J.R.R. Tolkien
Born 3 January 1892 · Died 2 September 1973
From Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa · Nationality: United Kingdom · Writes fiction and nonfiction
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a major scholar of the English language, specialising in Old and Middle English. Twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford, he also wrote a number of stories, including most famously The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), which are set in a pre-historic era in an invented version of the world which he called by the Middle English name of Middle-earth. This was peopled by Men (and women), Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Orcs (or Goblins) and of course Hobbits. He has regularly been condemned by the Eng. Lit. establishment, with honourable exceptions, but loved by literally millions of readers worldwide.
In the 1960s he was taken up by many members of the nascent "counter-culture" largely because of his concern with environmental issues. In 1997 he came top of three British polls, organised respectively by Channel 4 / Waterstone's, the Folio Society, and SFX, the UK's leading science fiction media magazine, amongst discerning readers asked to vote for the greatest book of the 20th century.
Quotes
“There was once a little man called Niggle, who had a long journey to make. He did not want to go, indeed the whole idea was distasteful to him; but he could not get out of it.”
Leaf by Niggle “The story-maker proves a successful ‘sub-creator’. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is ‘true’: it accords with the laws of that world.”
On Fairy-Stories “A story must be told or there’ll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving.”
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien “The heart of man is not compound of lies, / but draws some wisdom from the only Wise, / and still recalls him.”
Mythopoeia “Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme / of things not found within recorded time.”
Mythopoeia
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by J.R.R. Tolkien in order
Books by J.R.R. Tolkien in the order they were published, from The Hobbit (1937) to The Fall of Númenor (2022).
- 1The Hobbit
The Hobbit1937 - 2Farmer Giles of Ham
Farmer Giles of Ham1949 - 3The Return of the King
The Return of the King1950 - 4The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring1954 - 5The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings1954 - 6The Two Towers
The Two Towers1954 - 7The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil1962 - 8Tree and Leaf
Tree and Leaf1964 - 9Bilbo's Last Song
Bilbo's Last Song1974 - 10Narn I Chîn Húrin
Narn I Chîn Húrin2001 - 11Beren and Lúthien
Beren and Lúthien2017 - 12The Fall of Númenor
The Fall of Númenor2022 - 13Morgoth's Ring
Morgoth's Ring - 14Roverandom
Roverandom - 15Tales from the Perilous Realm
Tales from the Perilous Realm - 16The Book of Lost Tales
The Book of Lost Tales - 17The Fall of Gondolin
The Fall of Gondolin - 18The Father Christmas Letters
The Father Christmas Letters - 19The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - 20The Lost Road and Other Writings
The Lost Road and Other Writings - 21The Return of the Shadow
The Return of the Shadow - 22The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion - 23Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth
Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth