Tolkien, John Ronald Ruel
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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien J. R. R. Tolkien
Tolkien in 1972 Birth name: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Date of birth: January 3 1892(1892-01-03)[1][2]
Place of birth: Bloemfontein
Date of death: September 2 1973(1973-09-02)[1][3][2] (81 year)
Place of death: Bournemouth
Citizenship (citizenship): Great Britain
Occupation: novelist, poet, linguist, philologist, translator
Direction: Fantasy
Genre: Children's literature, fantasy, translation, literary studies, poetry
Language of works: English
Debut: "The Hobbit, or There and Back"
Awards: "Hugo", "Locus", "Balrog", Mythopoetic Award, etc.
Awards:
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John Ronald [4] Reuel Tolkien[5] (English: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien[6]; January 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, Orange Republic — September 2, 1973, Bournemouth, England) was an English writer, linguist, poet, philologist, professor at the University of Oxford.
He is best known as the author of classic works of "high fantasy": "The Hobbit, or There and back", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion".
Tolkien held the positions of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo Saxon at Pembroke College.
Oxford University (1925-1945), Merton English Language and Literature at Merton College (English)Russian.
University of Oxford (1945-1959).
Together with a close friend C. S. Lewis, he was a member of the informal literary society "Inklings".
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After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher published several works based on his father's extensive corpus of notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion.
This book, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, makes up a single collection of fairy tales, poems, stories, artificial languages and literary essays about the 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, but due to the great popularity and strong influence on the genre, many call Tolkien the "father" of modern fantasy literature, meaning mainly "high fantasy"[7].
In 2008, the British newspaper The Times ranked him sixth in the list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" [8].
In 2009, the American magazine Forbes named him the fifth among the deceased celebrities with the largest income[9].
Content
1 Biography 1.1 The Tolkien Family 1.2 Childhood 1.3 Youth 1.4 Tolkien's family 1.5 Career 1.6 World War I 1.6.1 In the rear 1.6.2 Academic and writing careers 1.6.3 "Beowulf"
1.7 World War II 1.8 After the War.
"Tolkien's Boom" 1.9 Death
2 Worldview 3 The construction of languages 4 Works 4.1 Published during his lifetime 4.2 Published posthumously 4.3 Editions in Russian
5 Heritage 6 Objects named after Tolkien 7 Royalties 8 Prizes and Awards 8.1 Cinematic Awards 8.1.1 Nominations
8.2 Facts
9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 References
Biography[edit / edit wiki text]
Rod Tolkien[edit / edit wiki text]
Most of Tolkien's ancestors on his father's side were artisans.
The Tolkien family originates from Lower Saxony, but since the XVIII century, the writer's ancestors settled in England, "quickly turning into native Englishmen"[10], in the words of Tolkien himself.
Tolkien derived his surname from the German word tollkuhn, which means "recklessly brave"[11] [comm. 1].
Several families with the surname Tolkien and its variants still live in the north west of Germany, primarily in Lower Saxony and Hamburg[12][13].
A German writer suggested that the surname most likely came from the name of the village Tolkynen near Rastenburg in East Prussia (now north eastern Poland), although it is far from Lower Saxony there.
The name of this village, in turn, comes from the extinct Prussian language[14][15].
Tolkien's mother's parents, John and Emily Jane Suffield, lived in Birmingham, where since the beginning of the XIX century they owned a building in the city center called "Lamb House" (Lamb House).
Since 1812, Tolkien's great great grandfather William Suffield kept a book and stationery store there, and since 1826 Tolkien's great grandfather, also John Suffield, sold decorative fabrics and stockings there[16].
Childhood[edit / edit wiki text]
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State, South Africa).
His parents, Arthur Ruel Tolkien (1857-1895), governor of the Bank of England, 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 had a second son, Hilary Arthur Ruel.
As a child, Tolkien was bitten by a tarantula.
The sick boy was taken care of by a doctor named Thornton Quimby, and it is assumed that he served as the prototype of Gandalf the Grey[17]
Check the information.
It is necessary to check the accuracy of the facts and the reliability of the information provided in this article.
There should be explanations on the discussion page.
.
A memorial plaque in Sayrhole reads: "Sayrhole.
A water mill from 1542.
It was used by Matthew Bolton in the middle of the XVIII century.
It was reconstructed in 1768.
Served as an inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien in 1896-1900."
In February 1896, 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 for living.
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[17].
Tolkien's strong religious beliefs played a significant role in the conversion of C. S. Lewis to Christianity, although, to Tolkien's disappointment, Lewis preferred the Anglican faith to the Catholic one.
Mabel also taught her son the basics of the Latin language[18], and also instilled 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 John could already read and even wrote the first letters.
He read a lot, and from the very beginning he disliked Stevenson's Treasure Island and The Pied Piper of Hamelin by the Brothers Grimm, but he liked Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, stories about Indians, George MacDonald's fantasy works[17] and The Book of Fairies by Andrew Lang.
Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904, at the age of 34[comm. 2]; 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 age in nature.
These two years were enough for Tolkien for all the descriptions of forests and fields in his works.
In 1900, Tolkien entered the King Edward's School, where he learned Old English and began to study others Welsh, Old Norse, Finnish, Gothic.
He had an early linguistic talent, after studying the Old Dutch and Finnish languages, he began to develop "Elvish" languages.
He subsequently studied at St. Philip's School and Exeter College, Oxford.
Youth[edit / edit wiki text]
In 1911, while studying at King Edward's School (English) Russian (Birmingham) Tolkien with three friends Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Smith and Christopher Wiseman[comm. 3] - they organized a semi secret circle called the CHKBO - "Tea Club and Barrovian Society" (English T. C. B. S., Tea Club and Barrovian Society).
This name is due to the fact that friends liked tea sold near the school in the supermarket Barrow (English Barrow), as well as in the school library, although it was forbidden[17].
Even after graduation, the members of the Cheka kept in touch, for example, they met in December 1914 at Wiseman's house in London.
In the summer of 1911, Tolkien visited Switzerland, which he later mentions in a letter from 1968[10], noting that Bilbo Baggins ' journey through the Misty Mountains is based on the path that Tolkien and twelve comrades made from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen.
In October of the same year, he began his studies at the University of Oxford (Exeter College).
Tolkien's family[edit / edit wiki text]
In 1908, he met Edith Mary Brett, who had a great influence on his work.
Falling in love prevented Tolkien from going straight to college, besides, Edith was a Protestant and three years older than him.
Father Francis took John's word of honor that he would not meet Edith until he turned 21 — that is, until he came of age, when Father Francis ceased to be his guardian.
Tolkien fulfilled his promise by not writing a single line to Mary Edith before that age.
They did not even meet and did not talk[18].
On the evening of 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[17].
In addition, at his insistence, she converted to Catholicism[17].
The engagement took place in Birmingham in January 1913, and the wedding took place on March 22, 1916 in the English city of Warwick, in the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas.
Maria.
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).
Genealogical scheme of the Tolkien family[19]
John Benjamin Tolkien
John Benjamin Tolkien
1807-1896 Mary Jane Stowe
Mary Jane Stow
1834-1915 John Suffield
John Suffield, Jr.
1833 (1834?) -1930 Emily Sparrow
Emily Jane Sparrow
1838—? ? ? ? ?
Arthur Ruel Tolkien
Arthur Reuel Tolkien
1857-1895 Mabel Suffield
Mabel Suffield
1870-1904?
Frances Bratt
Frances (Fanny, Fannie) Bratt
1859—1904
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
1892-1973 Edith Bratt
Edith Bratt
1889—1971
* John (John Francis Reuel Tolkien, 1917-2003)
* Michael (Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien, 1920-1984)
• Christopher (Christopher John Reuel Tolkien, born 1924)
* Priscilla (Priscilla Anne Reuel Tolkien, born 1929)
Career[edit / edit wiki text]
Tolkien in 1916 in the form of the British Army
In 1914, Tolkien enrolled in the Military Training Corps in order to delay conscription and have time to get a bachelor's degree.
In 1915, Tolkien graduated with honors from the university and went to serve as a lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers; soon John was called up 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") died, after which he hated wars, 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 he taught at the University of Leeds, in 1922 he received the position of professor of Anglo Saxon language and literature at the University of Oxford, 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 writing a cycle of myths and legends of Middle Earth, which would later become the Silmarillion.
There were four children in his family, for whom 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 Unwin suggested that Tolkien write a sequel; however, work on the trilogy took a long time and the book was completed only in 1954, when Tolkien was already about to retire.
The trilogy was published and had a huge success, which surprised both the author and the publisher a lot.
Unwin expected that he would lose considerable money, but he personally liked the book very much, and he really wanted to publish the work of his friend.
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.
The First World War[edit / edit wiki text]
In 1914, Great Britain entered the First World War.
Tolkien's relatives were shocked that he did not immediately volunteer for the British army.
Instead, Tolkien began a course of study, delaying joining the army until he received his degree in 1915.
After that, he was commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers with the rank of second lieutenant[20].
He received 11 months of training in the 13th Battalion in Staffordshire at Cannock Chase.
"Gentlemen are rarely found among the authorities and, to be honest, human beings too," Tolkien was indignant in a letter to Edith[21].
On June 4, 1916, Tolkien, as part of the 11th Battalion of the British Expeditionary Forces, to which he was transferred, went to France.
His move on a military transport inspired him to write the poem The Lonely Isle ("The Lonely Island")[22].
He later wrote: "The junior officers were in a state of shock for a long time.
Parting with my wife then... was like death"[23].
Tolkien served as a signalman on the Somme River, where he took part in the Battle of Thiepval Ridge and the subsequent assault on the Swabian Redoubt.
Schwaben Redoubt).
According to John Garth:
Despite the fact that Kitchener's army preserved the old social order, the class division between people who got into a desperate situation together weakened.
Tolkien wrote that the experience taught him "deep sympathy and empathy for ordinary soldiers, especially from agrarian countries."
He was very grateful for this lesson.
For a long time he was imprisoned in a tower not made of pearls,but of ivory.
— John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, pages 94–95.
The time of battles for Tolkien's wife Edith was ve under the greatest stress, she was afraid of every knock on the door, fearing that the news of her husband's death would bring.
Because of the censorship adopted in the British Army mail, Tolkien developed a secret code that he used to write letters home.
Thanks to this code, Edith could track her husband's movements on the map of the Western Front.
On October 27, 1916, Tolkien fell ill with trench fever, spread by lice, which lived in large numbers in the dugouts.
According to the memoirs of the Reverend Mervyn S. Evers, a chaplain of the Anglican Church in the Lancashire Fusiliers Regiment:
Once I happened to spend the night with the brigade commander of a machine gun unit (English: Brigade Machine Gun Officer) and a signalman in a captured German dugout…
We lay in our bunks all night hoping for sleep, but it was useless.
As soon as we lay down, hordes of lice immediately became active.
So we went to the medic, who was also in the dugout with his equipment, and he gave us some ointment, which, as he assured, was supposed to protect against small parasites.
We were completely lubricated with the composition and with great hope lay down again, but it did not help.
It seemed that instead of scaring away lice, it acted on them like an aperitif before eating, and the small annoyances resumed their feast with an increased appetite.
— Quoted in John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, p. 200.
Tolkien was released from military service and sent to England on November 8, 1916[24].
Many of his dear school friends, including Gilson and Smith, did not return from the war.
In the following years, Tolkien indignantly declared that those who found parallels with the Second World War in his works were completely wrong:
In order to fully feel the severity of the military darkness, you need to visit it personally, but over the years it is increasingly forgotten that being caught up in the war at a young age in 1914 is no less terrible than in 1939 and subsequent years.
In 1918, almost all of my close friends were dead.
— The Lord of the Rings.
Preface to the Second Edition.
In the rear[edit / edit wiki text]
Weak and exhausted, Tolkien spent the rest of the war in hospitals and garrisons, being considered unfit for basic service[25][26].
During his recovery in a rural house in Little Haywood in Staffordshire, Tolkien began working on the "Book of Lost Tales" (eng.
The Book of Lost Tales), starting with "The Fall of Gondolin" (Eng.
The Fall of Gondolin).
During 1917 and 1918, he experienced several exacerbations of the disease, but recovered sufficiently to serve in various military camps, and rose to the rank of lieutenant.
At this time, Edith gave birth to their first child, John Francis Reuel Tolkien.
When Tolkien was serving in Kingston upon Hull, he and Edith went for a walk in the forest, near the village of Roos, and Edith danced for him in a clearing between hemlock flowers.
After the death of his wife in 1971, Tolkien recalled:
I never called Edith Luthien, but she was the primary source of the story of the beginning of the main part of the Silmarillion.
I first realized this in a small forest clearing filled with hemlock [27] near Roos in Yorkshire (where I was briefly at the Humber Garrison outpost in 1917, and she could live with me for a while).
In those days, her hair was the color of a raven's wing, her skin was fair, her eyes were clearer than ever, and she could sing and dance.
But the story went the other way, and I stayed away and canot do anything about the cruel Mandos (English Mandos).
— Letters, №.
340.
Such impressions inspired Tolkien to tell about the meeting of Beren and Luthien, and he often referred to Edith as "my Luthien" [28].
Academic and writing careers[edit / edit wiki text]
2 Dernley Road, Tolkien's former home in West Park, in the city of Leeds
20 Northmoor Road, Tolkien's former home in North Oxford
Tolkien's first civilian job after the First World War was as an assistant lexicographer in 1919, when, after being discharged from the army, he 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".[29]
In 1920, he took up the post of reader (similar in many respects to the position of lecturer) in English at the University of Leeds, and (of those hired) became the youngest professor there.[30]
During the University, he published the "Dictionary of the Middle English Language" and published the final edition of " Sir Gawain and the Green Knight "(together with the philologist Eric Valentine Gordon) - an edition that included the original text and comments, which are often confused with the translation of this work into modern English, created later by Tolkien together with translations of "Pearl" ("Perle" — in Middle English) and "Sir Orfeo".
In 1925, Tolkien returned to Oxford, where he took up (until 1945) the position of Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo Saxon at Pembroke College.
During his time at Pembroke College, he wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings, living at 20 Northmoor Road in North Oxford, where his Blue Plaque was installed in 2002.
In 1932, he also published a philological essay on "Nodens" (also "Nudens" — the Celtic god of healing, the sea, hunting and dogs), continuing Sir Mortimer Wheeler when he left for the excavations of the Roman Asclepion in Gloucestershire, on Lydney Park[31].
"Beowulf"[edit / edit wiki text]
In the 1920s, Tolkien undertook a translation of Beowulf, which he completed in 1926, but did not publish.
As a result, the poem was edited by Tolkien's son and was published by him in 2014, more than forty years after Tolkien's death and almost 90 years since its completion[32].
Ten years after finishing the translation, Tolkien gave a very famous lecture about this work, entitled "Beowulf: Monsters and Critics", which had a decisive influence on the research on "Beowulf"[33].
Lewis E. Nicholson wrote about Tolkien's article as a "widely recognized turning point in the criticism of Beowulf", noting that Tolkien established the supremacy of the poetic nature of the work, in contrast to its purely linguistic elements[34].
At that time, the consensus of the academic council was split regarding "Beowulf": the decision to which to attribute the poem: to children's battles with monsters, or to the description of a realistic tribal war, but opinions tended towards the former.
Tolkien argued that the author of "Beowulf" addressed more to human fate in general, rather than specifically to the limited topic of tribal politics, and, therefore, "monsters" are important for the poem[35].
Where Beowulf deals with the manifestations of tribal struggle in Finnsburg, Tolkien categorically insisted against considering the poem in a fantastic aspect[36].
In the essay, Tolkien also showed how much he appreciated "Beowulf": "Beowulf is among my most valuable sources, and this influence can be seen throughout the entire Middle Earth legendarium"[37].
According to Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien used ingenious means, which begin his series of lectures on "Beowulf":
He would enter the room, look around the audience with his eyes, and suddenly begin to recite in a deafening voice the first lines of the poem in Anglo Saxon, starting with the great cry "Hwæt!" (the first word of this and a number of other Old English poems), which some students took for " Quiet! "("Quiet!")
It was not even a reading of a dramatic performance, but a kind of personification of the Anglo Saxon bard in the honey hall, and this impression was preserved by whole generations of students, because they went home with the realization: "Beowulf" was not a simple set of text for reading and simple analysis, but was a powerful part of dramatic poetry[38].
Decades later, Whisten Hugh Auden wrote to his former professor:
"I donot think I've ever told you what an unforgettable experience it made on me, as a student, when you read Beowulf.
This voice was the voice of Gandalf"[38].
World War II[edit / edit wiki text]
At the beginning of the Second World War, Tolkien's candidacy was considered for the position of a decryptor[39][40].
In January 1939, he was asked about the possibility of serving in the cryptographic department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the event of a state of emergency[39][40].
He agreed and completed a training course at the London headquarters of the Government Communications Center[39][40].
However, although Tolkien was very astute[41] in order to become a decryptor, in October he was informed that at the moment the government does not need his services[39][40].
As a result, he never served again[39][40].
In 2009, the Daily Telegraph stated that Tolkien, for an unknown reason, refused an offer to be a permanent recruit with a salary of 500 pounds a year[41].
Although Tolkien hated Adolf Hitler and Nazism, he was shocked by the bombing of Germany by the Allied forces.
In 1945, Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher[42]:
It is assumed that we have reached the stage of civilization at which, perhaps, it is still necessary to execute a criminal, but there is no need to gloat or hang his wife and child next to him, to the laughter of the orc crowd.
The destruction of Germany, if it were a hundred times deserved, is one of the world's worst catastrophes.
Well, we are powerless to do anything about it.
This should be the measure of guilt that is justly attributed to any citizen of a country who is not a member of its government.
Well, the first War of the Machines seems to be nearing its final, unfinished stage despite the fact that, alas, as a result, everyone became impoverished, many were orphaned or became crippled, and millions died, and one thing won: the Machines.
- The letters of J. R. R. Tolkien.
- Letter No.
96. Trans.: S. B. Likhacheva
After the war.
"Tolkien's boom" [edit / edit wiki text]
In 1945, Tolkien became Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College, Oxford, and remained in this post until his retirement in 1959.
For many years, he worked as a third party examiner at University College Dublin.
In 1954, Tolkien received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland (University College Dublin was an integral part of it).
In 1948, Tolkien finished work on the novel" The Lord of the Rings " — almost a decade after the first draft.
He offered the book to the Allen publishing house & Unwin.
According to Tolkien's plan, the Silmarillion should have been published simultaneously with The Lord of the Rings, but the publishing house did not go for it Then in 1950, Tolkien offered his work to the Collins publishing house, but an employee of the publishing house Milton Waldman (Milton Waldman) said that the novel "urgently needs to be cut".
In 1952 Tolkien wrote again in Allen & Unwin: "I would be happy to 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, fascinated by the hippie movement and the ideas of peace and freedom, saw in the book the embodiment of many of their dreams[43].
In the mid 1960s, "The Lord of the Rings" is experiencing a real "boom".
The author himself admitted that he was flattered by success, but over time he got tired of popularity.
He even had to change his phone number because his fans were bothering him with calls.
In 1961, Clive S. Lewis was busy about awarding Tolkien 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"[44][45].
The prize was awarded that year to the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andric.
Tolkien also translated the book of the Prophet Jonah for the publication of the Jerusalem Bible, which was published in 1966[46].
Death[edit / edit wiki text]
Grave of John Ronald Ruel and Edith Tolkien, Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford
After the death of his wife in 1971, Tolkien returned to Oxford.
At the end of 1972, he suffered greatly from indigestion, an X ray showed dyspepsia.
The doctors prescribed him a diet and demanded that he completely exclude the use of wine.
On August 28, 1973, Tolkien went to Bournemouth, to visit an old friend — Denis Tolhurst.
On Thursday, August 30, he attended an event on the occasion of Mrs. Tolhurst's birthday.
I didnot feel very well, I didnot eat much, but I drank some champagne.
At night it got worse and in the morning Tolkien was taken to a private clinic, where they found a bleeding stomach ulcer.
Despite the optimistic forecasts at first, pleurisy developed by Saturday, and on the night of Sunday, September 2, 1973, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died at the age of eighty one[47].
The couple was buried in the same grave.
The engraving on the tombstone reads:
Edith Mary Tolkien
Luthien
1889—1971
John Ronald
Ruel Tolkien
Beren
1892—1973
All works published after 1973, including The Silmarillion, were published by his son Christopher.
Worldview[edit / edit wiki text]
Pub "The Eagle and Child" (Russian: "The Eagle and the child") in Oxford, where the Inklings met on Tuesdays in the 1930s and 1950s
Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and in political views he was rather a moderate traditionalist, leaning more towards distributism and libertarianism with a monarchical bias in favor of entrenched contracts, rules and orthodoxy than innovation and modernization, and, at the same time, criticized the state bureaucracy.
In 1943, he wrote: "My political views are increasingly inclined to anarchy (philosophically understanding that this means the abolition of control, and not mustachioed men with bombs) - or to an 'unconstitutional monarchy '" [48].
Although Tolkien did not often write or speak about it, he advocated the collapse of the British Empire and even Great Britain.
In 1936, in a letter to his former student, the Belgian philologist Simon de Ardenne, Tolkien wrote: "The political situation is terrible…
I have the greatest sympathy for Belgium — as a country with an optimal size, as an example of any other country in the world!
I want my own country to be bounded by the waters of the Tweed and the walls of Wales... we, the people, at least really know about morality and eternity, and when Hitler (or a Frenchman) says: "Germany (or France) must live forever" - we know that they are lying"[49].
Tolkien had a hatred of the side effects of industrialization, which he saw as devouring the English countryside and simple life.
For most of his adult life, he despised cars, preferring to ride a bicycle[50].
This attitude can be seen in all his works, where the most notable is the depiction of the rejection of the "industrialization" of the Shire (the land of the Hobbits) in his works "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" [51]:
"Hobbits are a modest but very small people ...they do not understand and do not like machines more complex than a bellows, a water mill or a hand loom, although they are skilled in handling tools"[52].
Many commentators have noted a number of possible parallels between the events of the Middle earth saga and the events in Tolkien's life.
The Lord of the Rings is often compared to England during and immediately after the Second World War.
But Tolkien himself vehemently rejected this opinion in the preface to the second edition of the novel, stating that he preferred a simple allegory to allegories of specific historical events[53].
He also considered this topic in detail in his essay "About a fairy tale", where he argues that fairy tales and magic stories are appropriate and applicable to life, since they are coordinated both within themselves and by the truths of real life.
He comes to the conclusion that Christianity itself follows the pattern of internal consistency and external truth.
His belief in the fundamental truths of this religion encourages commentators and critics to look for allusions to Christianity in The Lord of the Rings.
Interestingly, Tolkien himself strongly objected to the use of religious references by his friend Clive Lewis in his stories, which he often openly recognized as only allegorical[54].
However, Tolkien wrote that the episode about the Fatal Mountain has parallels with the lines from the Lord's Prayer[55][56].
Also, many observers of Tolkien's work see in the image of Frodo and the temptation in the question of the ring parallels with the biblical image of Jesus Christ and his mission as the redeemer of sins[57].
His love of myths and devout faith combined in his judgment that mythology is suitable for the divine echo of "Truth"[58].
He expressed this opinion in his poem and essay "Mythoepia" [59].
His theory that myths constitute "fundamental truths" has become a central theme for the Inklings as a whole.
Designing languages[edit / edit wiki text]
Even as a child, John and his comrades came up with several languages to communicate with each other.
This passion for learning existing languages and designing new ones remained with him for the rest of his life.
Tolkien is the creator of several artificial languages: Quenya, or the language of the high elves; Sindarin the language of the gray elves.
Tolkien knew several dozen languages, composed new languages, largely guided by the beauty of the sound[comm. 4].
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 corresponding to my personal aesthetics could be natural.
Nevertheless, it is true."
You can read more about Tolkien's linguistic hobbies in the lecture "The Secret Vice" (Rus.), delivered by him at Oxford in 1931.
In the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes the Hobbit calendar, borrowed from the Numenorians.
A special feature of this calendar is that the year always starts on Monday and ends on Sunday.
There are 52 weeks in the year, and one "extra" day (365-52×7=1) is no day of the week and is considered a holiday.
One feature of this calendar is that the first day of any of the months does not fall on Friday.
Works[edit / edit wiki text]
Published during his lifetime[edit / edit wiki text]
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 — with this book Tolkien entered literature.
The book originally appeared as a work for the family circle — Tolkien began to tell his children a fairy tale about the Hobbit.
Almost accidentally getting into print, the story about 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" / Leaf by Niggle 1945 — "The Ballad of Aotrou and Itrun" / The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun 1949 — "Farmer Giles of Ham" / Farmer Giles of Ham 1953 — "The Return of Beorhtnoth, the son of Beorhtthelm" / The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhtelm ' s Son (play) 1954-1955 — "The Lord of the Rings" / The Lord of the Rings.
The book, back in the mid 1970s, became one of the most widely read and published books in the world.
The central work of Tolkien.
The epic, which tells about Middle earth, was published in 1954-1955 in England and after some time gave rise to a real Tolkien cult, which began in the United States in the 1960s.
1954 - "The Fellowship of the Ring" / The Fellowship of the Ring 1954 — "Two fortresses" / The Two Towers 1955 — "The Return of the King" / The Return of the King
1962 - "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other poems from the Red Book" / The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (a cycle of poems).
1967 — "The Road Goes Ever On" / The Road Goes Ever On (with Donald Swann) 1967 — "The Blacksmith from Big Wootton" / Smith of Wootton Major
Published posthumously[edit / edit wiki text]
All posthumous editions were edited by the writer's son, Christopher Tolkien.
1976 — "Letters of the Christmas Grandfather" / The Father Christmas Letters 1977 — "Silmarillion" / The Silmarillion 1980 — "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth" / Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle earth 1983 — "Monsters and critics" / The Monsters And The Critics And Other Essays 1983-1996 — "The History of Middle Earth" / The History of Middle earth in 12 volumes 1997 — " Tales of a Magical land" / Tales from the Perilous Realm 1998 — "Roverandom" / The Roverandom 2007 — "The Children of Hurin" / The Children of Hurin 2009 — "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun" / The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun 2009 — "The Story of the Hobbit" / The History of The Hobbit 2013 — "The Fall of Arthur" / The Fall of Arthur 2014 — "Beowulf": translation and commentary / Beowulf — A Translation And Commentary
Publications in Russian[edit / edit wiki text]
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
The legend of Sigurd and Gudrun / Translated from the English by S. Likhacheva.
- Moscow: AST, Astrel, 2011 — - 416 p.
— ISBN 978-5-17-070663-1.
Legacy[edit / edit wiki text]
Main article: The influence and adaptations of Tolkien's works
Tolkien's works had a huge impact on the world culture of the XX and even the XXI century.
They have been repeatedly adapted for cinema, animation, audio plays, theater stage, computer games.
Concept albums, illustrations, and comics have been created based on them.
A large number of imitations of Tolkien's books, their continuations or antitheses have been created in literature.
"The Lord of the rings" Tolkien was filmed repeatedly, first in the form of animated films by Ralph Bakshi (the Lord of the rings, 1978) and Rankiem Bassam (the return of the King, 1980).
In 2001-2003 Peter Jackson filmed a big budget blockbuster "Lord of the rings" in three films that received multiple awards and cumulatively grossed nearly $ 3 billion[60].
Subsequently, Jackson took up the film adaptation of the story "The Hobbit", also in three parts: in 2012, the film" The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey "was released, a year later — " The Hobbit: The Wasteland of Smaug", and the trilogy ended in 2014 with the film"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies".
There is also a 1977 animated film adaptation of The Hobbit.
In addition, in 1985, the TV play "The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit"was released in the USSR.
A number of computer games were created based on Tolkien's books and their film adaptations, the most famous of them are the strategy of The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle earth and the MMORPG "The Lord of the Rings Online".
Musical groups such as Burzum, Blind Guardian, Battlelore, Summoning, and in Russia — "Hobbitshire" and "Epidemic", have composed many songs about characters and events from Tolkien's books.
Many famous fantasy writers admit that they turned to this genre under the impression of Tolkien's epic, for example, Robert Jordan[61], Nick Perumov[comm. 5], Terry Brooks[62], Robert Salvatore[comm. 6].
A contemporary of Professor Ursula Le Guin notes the poetry and rhythm of his syllable[63].
However, many well known authors criticize Tolkien.
So, in particular, China Mieville, recognizing that " The Lord of the Rings undoubtedly had the most influence on the fantasy genre," calls it "rustic, conservative, anti modernist, terribly Christian and anti intellectual."
Mieville criticizes the ideas of "consolation" and "escape", which, according to Tolkien, fantasy should give, criticizes his addiction to the unexpected salvation of heroes and happy endings[64].
Philip Pullman called The Lord of the Rings "banal"[65] and added :" In my books, I argue with Narnia Tolkien is not worth arguing with"[66].
Objects named after Tolkien[edit / edit wiki text]
In honor of Tolkien are named:
asteroid (2675) Tolkien [67]; Tolkien crater on Mercury[68]; sea crustacean bokoplav Leucothoe tolkieni from the system of underwater ranges of Nazca and Sala and Gomez (Pacific Ocean)[69]; staphylinida Gabrius tolkieni Schillhammer, 1997 (lives in Nepal (Khandbari, Induwa Khola Valley))[70]; fossil bivalve Martesia tolkieni Kennedy, 1974[71]; a genus of Tolkienia fossil trilobites from the family Acastidae (Phacopida) [72].
Many real geographical objects and animals are named after the names of geographical objects of Middle earth and the names of characters appearing in Tolkien's works[73].
Fees[edit / edit wiki text]
1970s — $ 16,000 (the amount for which the copyright for the film adaptation of the novel "The Lord of the Rings"was bought)[74]
Prizes and awards[edit / edit wiki text]
1957 International Fantasy Award in the category "Fiction" (Fiction) for " The Lord of the Rings "(1955) 1974 Hugo Award.
Gandalf Award "Grand Master of Fantasy" (Gandalf Award "Grand Master of Fantasy") 1978 Locus Award in the category "Fantasy Novel" (Fantasy Novel) for "The Silmarillion" (1977) 1978 Hugo Award.
Gandalf Award in the category "Best book in the fantasy genre" (Gandalf Award "Book Length Fantasy") for " The Silmarillion "(1977) 1979 Balrog Awards.
Professional Achievement (Professional Achievement) 1981 Balrog Awards in the category " Collection/Anthology" (Collection/Anthology) for "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth" (Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle earth) (1980) 1981 — Mythopoeic Awards in the category "Mythopoeic Fantasy Award" for "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth" (Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle earth) edited by Christopher Tolkien (1980) 1989 — Mythopoeic Awards in the category "Mythopoeic Award for Research of the Inklings 'creativity" for "The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings. Part I)" (1988) 1990 — The Great Ring in the category "Large form (translation)" for "Two Fortresses" (The Two Towers) (1954) 1991 — The Great Ring in the category "Large Form (translation)" for "The Lord of the Rings" (1955)
2000 — Mythopoeic Awards in the category "Mythopoeic Award for research of the Inklings 'creativity" for "Roverandom" (1998) 2002 — Deutscher Phantastik Preis in the category "Best Author" 2003 — Mythopoeic Awards in the category "Mythopoeic Award for Research of Inklings 'creativity" for "Beowulf and the Critics" (2002) 2009 — Mythopoeic Awards in the category "Mythopoeic Award for Research of Inklings 'creativity" for "The History of The Hobbit" (2007) 2009 — Prometheus Awards.
Inducted into the Hall of Fame for "The Lord of the Rings" (1955)
Cinematic awards[edit / edit wiki text]
Nominations[edit / edit wiki text]
2002 — USC Scripter Award for the screenplay for the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (nominated posthumously, shared the nomination with Fran Walsh, with Philippa Boens and with Peter Jackson) 2003 — USC Scripter Award for the screenplay for the film "The Lord of the Rings: Two Fortresses" (nominated posthumously, shared the nomination with Fran Walsh, with Philippa Boens, with Stephen Sinclair and with Peter Jackson) 2004 — USC Scripter Award for the screenplay for the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (nominated posthumously, shared the nomination with Fran Walsh, with Philippa Boens and with Peter Jackson)
Facts[edit / edit wiki text]
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, as well as Clive Staples Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Christopher Tolkien (the youngest son of J. R. R. Tolkien), Adam Fox, etc. they were part of the so called literary discussion group "Inklings".
The members of the group were mainly representatives of Oxford academic circles.
The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who supported the narrative in fiction and encouraged the writing of fantasy.
One of the places where the Inklings gathered was the oldest pub in Oxford, The Eagle and Child.
In addition to his native language, Tolkien was more or less proficient in Greek, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, German, Finnish, Welsh, Norwegian and Old Norse (Old Norse), Gothic, Swedish, Danish, Anglo Saxon (Old English) and Middle English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Gaelic.[source not specified 1331 days]
See also[edit / edit wiki text]
Influence and adaptations of Tolkien's works by Tolkienists
Notes[edit / edit wiki text]
Comments
In the unfinished story The Notion Club Papers, Tolkien jokingly brought himself under the surname Rashbold, which in English means the same as tollkuhn.
Ин Insulin was not yet discovered at that time.
The composition of the society changed several times, and subsequently a permanent "core" was formed of three members: Tolkien, Wiseman and Robert Quilter Gilson, who was called "R. Q.".
Jeffrey Bache Smith, who was fond of English literature, joined later.
The beauty of the sound of language has always remained very important for J. R. R. Tolkien.
So, in English, he considered the phrase "cellar door" ("the door to the basement")to be particularly beautiful Пер Perumov.com: "In the early eighties, Nikolai, like many other lyricists of that time, "lived by Tolkien".
Through familiar commodity experts and publishing workers, Nick got Tolkien's books in English and translated them independently. "
R. R. A. Salvatore's interview: ...getting The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a Christmas present... was a turning point for me.
Tolkien, more than anything else, turned me on to reading, and tuned me back into an imagination that had been lost early on in my educational experience.
Sources
↑ 1 2 Record #118623222 // Gemeinsame Normdatei — 2012—2016.
<a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q27302"></a><a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q304037"></a><a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q256507"></a><a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q170109"></a><a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q36578"></a>
↑ 1 2 Bibliothèque nationale de France: open data platform — 2011.
<a href="https://wikidata.org/wiki/Track:Q20666306"></a>
↑ http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/jrr tolkien.html
Со Sog similarly to practical transcription, the correct transmission option is Ronald.
↑ There is also a transliteration (taking into account the spelling, not the pronunciation) version of Tolkien.
In a letter to Richard Jeffery dated December 17, 1972, Tolkien noted: "My last name is constantly written (except for you) like Tolkien.
I donot know what the reason is, because I always pronounce the ending as keen" ("I am nearly always written to as Tolkein (not by you): I do not know why, since it is pronounced by me always keen".
"The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien", no. 347).
^ The IPA [dʒɒn ˈrɒnld ˈruːəl ˈtɒlkiːn] ↑ Mitchell, Christopher J. R. R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy.
↑ «The 50 greatest British writers since 1945».
The Times (London).
5 January 2008.
↑ Miller, Matthew (27 October 2009).
«Top Earning Dead Celebrities».
Forbes.com.
↑ 1 2 Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.).
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien.
— Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
— ISBN 0-395-31555-7.
↑ «Ash nazg gimbatul».
Der Spiegel (35/1969).
August 25, 1969.
"Professor Tolkien, der seinen Namen vom deutschen Wort 'tollkuhn' ableitet,… .»
↑ «Absolute Verteilung des Namens 'Tolkien'».
Verwandt.de.
MyHeritage UK Ltd.
↑ «Absolute Verteilung des Namens 'Tolkiehn'».
Verwandt.de.
My Heritage UK Ltd.
↑ Georg Gerullis: Die altpreußischen Ortsnamen, o.v., Berlin/Leipzig 1922, p. 184.
↑ Max Mechow: Deutsche Familiennamen prussischer Herkunft, Tolkemita, Dieburg 1994, S.
99. ↑ Old Lamb House, Bull Street, Archives and Heritage Service, Birmingham City Council.
Archived at Wayback Machine ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carpenter.
Tolkien.
↑ 1 2 Dugan, David JRR Tolkien Biography.
The Life of Tolkien (2002).
Checked on April 19, 2008.
Archived from the original source on August 22, 2011.
↑ Sources for the genealogical scheme: Carpenter.
Tolkien Mr. Gerard Tracey.
Tolkien and the Oratory (English)
↑ Biography, pp.
77-85.
↑ Tolkien and the Great War, page 94.
↑ Garth, John.
Tolkien and the Great War, Boston, Houghton Mifflin 2003, pp.
89, 138, 147.
↑ Quoted in John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, p. 138.
↑ Biography, p.
93. ↑ Garth, John.
Tolkien and the Great War, Boston, Houghton Mifflin 2003, pp.
207 et seq.
↑ Tolkien’s Webley .455 service revolver was put on display in 2006 as part of a Battle of the Somme exhibition in the Imperial War Museum, London.
(See Personal Stories: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
Battle of the Somme.
Imperial War Museum.
Verified on April 28, 2009.
Archived from the original source on August 22, 2011.)
Several of his service records, mostly dealing with his health problems, can be seen at the National Archives.
(Officer's service record: J R R Tolkien.
First World War.
National Archives.
Verified on April 28, 2009.
Archived from the original source on August 22, 2011.)
↑ Following rural English usage, Tolkien used the name "hemlock" for various plants with white flowers in umbels, resembling hemlock (Conium maculatum); the flowers among which Edith danced were more probably cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) or wild carrot (Daucus carota).
See John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War (Harper Collins/Houghton Mifflin 2003), and Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall, & Edmund Weiner, The Ring of Words (OUP 2006).
Cat Cater, Bill.
We talked of love, death, and fairy tales, UK Telegraph (12 April 2001).
Accessed 13 March 2006.
↑ Gilliver Peter.
The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the OED.
— OUP, 2006.
↑ Grotta Daniel.
J.R.R. Tolkien Architect of Middle Earth.
— Running Press.
— P. 64–.
— ISBN 978-0-7624-0956-3.
↑ See The Name Nodens (1932) in the bibliographical listing.
For the etymology, see Nodens#Etymology.
↑ Acocella, Joan (2 June 201
