin Mary invented a new language, the so-called Nevbosh. Later, fictional languages ​​would become a hallmark of his works, and thousands of people would strive to learn Tolkien's Elvish speech.

Youth

Together with twelve friends in 1911, Tolkien traveled to Switzerland. From a letter written by John in 1968, it is known that it was to this trip that the world owes the birth of the story of Bilbo Baggins’s fabulous journey through the Misty Mountains.

In October 1911, Tolkien entered Exeter College, Oxford, on his second attempt.

John Ronald met his first love in 1908. Her name was Edith Mary Brett, the girl was three years older than John. Father Francis spoke out categorically against the young man’s hobby, because it was because of love fever that Tolkien failed to enter college on his first try. Her Protestant religion also did not work in Edith’s favor. The guardian made John promise that he would not date this girl until he turned 21. The writer agreed with the demands of Father Francis and did not maintain contact with Edith until he came of age.

At the university, Tolkien, following the advice of Professor Joe Wright, began studying the Celtic language. He also deepens his knowledge of Finnish linguistics.

Maturity

On his 21st birthday, John wrote a letter to Edith. In it, he invited the girl to become his wife. But by this time Edith was already engaged to another young man, believing that the long separation had caused John Ronald to forget about her. Having broken off the engagement, she agreed to Tolkien's proposal. Respecting the religious beliefs of the groom, Edith even converted to the Catholic faith. In 1913, John and Edith became officially engaged in Birmingham.

Upon learning that Britain was entering the war, Tolkien became an apprentice in the Military Training Corps in 1914, buying him time to graduate from university. Having graduated with honors, in 1915 John Ronald joined the Lancashire Fusiliers with the rank of sub-lieutenant. The writer also completed an 11-month training program in Staffordshire - in the 13th battalion.

On March 22, 1916, the long-awaited wedding of John and Edith took place. They got married at St Mary's Church in Warwick. The newlyweds were destined for more than 55 years of happy life together, and these years were full of mutual understanding. From their union three sons and a daughter, Priscilla, were born.

Already in July, Tolkien left his young wife and went to the front. The 11th Battalion of the British Expeditionary Forces, in which Tolkien served, was sent to France. The future writer recalled this journey with shudder for many years to come. Despite the secrecy of his movements, John managed to inform his wife about his location, thanks to the secret code he invented.

On November 16, 1917, John Ronald became the father of a boy who was named John Francis Ruel.

War in Tolkien's life

The war turned out to be worse than expected. During the Battle of the Somme, two of John's old friends, Smith and Gilson, were killed. All the horrors he saw made Tolkien a convinced pacifist. At the same time, he gained great respect for his brothers in arms, amazed at the courage of which ordinary people are capable. Although Tolkien escaped death, he fell victim to another scourge of war - typhus. The disease was very difficult and twice his comrades no longer expected to see John Ronald alive, but he was able to overcome the disease, although he became disabled.

On November 8, 1916, Tolkien went home. The author's health status required close attention for a long time. He returned to Birmingham, where Edith cared for her slowly recovering husband. There he worked on the sketches from which The Silmarillion was later compiled. When the illness subsided, Tolkien returned to the military camp, where he soon received the rank of lieutenant.

Career

In 1918, the Tolkien family moved to Oxford, where John Ronald took an active part in the creation of the Universal Dictionary of the New English Language. In 1922, the writer was offered a professorship at Oxford University. Tolkien taught Anglo-Saxon language and literature. The fame of the brilliant young professor quickly spread throughout the scientific world.

In 1937, thanks to Stanley Unwin, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, written by Tolkien for his four children, was published. The author was awarded the New York Herald Tribune Prize. Unprecedented sales made The Hobbit a bestseller. The tale was a resounding success, and Sir Anwyn noted that a sequel should be written. No one expected that Tolkien would take work on the second work in the Middle-earth series so seriously. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released only in 1954 and within a matter of days gained popularity among British readers. Although Anuin liked Tolkien's work, he did not think that the novel was destined for such success. The book was divided into three parts to make the publishers' work easier.

It's no secret that the universe that John Tolkien created in his books and manuscripts is one of the most carefully crafted, and therefore the most interesting and deep literary universes. Studying all its nuances is a real test of strength. However, if you want to navigate the whole variety of Tolkien’s plots - from “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” to “The Silmarillion” and other “Hurins” - then our new material will be interesting for you. After reading this article, you will stop wandering through the world of Tolkien, as if through a dense forest, and set off on a free voyage according to the imagination of one of the richest minds of the last century.

Preface

On September 2, 1973, John Tolkien died, leaving behind an enormous collection of manuscripts, notes and notes. Christopher Tolkien, the writer's son, devoted his entire life to editing and publishing his father's writings. During his lifetime, Tolkien managed to publish only two of his key works - The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Both of these books, in turn, were based on a wide layer of traditions and legends, some of which Tolkien wrote in full, some of which he compiled schematically and in fragments. Moreover, Tolkien regularly revised and rewrote most of the records about his universe throughout his life, sometimes changing not only names and titles, but also the course of events. Christopher Tolkien has done a truly titanic job, editing and publishing almost all the legends from the world of Middle-earth to date.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

What is noteworthy is that Tolkien himself compiled a short excursion into his universe - in a letter to Milton Waldman from the Collins publishing house, dated the end of 1951. In this rather voluminous letter, which is often published as a preface to The Silmarillion, Tolkien not only explained how the events of his universe are connected, but also told how the idea for the entire cycle of his works originated. In this article we will mainly rely on this letter, and we recommend that the most devoted fans of Middle-earth read it in its entirety.

On the way to creating Middle-earth

It all started, as Tolkien himself wrote, with two hobbies: young John loved to invent new languages ​​(and, becoming a professional philologist, only strengthened his skills) and had a burning passion for myths and fairy tales, especially heroic legends. However, Tolkien was upset by the almost complete absence of worthy legends in his homeland, England:

There are Greek and Celtic epics, Romanesque, Germanic, Scandinavian and Finnish (the latter made a strong impression on me); but absolutely nothing English, except for cheap editions of folk tales.

Beowulf is the hero of the epic poem of the same name, which influenced Tolkien

Actually, Tolkien’s original idea was to create a cycle of legends - from legends of a global, cosmogonic scale to a romantic fairy tale - which he could dedicate to England.

...possessing (if only I could achieve it) that magical, elusive beauty that some call Celtic (although it is rarely found in the authentic works of the ancient Celts), these legends should be "sublime", purified from all that is coarse and obscene and correspond more to the mature mind of the earth, imbued with poetry since ancient times. I would present some legends in full, but I would outline many only schematically, as part of the overall plan.

The First World War had a great influence on Tolkien’s work, in the battles of which the writer took a direct part. Having gone into reserve and deeply affected by the devastating war, in 1916-1917 Tolkien began work on The Book of Lost Tales - a work that was left unfinished, but included the first prototypes of those myths and legends that would later make up The Silmarillion. The first of Tolkien’s key plots was “The Fall of Gondolin,” which we talk about in more detail below.

Published books and legends of Tolkien

Here is a list of the main works in the Tolkien universe, indicating the year of first publication:

• The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937)
• The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955)
• The Silmarillion (1977)
• Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth (1980)
• The Children of Hurin (2007)
• Beren and Luthien (2017)
• The Fall of Gondolin (to be published in 2018)

It is these books that make up the main legendarium of Middle-earth. During his lifetime, John Tolkien published only the first two books. The Silmarillion and other publications are the merit of his son Christopher, who took upon himself the responsibility to bring his father's original plans to life.

Separately, it is worth noting the 12-volume edition of Tolkien's manuscripts:

• The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996)

This publication cannot be unambiguously attributed to the main legendarium, since it contains many original manuscripts, subsequently rewritten and changed. Most of the volumes of The History of Middle-earth are of only research interest to Tolkien fans and are not recommended for the untrained reader.

The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales

The main part of the legends about the creation and structure of Arda (the world of Middle-earth), as well as a detailed description of the events of the First Age, is set out in “The Silmarillion” - a book that many call the Bible of Middle-earth. The contents of this book are divided into several important parts:

• “Ainulindale”, or “Music of the Ainur” - a myth about the creation of the world;
• "Valaquenta" - a description of the Valar and Maiar, the divine entities of Arda;
• “Quenta Silmarillion”, or “The History of the Silmarils” - the main section of the book, describing the initial events of the world and the events of the First Age, which began shortly after the creation of the Sun and the Moon;
• “Akallabeth”, or “The Overthrow of Numenor” - a legend about the central events of the Second Age;
• “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” is a brief description of the events of the Second and Third Ages, touching on the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Morgoth and Fingolfin. Drawing by John Howe

The Silmarillion is essentially a short history of Middle-earth that ties together all of Tolkien's plots. This is a kind of single plot tree, some of the branches of which turned out to be much more developed than others and turned into separate full-fledged works.

The cycles begin with a cosmogonic myth: “The Music of the Ainur.” God and the Valar (or powers; called gods in English) are revealed. The latter are a kind of angelic forces, each Valar is called upon to perform its specific task. Immediately after this we move on to "The History of the Elves."

It tells of the fall of the elves, which is very similar to the Christian fall of the angels.

“The Silmarillion” tells how the Elves were expelled from Valinor (the abode of the Gods, a kind of Paradise), how they returned to their native abode - Middle-earth, and how they fiercely fought the Enemy. The title of the book was chosen for a reason - the connecting thread for all events is the fate and essence of the Primordial Gems, or Silmarils.

The main villain of The Silmarillion is Melkor (Morgoth), the enemy of the Valar gods and the personification of world evil. Many wars raged at the beginning of time and during the First Age due to the fault of Morgoth, but The Silmarillion ends with the final capture and expulsion of the villain from Arda.

Attack on Nargothrond. Drawing by Pete Amahri

In the book “The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth,” published three years later, Christopher Tolkien included those stories of his father that were not completed, but important additions to the legendarium of “The Silmarillion.” The distinctive feature of Unfinished Tales is that it focused around the events of the Second and Third Ages.

Together, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales constitute the most important body of legends in Tolkien's universe, upon which the masterpiece The Lord of the Rings rests.

"Children of Hurin", "Beren and Lúthien" and "The Fall of Gondolin"

In addition to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had several other stories that he considered key to his universe. Christopher Tolkien devoted separate books to the three most important of them - the “great tales,” as the writer himself called them, despite the fact that all these stories were part of The Silmarillion in one form or another.

The Children of Hurin, released in April 2007, concerns mainly the adventures of Túrin Turambar and greatly expands on Chapter 21 of The Silmarillion. Having begun writing the book in 1918, Tolkien worked on it for most of his life and never managed to publish it. Christopher Tolkien spent thirty years piecing together scattered sketches and creating a complete book with minimal revisions. This is how the general public learned about the high and tragic fate of Turin Turambar - the slayer of the dragon Glaurung and, unknowingly, the husband of his own sister.

Murder of Glaurung. Drawing by Ted Nesmith

Tolkien considered the central plot of his entire life to be the legend “Beren and Lúthien” - the love story of a mortal man and an immortal elf, the creation of which was significantly influenced by the real love story between the writer and his future wife Edith.

The main of the legends of The Silmarillion, and, moreover, the most detailed, is “The Tale of Beren and the Elven maiden Luthien.”

Here, among other things, we first encounter the following motif (it will become dominant in The Hobbit): the great events of world history - the “wheels of the world” - are often turned not by lords and rulers, but by simple and unknown heroes. Beren, an outcast from the mortal race, with the help of Lúthien, a weak maiden, albeit of royal family, succeeds where all armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and obtains one of the Silmarils of the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Lúthien, and the first marriage between a mortal and an immortal is concluded.

Unlike The Children of Hurin, the book Beren and Lúthien, published by Christopher in 2017, contains practically no new material and is a collection of several versions of the legend already known from The Silmarillion.

Lúthien. Drawing by Ted Nesmith

A similar approach will be applied in the book “The Fall of Gondolin” - in it we will see several versions of the same legend. “The Fall of Gondolin” is, in fact, Tolkien’s first work about Middle-earth, written by him under the impression of the Battle of the Somme - one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War.

Gondolin is a secret elven city built by King Turgon during the First Age. It was built surrounded by mountains, where only one secret passage leads. This path was revealed to Turgon by the lord of the waters, Ulmo, one of the Valar. Construction lasted half a century, and the city stood for about 400 years, until one day Turgon's nephew Maeglin revealed its location to Morgoth. Maeglin loved Idril, daughter of Turgon, but she refused him, and the Eldar did not approve of marriages of such close relatives. The thirst for power, rejected feelings and hatred of Tuor - the man who took Idril as his wife - forced Maeglin to betray.

Tuor comes to Gondolin. Drawing by Ted Nesmith

Thus, by 2018, Christopher Tolkien completed the publication of all the key works of his father and summed up the development of the Middle-earth legendarium. We can only take off our hat to Christopher and give him a deep bow for his dedication and boundless diligence.

"The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit"

Here we come to the main works of Tolkien, known throughout the world - the books “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. The events of these books take place at the end of the Third Age of Middle-earth - several thousand years after the events of the three “great tales”. The outlines of Middle-earth changed greatly, part of the continent was destroyed.

Morgoth's fallen banner was taken up by his powerful servant Sauron, and because of his wiles the human race suffered many misfortunes. The key event of the Second Age was the destruction of the island of Numenor: this is told in the legend Akallabeth, included in The Silmarillion. The people who survived the disaster moved to Middle-earth and founded the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor there. Over the course of the Third Age, Arnor gradually faded away and fell under the onslaught of the forces of evil, and Gondor became the main goal of Sauron in his war, which was called the War of the Ring and formed the basis of the book “The Lord of the Rings”.

The Overthrow of Numenor. Drawing by John Howe

One of the main events of the Second Age of Middle-earth was the creation of the rings of power. This story is told in the final section of The Silmarillion. Sauron tricked the Elves who remained in Middle-earth into creating rings of power to slow the Elven "decline." At the same time, the rings enhanced the innate abilities of the owner, and also had some other properties: for example, they made material objects invisible and the essence of the invisible world visible.

The Elves of Eregion created, almost exclusively by the power of their own imagination, without prompting, Three incredibly beautiful and powerful rings aimed at preserving beauty: these did not impart invisibility. But secretly, in the underground Fire, in his Black Earth, Sauron created the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, which contained the properties of all the others and controlled them, so that the wearer could see the thoughts of all those who used smaller rings, could control all of them actions and could ultimately enslave them completely. However, Sauron did not take into account the wisdom and sensitive insight of the elves. As soon as he put on the One Ring, the elves learned about it, comprehended his secret plan and were afraid. They hid the Three Rings so that even Sauron could not find them, and they remained undefiled. The elves tried to destroy the rest of the Rings.

Sauron forges the One Ring. Image from the game Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

A war began that plunged Middle-earth into darkness. The War of the Last Alliance ended the history of the Second Age. Elves and people united against Sauron and destroyed his material shell, ridding him of the One Ring. However, due to an unfortunate omission, the ring was not destroyed, and it was this fact that gave rise to the development of the events of the books “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”.

Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance. Art by Matt DeMino

We will not describe the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” - these are such well-known and popular works (including thanks to Jackson’s film adaptation) that there is hardly anyone among science fiction fans who is not at least superficially familiar with the books .

“The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” not only worthily completed the body of legends conceived by Tolkien, but also, undoubtedly, became the crown of the writer’s creation and had a colossal influence on the development of the genre in literature. Although for Tolkien himself these books were only a small part of one great cycle.

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (English John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; January 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, Orange Republic - September 2, 1973 Bournemouth, England) - English writer, poet, philologist, professor at Oxford University. He is best known as the author of classic high fantasy works: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, 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 Language 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 28 March 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 extensive corpus of notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. This book, along with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, forms a single collection of tales, poems, histories, artificial languages ​​and literary essays about the fictional world called Arda and its part of Middle-earth. From 1951 to 1955, Tolkien used the word "legendarium" to refer to most of this collection. Many authors wrote fantasy works before Tolkien, but 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 its list of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In 2009, the American magazine Forbes named him the fifth highest-earning deceased celebrity.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien - English writer and poet, translator, linguist, philologist, professor at Oxford University - born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State, South Africa).

His parents, Arthur Ruel Tolkien (1857-1895), an English bank manager, and Mabel Tolkien (née Suffield) (1870-1904), arrived in South Africa shortly before the birth of their son in connection with Arthur's promotion. On February 17, 1894, Arthur and Mabel's second son, Hilary Arthur Ruel, was born.

In February 1896 After the death of the father of the family, the Tolkien family returns to England. Left alone with two children, Mabel asks her relatives for help. Returning 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 a very modest income, which was just enough to live on. Trying 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 man throughout his life. Tolkien's strong religious beliefs played a significant role in C.S.'s conversion. Lewis to Christianity, although, to Tolkien's disappointment, Lewis preferred the Anglican faith to the Catholic faith.

Mabel also taught her son the basics of Latin, as well as a love of botany, and Tolkien loved to draw landscapes and trees from an early age. By the age of four, thanks to the efforts of his mother, baby Ronald could already read and even write his first letters. He read a lot, and from the very beginning he disliked Stevenson's Treasure Island and the Pied Piper of Hammel by the Brothers Grimm, but he liked Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, stories about Indians, George MacDonald's fantasy works and Andrew's Fairy Book Lang. Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904; Before her death, she entrusted the upbringing of her children to Father Francis Morgan, a priest of the Birmingham church, a strong and extraordinary personality. It was Francis Morgan who developed little Ronald's interest in philology, for which he was later very grateful to him.

Children spend their preschool years outdoors. These two years were enough for Tolkien to write 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 early linguistic talent, and after studying Old Welsh and Finnish, he began to develop “Elvish” languages. He subsequently studied at St. Philip's School and Oxford Exeter College.

In 1911 While studying at King Edward's School (Birmingham), Tolkien and three friends - Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Smith and Christopher Wiseman - organized a semi-secret circle called the Tea Club and Barrovian society" (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 Barrow supermarket, as well as in the school library, although this was prohibited. Even after graduation, members of the Cheka kept in touch, for example, they met in December 1914 at Wiseman's house in London.

Summer 1911 Tolkien visited Switzerland, which he later mentions in a 1968 letter, noting that Bilbo Baggins's journey through the Misty Mountains is based on the route that Tolkien and twelve companions took from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. In October of the same 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 immediately entering college; besides, Edith was a Protestant and three years older than him. Father Francis took Ronald's word of honor that he would not date Edith until he turned 21 - that is, until he came of age, when Father Francis ceased to be his guardian. Tolkien kept his promise by not writing a line to Mary Edith until this age. They didn't even meet or talk.

On the evening of the same day, when Tolkien turned 21, he wrote a letter to Edith, declaring his love and proposing his hand and heart. Edith replied that she had already agreed to marry another person because she decided that Tolkien had long forgotten her. Eventually, she returned the engagement ring to her 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 - March 22, 1916 in the English city of Warwick, in the Catholic Church of St. Mary. His union with Edith Brett turned out to be long and happy. The couple lived together for 56 years and raised three sons: John Francis Ruel (1917), Michael Hilary Ruel (1920), Christopher Ruel (1924), and daughter Priscilla Mary Ruel (1929).

In 1914 Tolkien enrolled in the Military Training Corps in order to delay his conscription in time to complete his bachelor's degree. In 1915 Tolkien graduated with honors from the university and went to serve as a lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers; John was soon drafted to the front and participated in the First World War.

John survived the bloody Battle of the Somme, where two of his best friends from the Cheka (“tea club”) were killed, after which he hated war, contracted typhus and, after long treatment, was sent home with disability.

During his recovery at the farmhouse at Little Haywood in Staffordshire, Tolkien began working on The Book of Lost Tales, starting with The Fall of Gondolin. Throughout 1917 and 1918 He survived several exacerbations of the disease, but recovered enough to serve in various military camps, and rose to the rank of lieutenant. During this time, Edith gave birth to their first child, John Francis Reuel Tolkien.

He devoted the following years to a scientific career: first he taught at the University of Leeds, in 1922 received a position as Professor of Anglo-Saxon Language and Literature at Oxford University, where he became one of the youngest professors (at 30) and soon earned a reputation as one of the best philologists in the world.

At the same time, he began writing the cycle of myths and legends of 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 Sir Stanley Unwin. The Hobbit was a success, and Anuin suggested that Tolkien write a sequel; however, work on the trilogy took a long time and the book was only completed in 1954, when Tolkien was about to retire.

The trilogy was published and was a huge success, which surprised both the author and the publisher. Anuin expected to lose significant money, but he personally loved the book and was eager to publish his friend's work. For ease of publication, the book was divided into three parts, so that after the publication and sale of the first part it would become clear whether the rest were worth printing.

Tolkien's first civilian job after World War I was as an assistant lexicographer. in 1919, when he, discharged from the army, joined the work on the Oxford English Dictionary, where he worked mainly on the history and etymology of words of Germanic origin beginning with the letter "W". In 1920 he took up the post of reader (similar in many ways to a lecturer position) in English at the University of Leeds, and (of those hired) became the youngest professor there. During his time at the University, he produced a Dictionary of Middle English and published the final edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (with the philologist Eric Valentine Gordon), a publication that included the original text and commentary, which is often confused with the translation of this work into modern English a language later created by Tolkien along with translations of "Pearl" ("Perle" in Middle English) and "Sir Orfeo". In 1925 Tolkien returned to Oxford, where he took ( before 1945) the position of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College.

During his Pembroke College days he wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings, living at 20 Northmoor Road, North Oxford, where his Blue Plaque was erected in 2002. In 1932 He also published a philological essay on "Nodens" (also "Nodens" - the Celtic god of healing, the sea, the hunt and dogs), continuing Sir Mortimer Wheeler when he left to excavate the Roman asklepion in Gloucestershire, at Lydney Park.

In the 1920s Tolkien undertook the translation of Beowulf, which he completed in 1926, but didn't publish it. The poem was eventually edited by Tolkien's son and published by him in 2014, more than forty years after Tolkien's death and almost 90 years after its completion.

Ten years after completing the translation, Tolkien gave a highly famous lecture on this work entitled "Beowulf: Monsters and Critics", which had a defining influence on Beowulf scholarship.

At the beginning of World War II, Tolkien was considered for the post of codebreaker. In January 1939 he was inquired about the possibility of serving in the cryptographic department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the event of a state of emergency. He agreed and completed a training course at the London headquarters of the Government Communications Centre. Be that as it may, although Tolkien was quite astute to become a codebreaker, in October he was informed that the government did not need his services at the moment. As a result, he never served again.

In 1945 Tolkien became professor of English language and literature at Oxford's Merton College and remained in this post until his resignation. in 1959. For many years he worked as an external examiner at University College Dublin. In 1954 Tolkien received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland (University College Dublin was part of it).

In 1948 Tolkien completed work on The Lord of the Rings, almost a decade after the first draft. He offered the book to Allen & Unwin. According to Tolkien, The Silmarillion should have been published simultaneously with The Lord of the Rings, but the publishing house did not agree to this. Then in 1950 Tolkien offered his work to Collins, but the publisher's Milton Waldman said the novel was "in dire need of trimming." In 1952 Tolkien wrote again to Allen & Unwin: "I will gladly consider publishing any part of the text." The publisher agreed to publish the novel in its entirety, without cuts.

In the early 1960s The Lord of the Rings was released in the United States with Tolkien's permission by Ballantine Books and was a stunning commercial success. The novel fell on fertile ground: the youth of the 1960s, captivated by the hippie movement and the ideas of peace and freedom, saw in the book the embodiment of many of their dreams. In the mid-1960s The Lord of the Rings is experiencing a real boom. The author himself admitted that success flatters him, but over time he got tired of popularity. He even had to change his phone number because fans were bothering him with calls.

In 1961 Clive S. Lewis lobbied for Tolkien to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, Swedish academics rejected the nomination with the wording that Tolkien’s books “can in no way be called prose of the highest class.” The Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric received the prize that year.

Tolkien also translated the book of the prophet Jonah for the publication of the Jerusalem Bible, which was published in 1966.

After the death of his wife in 1971 Tolkien returns to Oxford.

Late 1972 he suffered greatly from indigestion, and an x-ray showed dyspepsia.

September 2, 1973 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died at the age of eighty-one. The couple were buried in the same grave.

Works published during his lifetime:
1925 - “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (co-authored with E.B. Gordon)
1937 - “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” / The Hobbit or There and Back Again
1945 - “Leaf by Niggle”
1945 - “The Ballad of Aotrou and Itroun” / The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
1949 - Farmer Giles of Ham
1953 - “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son” (play)
1954-1955 - “The Lord of the Rings” / The Lord of the Rings
1954 - “The Fellowship of the Ring”
1954 - “The Two Towers”
1955 - “The Return of the King”
1962 - “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book” (cycle of poems)
1967 - “The Road Goes Ever On” / The Road Goes Ever On (with Donald Swann)
1967 - Smith of Wootton Major

Published posthumously:
All posthumous editions were edited by the writer's son, Christopher Tolkien.
1976 - “Letters from Father Christmas” / The Father Christmas Letters
1977 - “The Silmarillion” / The Silmarillion
1980 - “Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth”
1983 - “The Monsters And The Critics And Others Esseys”
1983-1996 - “The History of Middle-earth” in 12 volumes
1997 - “Tales from the Perilous Realm”
1998 - “Roverandom” / The Roverandom
2007 - “The Children of Húrin”
2009 - “The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun”
2009 - “The History of The Hobbit”
2013 - “The Fall of Arthur” / The Fall of Arthur
2014 - “Beowulf”: translation and commentary / Beowulf - A Translation And Commentary
2015 - “The Story of Kullervo” / The Story of Kullervo
2017 - “The Tale of Beren and Lúthien” / Beren and Lúthien

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