Who is John Tolkien? English writer John Tolkien: biography, creativity, best books

TOLKEIN, JOHN RONALD RUEL(Tolkien) (1892–1973), English writer, doctor of literature, artist, professor, linguist. Co-creator of the Oxford Dictionary in English. Author of the tale Hobbit(1937), novel Lord of the Rings(1954), mythological epic The Silmarillion (1977).

Father - Arthur Ruel Tolkien, a bank employee from Birmingham, moved to South Africa in search of happiness. Mother: Mabel Suffield. In January 1892 they had a boy.

Tolkien created hobbits - "short ones" - charming, captivatingly reliable creatures, similar to children. Combining perseverance and frivolity, curiosity and childish laziness, incredible ingenuity with simplicity, cunning and gullibility, courage and courage with the ability to avoid trouble.

First of all, it is the hobbits who give such authenticity to Tolkien’s world.

On February 17, 1894, Mabel Suffield gave birth to her second son. The local heat had a bad effect on the children's health. Therefore, in November 1894, Mabel took her sons to England.

By the age of four, thanks to the efforts of his mother, baby John could already read and even write his first letters.

In February 1896, Tolkien's father began bleeding heavily and died suddenly. Mabel Suffield took care of all the children. She received a good education. She spoke French and German, knew Latin, was an excellent painter, and played the piano professionally. She passed on all her knowledge and skills to her children.

His grandfather John Suffield, who was proud of his lineage of skilled engravers, also had a great influence on the initial formation of John’s personality. John's mother and grandfather strongly supported John's early interest in Latin and Greek language.

In 1896, Mabel and her children moved from Birmingham to the village of Sarehole. It was in the vicinity of Sarehole that Tolkien became interested in the world of trees, seeking to discern their secrets. It is no coincidence that unforgettable, interesting trees appear in Tolkien’s works. And the mighty giants of Listven amaze readers in his trilogy - Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien is no less passionate about elves and dragons. Dragons and elves would be the main characters in the first fairy tale written by Ronald at the age of seven.

In 1904, when John was barely twelve years old, his mother died of diabetes. Their distant relative, a priest, Father Francis, becomes the children's guardian. The brothers move back to Birmingham. Feeling longing for free hills, fields and beloved trees, John is looking for new affections and spiritual support. He becomes more and more interested in drawing, revealing extraordinary abilities. By the age of fifteen, he amazes school teachers with an obsession with philology. He's reading an Old English poem Beowulf, returns to medieval tales of knights Round table (cm. ARTHUR'S LEGENDS). Soon he independently begins to study the Old Icelandic language, then gets to German books on philology.

The joy of learning ancient languages ​​captivates him so much that he even invents his own language, “Nevbosh,” that is, “new nonsense,” which he creates in collaboration with his cousin Mary. Writing funny limericks becomes an exciting pastime for young people and at the same time introduces them to such pioneers of English absurdism as Edward Lear, Hilaire Belok and Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Continuing to study Old English, Old Germanic, and a little later Old Finnish, Icelandic and Gothic, John “absorbs in immeasurable quantities” their tales and legends.

At sixteen, John met Edith Bratt, his first and last love. Five years later they got married and lived long life, giving birth to three sons and a daughter. But first, they faced five years of difficult trials: John’s unsuccessful attempt to enter Oxford University, Father Francis’s categorical rejection of Edith, the horrors of the First World War, typhus, which John Ronald suffered from twice.

In April 1910, Tolkien watched a play at the Birmingham Theater Peter Pan based on the play by James Barrie. “It’s indescribable, but I won’t forget it as long as I live,” John wrote.

Still, luck smiled on John. After his second attempt at the Oxford exams in 1910, Tolkien learned that he had been given a scholarship to Exeter College. And thanks to a severance scholarship from King Edward's School, and additional funds, allocated by Father Francis, Ronald could already afford to go to Oxford.

During the last summer holidays John visited Switzerland. He will write in his diary. “Once we went on a long hike with guides to the Aletsch glacier, and there I almost died...” Before returning to England, Tolkien bought several postcards. One of them depicted an old man with a white beard, wearing a round wide-brimmed hat and a long cloak. The old man was talking to a white fawn. Many years later, when Tolkien found a postcard at the bottom of one of his desk drawers, he wrote down: “Prototype of Gandalf.” Thus, for the first time, one of the most famous heroes Lord of the Rings.

Upon entering Oxford, Tolkien meets the famous self-taught professor Joe Wright. He strongly advises the aspiring linguist to “take up the Celtic language seriously.” Ronald's passion for theater intensifies. He plays in the play by R. Sheridan Rivals role of Mrs. Malaprop. By the time he came of age, he wrote a play himself - Detective, cook and suffragette For home theater. Tolkien's theatrical experiences turned out to be not only useful for him, but also necessary.

In 1914, when the First World War begins, Tolkien rushes to complete his degree at Oxford so he can volunteer for the army. At the same time he enrolls in courses for radio operators and communications operators. In July 1915, he passed the English language and literature exam for a bachelor's degree ahead of schedule and received first-class honors. After undergoing military training in Bedford, he was awarded the rank of sub-lieutenant and assigned to serve in the regiment of Lancashire Fusiliers. In March 1916, Tolkien got married, and already on July 14, 1916 he went into his first battle.

He was destined to find himself at the center of a meat grinder on the Somme River, where tens of thousands of his compatriots perished. Having known all the “horrors and abominations of the monstrous massacre,” John began to hate both the war and the “inspirers of the terrible massacres...”. At the same time, he retained admiration for his comrades in arms. Later he would write in his diary: “perhaps without the soldiers with whom I fought, the country of the Hobbitan would not have existed. And without Hobbits there would be no Hobbits Lord of the Rings" Death spared John, but he was overtaken by another terrible scourge - “trench fever” - typhus, which carried him into the First World War more lives than bullets and shells. Tolkien suffered from it twice. From the hospital in Le Touquet he was sent by ship to England.

In rare hours when terrible disease released John, he conceived and began to write the first drafts of his fantastic epic - The Silmarillion, a tale of three magical rings of omnipotent power.

In 1918 the war ends. John and his family move to Oxford. It is allowed to be compiled Universal Dictionary of the New English Language. Here is a review from a friend of the writer, linguist Clive Stiles Lewis: “he (Tolkien) visited the inside of language. For he had a unique ability to feel both the language of poetry and the poetry of language.”

In 1924 he was confirmed with the rank of professor, and in 1925 he was awarded the chair of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford. At the same time, he continues to work on The Silmarillion, creating a new one incredible world. A peculiar other dimension with its own history and geography, phenomenal animals and plants, real and surreal creatures.

While working on the dictionary, Tolkien had the opportunity to think about the composition and appearance of tens of thousands of words that absorbed Celtic origins, Latin, Scandinavian, Old German and Old French influences. This work further stimulated his gift as an artist, helping to unite different categories of living beings and different times and spaces into his Tolkienesque world. At the same time, Tolkien did not lose his “literary soul”. His scientific works were imbued with the figurativeness of the writer's thinking.

He also illustrated many of his fairy tales, and especially loved to depict humanized trees. A special place is occupied by Santa Claus's letters to children, illustrated by him. The letter was specially written in the “shaky” handwriting of Santa Claus, “who had just escaped from a terrible snowstorm.”

Tolkien's most famous books are inextricably linked. Hobbit And Lord of the Rings were written, in total, from 1925 to 1949. Main character first story Hobbit Bilbo Baggins has the same opportunities for self-expression in a vast and complex world as a child explorer. Bilbo constantly takes risks to get out of threatening adventures, he must be resourceful and brave all the time. And one more circumstance. Hobbits are a free people, there are no leaders in the Hobbits, and Hobbits get along just fine without them.

But Hobbit was just a prelude to Tolkien's great other world. Key to looking into other dimensions and warning. Serious cause for thought. The action-packed tale repeatedly hints at a world of far more significant improbabilities lurking behind it. Two of the most mysterious characters are bridges to the immeasurable future Hobbit- the magician Gandalf and a creature named Gollum. Hobbit was published on September 21, 1937. The first edition was sold out by Christmas.

The tale receives the New York Herald Tribune award for best book of the year. Hobbit becomes a bestseller. Then came Lord of the Rings.

This epic novel has become an elixir of love for life for tens of millions of people, a road into the unknowable, paradoxical proof that it is the thirst for knowledge of miracles that moves the worlds.

Nothing in Tolkien's novel is accidental. Be it the snarled faces that once flashed on the canvases of Bosch and Salvador Dali or in the works of Hoffmann and Gogol. So the names of the elves came from the language of the former Celtic population of the Welsh peninsula. Dwarves and magicians are named, as suggested by the Scandinavian sagas, people are called by names from the Irish heroic epic. Tolkien's own imaginations of fantastic creatures have the basis of “folk poetic imagination.”

Time to work on Lord of the Rings coincided with the Second World War. Undoubtedly, all the experiences and hopes, doubts and aspirations of the author at that time could not help but be reflected in the life of even his other existence.

One of the main advantages of his novel is the prophetic warning about mortal danger hidden in boundless Power. Only the unity of the most courageous and wise champions of goodness and reason, capable of stopping the gravediggers of the joy of being, can resist this.

First two volumes Lord of the Rings published in 1954. The third volume was published in 1955. “This book is like a bolt from the blue,” exclaimed the famous writer C.S. Lewis. “For the very history of the novel-history, dating back to the times of Odysseus, this is not a return, but progress, moreover, a revolution, the conquest of a new territory.” The novel was translated into many languages ​​of the world and first sold a million copies, and today has surpassed the twenty million mark. The book has become a cult among young people in many countries.

Troops of Tolkienists, dressed in knightly armor, still organize games, tournaments and “walks of honor and valor” in the USA, England, Canada, and New Zealand to this day.

Tolkien's works first began to appear in Russia in the mid-1970s. Today, the number of Russian fans of his work is not inferior to the number of adherents of the Tolkien world in other countries.

Came to world screens The Fellowship of the Ring And Two Strongholds directed by Peter Jackson (filmed in New Zealand), and among the young and very young it rose new wave interest in the novel Lord of the Rings.

The last tale Tolkien wrote in 1965 is called Blacksmith of Greater Wootton.

In their last years Tolkien is surrounded by universal recognition. In June 1972, he received the title of Doctor of Letters from Oxford University, and in 1973, at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth awarded the writer the Order of the British Empire, second class.

Aleksandr Kuznetsov

Who was Tolkien

Formally, the biography of an academic scientist seems sparse in external events. From childhood he began to be interested in Germanic mythology and linguistics, at the age of 14 he became interested in inventing his own languages, and five years later, in 1911, he entered Exeter College at Oxford University. With short breaks during the First World War Tolkien took part in the famous Battle of the Somme in July 1916. and teaching at the University of Leeds in 1920-1925 Tolkien worked at Oxford all his life as professor of Anglo-Saxon literature: first at Pembroke College, then at Merton.

Tolkien began working on poems and tales of a fictional world - the future "Silmarillion" - in the mid-1910s, and in the mid-1930s he became a member of the informal literary circle "Inklings", participants Clive Staples Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and others. whom we met to read aloud to each other and discuss our own texts Tolkien described these meetings in his unfinished novel, The Notion Club Papers.. These meetings, as well as the support of his close friend C.S. Lewis, help Tolkien take his literary experiments more seriously.

From 1959 until his death in 1973, Tolkien devoted himself entirely to stories about Middle-earth, most of which would be published after the writer’s death by his son.

Where it all began: the creation of new languages

Tolkien was a linguist and specialized in Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon (Old English) languages. His first serious academic work was preparing dictionary entries on several words starting with the letter W Many years later, in 1969, Tolkien again took part in the work on the Oxford Dictionary, but in a completely different capacity. The editor of the new volume of additions asked him to edit the article on the word hobbit, which Tolkien eventually completely rewrote. Since then, the dictionary has included many words describing the realities of Middle-earth, including mathom, orc, mithril, balrog., for the Oxford English Dictionary. Tolkien also compiled a Dictionary of Middle English and taught Old Icelandic, Gothic, and Middle Welsh Tolkien's most notable academic achievements include the publication of the Middle English works Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Recluse's Guide, the modern English translation of Sir Gawain and the Pearl and Sir Orfeo, and the lecture Beowulf. monsters and critics”, changing the attitude towards this Old English poem.. But his main passion was the creation of his own languages, the inspiration and basis for which were real languages. He began composing them while still at school, and already in student years began to write his first poetic works on them. Tolkien created two Elvish languages ​​- Quenya based on Finnish (a kind of La-tyn) and Sindarin based on Welsh. The most famous Quenya text is Namárië, or Galadriel's Lament, and the Sindarin text is A Elbereth Gilthoniel, a hymn to Varda, the deity of light:

Namarië

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
Yeni ve lintë yuldar avánier
mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva
Andúne pella, Vardo tellumar
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?

An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
i falmalinnar imbe met,
ar hísië untúpa ​​Calaciryo míri oialë.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Namarië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar!
Nai elyë hiruva! Namarië!

Galadriel's Lament

Oh! Leaves fall like gold in the wind! Long years are countless, like the wings of trees, long years pass like quick sips of sweet honey in the high halls of the far West under the blue arches of Varda, where the stars tremble with the song sung by her royal voice. Who will fill the cup for me today? Varda, the Queen of the Stars from the eternally white mountain raises her hands above the world, like clouds. And the paths of the world are drowning in the shadows, and the fog from the gray country lay on the foamy waves between us, hiding the fog forever Kalakiria stones. Now for those who mourn in the East, Valimar has disappeared! Goodbye! Maybe you will still find Valimar. Maybe you will be the one to find Valimar. Goodbye!

Translation by I. Grinshpun

A Elbereth Gilthoniel

A Elbereth Gilthoniel,
silivren penna miriel
o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!

A Elbereth Gilthoniel
o menel palan-diriel,
le nallon sí di-nguruthos!
A tiro nin, Fanuilos!

About Varda

[The lightning of the all-night dawn
Beyond the distant seas,
Burn with eternal hope
Over our mountains!]

O Elbereth! Giltoniel!
The light of hope is far away!
From our shadowy lands
I bow to you deeply!

I overcame that evil darkness
On a black sky
And lit the clear stars
In your night crown.

Giltoniel! O Elbereth!
Shine in the blue temple!
We remember your eternal light
Beyond the distant seas!

Translation by A. Kistyakovsky

While creating new languages, Tolkien thought about what kind of world they would be spoken in. As Lewis wrote of him, “he had been inside a language, and his invention was not complete until he realized that every language implies its own mythology.” Quote from an obituary published in the Times on September 3, 1973. Its author is C.S. Lewis, who died 10 years earlier (the text was sent to the newspaper in advance and was kept in the editorial office). It is noteworthy that Tolkien himself refused the request to write an obituary for Lewis.. The author of The Lord of the Rings called his text an “essay on linguistic aesthetics”:

“[My work] is a unified whole and is fundamentally inspired by linguistics. It is based on the invention of languages. It is more likely that “stories” were composed in order to create a world for languages, rather than vice versa. In my case, the name comes first, and then the story. I would actually prefer to write in Elvish." J. R. R. Letters. M., 2004..

The remaining languages ​​that are mentioned in Tolkien's books are not completely invented, like the languages ​​of the Elves, but are incredibly carefully thought out and “translated” by the author. The world of Middle-earth is not the European Middle Ages, which means its inhabitants cannot speak English. Modern English in the trilogy conveys Westron, the universal dialect of Middle-earth, and related human languages Adunaic language, Rohirrik, Talisca.. Moreover, the translation reproduces the degree of relationship between these languages: the Rohirrim language is translated into Old English, because it relates to Westron in the same way as Old English relates to modern English; Dale's language, in which dwarves communicate with other creatures, is translated into Old Icelandic, because it is to Westron as Icelandic is to modern English. And so on. We don't know exactly what a real Westron sounds like, but we do know that "hobbit" will be "kuduk" and Frodo Baggins' name is actually Maura Labingi. Only languages ​​of non-human peoples - elves, gnomes - that are not related to Westron are not translated. Khuzdul., Ents and Orcs.

How Tolkien invented English mythology

The complexity of the game that Tolkien played with himself, constructing a mythological reality based on linguistic reality, is visible in the details. As linguist Tom Shippey, author of one of the best books on Tolkien, notes, although the language of the Riders of Rohan In some Russian translations, Rohan is called Ristania or Mustangrim.- one of the peoples inhabiting the pages of The Lord of the Rings - is transmitted to Old English, the names of their ancient rulers are Gothic. Thus, Tolkien hints that the ancestors of the horsemen spoke a different language and lived in a different era than their descendants. There are many such allusions: the language of the Rohans is conveyed by the Mercian dialect of Old English, their songs are reminiscent of Old English lamentations, the emblem of the Land of Horsemen (a white horse on a green background) refers to the Uffington white horse on the hills of ancient Mercia, and numerous hidden quotes from the poem “ Beowulf" Anglo-Saxon epic poem set in Jutland, before the migration of the Angles to Britain.- to the Anglo-Saxons. Finally, the self-name of Rohan - Mark - sounds exactly the same as the name of Mercia should have sounded in the local dialect. Thus, the horsemen of Rohan are not a fictional barbarian people, but a unique reconstruction of the heroic myth of the Anglo-Saxons. This is how they would have been if they had stood up to the Norman Conquest.

Uffington horse. Chalk figure. Around the 10th century BC. e. Wikimedia Commons

Flag of Rohan. Souvenir based on the film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”© New Line Cinema

Ardently loving the language and nature of England, Tolkien believed that the English were offended by the lack of mythology in any way comparable with neighboring peoples: “I have been since youth I was saddened by the poverty of my beloved homeland, it does not have its own legends (related to its language and soil), at least of the quality that I was looking for and found (as an integral part) in the legends of other - of these lands. 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.” J. R. R. Letters. M., 2004..

The Arthurian myth, to which Tolkien paid tribute (in the 1930s he wrote drafts of a poem about Arthur, trying to connect these tales with his mythology), was not English enough for him: tales about the military leader that arose on Celtic soil -nik, who successfully fought the ancestors of the British, are known for the most part in the French retelling, they hardly fit the role of an English national myth.

How The Silmarillion Was Made

“The Silmarillion” is an early, but never published during the writer’s lifetime, collection of tales about the creation of the world, the awakening of elves and people, and the struggle for the wondrous stones of the Silmaril. Tolkien himself did not consider his work to be fiction and preferred to talk about it in terms of discovering something hidden rather than inventing something new. He began to create his own mythology after seeing the following words in the text of the Old English poem "Christ", written around the 9th century by the Anglo-Saxon poet Cunewulf:

éala éarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sent “Rejoice, earendel, the brightest of the angels, sent [to shine] to people above the middle of the earth.”.

The word "äärendel", from Cynewulf meaning a shining ray and apparently referring to the morning star Venus For other authors, this is a symbol of John the Baptist, preceding the appearance of Christ, just as Venus precedes the rising of the Sun., struck Tolkien with its beauty. In the early poems, written first in English and then in Elvish, the image of Earendil appears, a wonderful sailor whose ship moves among the stars and gives hope to people. This image became one of the lyrical cores of Tolkien’s mythology. The hero, in whose veins flows the blood of elves and people, turned out to be the link between the peoples inhabiting Middle-earth and the main plots of Tolkien's legend-rium This word, which in medieval Latin denoted a collection of the lives of saints, was used by Tolkien to describe the body of his tales.- about the marvelous stones Silmarils, created by the elves at the dawn of time The stones were created to preserve the light of the wonderful Primordial Trees, which were destroyed by the embodiment of evil Melkor. But Melkor steals the Silmarils and hides from Vali-no-ra, the land of the gods, to Middle-earth. The creators of the Silmarils, vowing revenge on anyone who encroaches on their creation, also leave Valinor. The hero Beren, who stole the stone from Melkor's crown, bequeaths it to his descendants. Elving, his granddaughter, miraculously carries the stone to the ship to her husband, Earen-dil. He asks the Valar to help the exiled elves in the battle with Melkor. Melkor is defeated, the other two stones are destroyed due to the greed of their creators, and the third remains to shine on the mast of the ship of Eärendil, ranked among the gods., about the love of the man Beren and the Elven princess Luthien For the sake of his beloved, Beren did the impossible and obtained the Silmarils from the crown of Melkor. Luthien sacrifices his immortality for the sake of love for Beren, and he, who died in the fight against monsters, turns out to be the only person who returned from death to life. The story of Beren and Lúthien partly reproduces the love story of Tolkien and his wife Edith. On their tombstone he bequeathed to write: “Edith Mary Tolkien - Luthien” and “John Ronald Ruel Tolkien - Beren.”, about Eärendil, his wife Elwing and their son Elrond Children of an elf and a human, they are a symbol of the union of elves and humans. Elrond will play an important role in the war described in The Lord of the Rings, and his daughter Arwen will enter into the third and last marriage in the history of Middle-earth with a mortal, Aragorn, one of the main characters of the book..

How did The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings come about?

Like The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings arose thanks to the word. According to Tolkien, one day, while checking student essays, he accidentally wrote on the one he came across. clean slate: “In a hole under the mountain there lived a hobbit.” The word “hobbit” was unknown to Tolkien, and the desire to find out what it meant became the driving force of the plot.

Tolkien did not even consider The Hobbit to be of interest from a publishing point of view. He was convinced of this by Lewis and the son of the head of the publishing house Allen & Unwin, Rainer Unwin, to whom his father gave the manuscript to read. The book turned out to be extremely successful, and the publishers turned to Tolkien with a request for a sequel. The world briefly described in The Hobbit acquired more and more distinct features of the world that Tolkien created from his youth, and a children's fairy tale with a simple plot turned out to be key episode, preceding the largest war of good and evil forces in the history of Middle-earth.

The secret of the special reality of the world of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” is that the reader clearly feels: the piece that he is given to see is part of a much larger whole, which he is told about in half a hint or not told at all. As Lewis wrote in his review of the first edition of The Hobbit, "Professor Tolkien obviously knows much more about his creatures than is necessary for this tale."

Is there European history hidden in The Lord of the Rings?

In the epic clash of the free peoples of Middle-earth with the forces of darkness described in the pages of The Lord of the Rings, they often see an allegory of the Second World War, or even cold war- after all, darkness in Tolkien comes from the east, and not from the west, as in classical myths. Tolkien himself persistently rejected such interpretations. “My story does not contain symbolism or conscious allegory,” he writes to one of his correspondents. — Algories like “five magicians = five senses” are absolutely alien to my way of thinking. There were five magicians, and this is simply a specific component of history. Asking whether orcs are “really” communists is, to me, no more reasonable than asking whether communists are orcs.” J. R. R. Tolkien. Letters. M., 2004.. There is a well-known anecdote that during one of his lectures at Oxford, Tolkien was once again asked whether by “darkness from the east” he meant the USSR. The professor replied: “No, what do you mean, what do the communists have to do with it? Of course I meant Cambridge." The rivalry between England's two main universities is a traditional joke..

If you look for historical allusions in the text, then the war for the ring resembles another great war, preserved in European cultural memory, namely the confrontation of the Western Roman Empire with the Huns in the 5th century. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields on March 15, 3019 of the Third Age is in many ways reminiscent of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields on July 15, 451, which united the Romans and Visigoths under the leadership of Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric, against the Huns and Ostrogoths under the leadership of Attila. “The last of the Romans” Aetius, who spent many years among the barbarians, resembles Aragorn, “the last of the Numenoreans”, who spent many years wandering, and the death of the elderly Visigoth king Theodoric, who fell from his horse, is the death of an elderly man crushed by a horse king Supreme ruler. Rohans of Theoden.

Where did the dragon, ring and other important details come from?

The main plots and minor details of the world invented by Tolkien are taken from German-Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon legends. The plot of the theft of the cup, which awakens the dragon from a long hibernation, is taken from the second part of Beowulf and turns out to be the main one not only in The Hobbit, but also in The Lord of the Rings - only in the role of the kidnapper, whose greed turns into a huge war , Tolkien has first Gollum, who found and appropriated the ring, and then Bilbo, who also took possession of it in a not entirely honest manner.

The plot of a treasure that brings a curse on its owner, which can be gotten rid of only by destroying it forever, is typical of many examples of ancient Germanic epic. Both the “Saga of the Volsungs”, and the “Elder”, and the “Younger Edda” tell how Loki, traveling with Odin and Hoenir, killed an otter with a stone, which caught a fish and ate it, dragging it ashore. It turned out that one of the three sons of the wizard Hreidmar took the form of an otter. Hreidmar and his sons, one of whom was named Fafnir, bound the gods, demanding a ransom in exchange for freedom. Loki, having caught the dwarf Andvari in the water, took his gold from him, and along with the gold, a magic ring capable of increasing wealth. Angry Andvari placed a curse on the ring, according to which it would destroy all its owners. Hreidmar and his sons receive the gold, but at night Fafnir kills his father and, turning into a dragon, remains to guard the cursed treasure.

Bilbo's conversation with the dragon Smaug is reminiscent of the conversation between Siegfried (or Si-gurd), the main hero-serpent fighter of northern myths, with Fafnir, who has taken the form of a dragon: the hero refuses to give his name and speaks to the monster in riddles. And even the murder of Smaug, thanks to the clue about the unprotected belly, is similar to how Siegfried deals with Fafnir.

The motive for the destruction of the cursed treasure can be found in the finale of the poem "Beowulf", where the treasure of the defeated dragon is buried in a mound along with Beo-wulf, or in the "Song of the Nibelungs", where the cursed gold of the Nibe-lungs is forever buried at the bottom of the Rhine.

From the "Divination of the Völva", one of the most famous songs“Elder Edda”, the names of the dwarves in “The Hobbit” and Gandalf are taken. Many place names are borrowed from there, for example Mirkwood or the Misty Mountains.

The story of the sword Narsil, with a fragment of which Isildur defeats Sauron in last battle The second era, after which the sword is reforged and given to Aragorn, recalls the story of Gram, the sword of Siegfried-Sigurd. In addition, the hero hits the dragon with a fragment of his sword in the finale of Beowulf.

Finally, the ring is an important attribute and symbol of power in Scandinavian and Germanic mythology. In Beowulf, one of the epithets of a ruler is “ring-giver,” because granting a ring to a vassal meant granting power over a particular territory. The fact that the rings are the magical center of power for Tolkien also testifies to the influence of the German epic tradition on the author.

How texts about Middle-earth relate to religion

Tolkien was a deeply religious person, and creativity, as well as mythological creativity, was for him participation in the divine act of creation of the world. At the same time, Middle-earth is striking in the absence of mentions of God and any manifestations of religion. Tolkien deliberately reverses the traditional orientation of good and evil to the cardinal points, placing Valinor, the land of gods and immortals, in the west, and the stronghold of evil forces, Mordor, in the east.

But there is no contradiction in this. “The Lord of the Rings,” according to Tolkien, is certainly a religious and even Catholic work, but it is such not because the heroes know the catechism and perform rituals correctly, but because worship and Christian ethics are woven into its spirit, plot and symbolism.

Evil is stripped creative potential and can only pervert the good. Melkor, the evil spirit antagonist of The Silmarillion, perverted the original melody of creation, causing the first angels to fall away from the creator, and then created the orcs, perverting the nature of the elves. No one in Middle-earth is good or evil by nature: the most important scene of the entire trilogy is the tenderness of Gollum, one of the most hopeless villains of the book, at the sight of the sleeping Frodo, rudely and cruelly interrupted by Sam, one of the kindest heroes. The main ethical message of the trilogy is that the most powerful strongholds of evil are defeated not by the strength and greatness of virtue, but by humility and sacrificial love, deeply Christian in its essence. God is present in Middle-earth invisibly, but persistently in the form of Providence, of which all the heroes turn out to be assistants or involuntary instruments. This is especially evident in the scene on Mount Doom, when it turns out that without Gollum the ring would have been impossible to destroy Frodo's finger bitten off by Gollum is an allusion to the gospel: “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5). :thirty).

Who are elves

Of all the creatures inhabiting Tolkien's legendarium, only elves and hobbits are Tolkien's original inventions. Hobbits are a people completely invented by Tolkien, who have no parallels in mythology or folklore. The elves of German mythology and English folklore, a ghostly fairy people akin to fairies, have almost nothing in common with the people of immortal artists and musicians in Tolkien. Dwarves, goblins, trolls are familiar characters in German mythology. Ents come from Welsh legends about the battle of the trees. Orcs, although the word is mentioned in Anglo-Saxon texts, were invented by Tolkien as anthropomorphic creatures, but not described in as much detail as elves and hobbits.. It was they who unbalanced his imagination and became the impetus for the creation of two main works - The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien himself considered the main feature of The Silmarillion to be its lack of anthropocentrism. These tales are written from the point of view of the elves. The determination with which Tolkien reinterprets the elves of the German-Scandinavian tradition and places them at the center of his universe suggests that this image was very important to him. These immortal creatures became, according to Tolkien, the first creation of God. In the elves, Tolkien expressed two motives that deeply worried him - a love of creativity and a love of nature. Several of the writer’s “favorite trees” are still known in Oxford..

Unlike people, whose purpose of existence, according to Tolkien and the Catechism, lies outside the material world, elves exist as long as this world exists, and even if killed, they can return to life. They are the spirit of this world, their main gift and their main temptation, as is clear from the history of the Silmarils - creativity, in which they know no equal and are able to compete with the gods.

The immortality of the elves in Tolkien is not the carefree eternity of the ancient gods. It is imbued with a pessimism very characteristic of the writer: it is an attempt to describe human mortality from the opposite. The mortal nature of the people of Middle-earth is not doom, but a gift that makes them “free from the circles of the world,” allowing them to be involved in the Creator’s plan for the future that will come after the end of the physical world. For the elves, this gift of people is a source of sadness and an object of envy. Just as people tell each other fairy tales, the heroes of which manage to escape from death, so elves tell each other fairy tales, the heroes of which manage to escape from immortality. In particular, the already mentioned stories of the elven princesses Luthien and Arwen turn out to be such a tale of escape..

In Tolkien's stories about elves, the motif of weariness from life, bright and wise sadness is very noticeable. The best examples of elven poetry are full of this sadness; it permeates the last pages of The Lord of the Rings, dedicated to seeing off the heroes to the west, to the borders of the immortals. Perhaps the originality of Tolkien's mythology lies precisely in the interpretation of immortality. Unlike the classical myths that arose at the beginning of human history, this is the experience of a 20th century man who knows that history can be not only a fascinating tale, but also a heavy burden.

How Tolkien was translated into Russian

Tolkien's books are difficult to convey in another language. But the writer himself was happy with the new translations (but was hostile to the film adaptations) and helped the translators as best he could, explaining the opaque etymologies of names and titles. The history of Tolkien's translations into Russian began quite late, but it developed quite happily. The first translation was “The Hobbit” by Natalia Rakhmanova, published in 1976. The prototype of the hobbit for the illustrator of the first Russian edition, Mikhail Belomlinsky, was the actor Yevgeny Leonov. Later Leonov rejoiced at this choice and even read excerpt from a book on camera. This translation is still considered one of the most literary, although more than a dozen have been published.

Translations and retellings of The Lord of the Rings have existed since the 1960s in self-publishing, and the first official edition, translated by Vladimir Muravyov and Andrei Kistyakovsky, was published only in 1989 An abridged edition was published in 1982.. Since then, a dozen more translations have been published, and debate about which one is better continues to this day. The main subject of discussion is the translation of names and titles. Since in Tolkien they always involve a language game, translators find it difficult to resist: Frodo Baggins becomes Baggins or Sumniks, Rivendell becomes Rivendell, and Rohan becomes Ristania.

It is difficult to say to what extent Tolkien succeeded in creating a “mythology for England.” The Silmarillion and other tales of his legendarium are hardly perceived as something exclusively Anglo-Saxon It is known that a reviewer, who was shown some material from the Sil-marillion by the publisher Allen & Unwin in 1937, saw in them “something of that crazy, bright-eyed beauty that so confuses the Anglo-Saxons when they encounter Celtic art.". One way or another, these tales became over time almost more popular than the German-Scandinavian mythology that gave birth to them. Being, like Alice in Wonderland, created on specifically English material, they became the property of world culture - not mythology for England, but mythology for the whole world.

Chi-tai-the same ma-teri-ala Nikolay Ep-ple about that, and.

Sources

• Carpenter H. John R.R. Tolkien. Biography.
• Tolkien J.R.R. Letters.
• Shippy T.A. Road to Middle-earth.
• The Complete History of Middle-Earth. Books I–XII. Ed. by Christopher Tolkien.

  John Ronald Reuel Tolkien- English writer, linguist and philologist. Best known as the author of the story “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again”, the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and their prehistory - the novel “The Silmarillion”.

  Born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (now Free State, South Africa). His parents, Arthur Ruel Tolkien (1857-1896), an English bank manager, and Mabel Tolkien (Suffield) (1870-1904), arrived in South Africa shortly before their son's birth.
  In early 1895, after the death of his father, the Tolkien family returned to England. The family settled in Sarehole, near Birmingham. Mabel Tolkien had a very modest income, which was just enough to live on.

  Mabel taught her son the basics Latin language, and instilled a love for botany. Tolkien s early years loved to draw landscapes and trees. He read a lot, and from the very beginning he disliked “Treasure Island” and “The Pied Piper of Hammel” by the Brothers Grimm, but he liked “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, stories about Indians, fantasy works by George MacDonald and “The Fairy Book” by Andrew Lang .

  Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904, at the age of 34. 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 Tolkien's interest in philology, for which he was later very grateful.

  Before entering school, Tolkien and his brother spent a lot of time outdoors. The experience of these years was enough for Tolkien for all the descriptions of forests and fields in his works. In 1900, Tolkien entered King Edward's School, where he learned Old English and began to study others - Welsh, Old Norse, Finnish, Gothic. He showed 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 1908 he met Edith Marie 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 John'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 single line to Mary Edith until he reached 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. In the end she returned wedding ring groom and announced that she was marrying Tolkien. In addition, at his insistence, she converted to Catholicism.

  The engagement took place in Birmingham in January 1913, and the wedding took place on March 22, 1916 in the English city of Warwick, in catholic church St. Mary's. Their union with Edith Brett turned out to be long and happy. The couple lived together for 56 years and raised 3 sons - John Francis Ruel (1917), Michael Hilary Ruel (1920), Christopher Ruel (1924), and daughter Priscilla Mary Ruel (1929).

  In 1915, Tolkien graduated with honors from the university and went to serve; soon John was 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 died, and then came to hate war. Then he fell ill with typhus, and after long-term treatment was sent home with disability. He devoted the following years to his 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 world.

  At the same time, he began to write the great 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 Anuin suggested Tolkien write a sequel, but work on the trilogy took long time and the book was not completed until 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. The book was divided into 3 parts, so that after the publication and sale of the first part it would become clear whether the rest were worth printing.
  After his wife's death in 1971, Tolkien returned to Oxford. Soon he became seriously ill and soon, on September 2, 1973, he died.

  All of his works published after 1973, including The Silmarillion, were published by his son Christopher.

  English literature

  John Roland Ruel Tolkien

  Biography

  TOLKIEN, JOHN RONALD RUEL (Tolkien) (1892−1973), English writer, doctor of literature, artist, professor, philologist-linguist. One of the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary. Author of the fairy tale The Hobbit (1937), the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954), and the mythological epic The Silmarillion (1977).

  Father - Arthur Ruel Tolkien, a bank employee from Birmingham, moved to South Africa in search of happiness. Mother - Mabel Suffield. In January 1892 they had a boy.

  Tolkien created hobbits - "short ones" - charming, captivatingly reliable creatures, similar to children. Combining perseverance and frivolity, curiosity and childish laziness, incredible ingenuity with simplicity, cunning and gullibility, courage and courage with the ability to avoid trouble.

  First of all, it is the hobbits who give such authenticity to Tolkien’s world.

  On February 17, 1894, Mabel Suffield gave birth to her second son. The local heat had a bad effect on the children's health. Therefore, in November 1894, Mabel took her sons to England.

  By the age of four, thanks to the efforts of his mother, baby John could already read and even write his first letters.

  In February 1896, Tolkien's father began bleeding heavily and died suddenly. Mabel Suffield took care of all the children. She received a good education. She spoke French and German, knew Latin, was an excellent painter, and played the piano professionally. She passed on all her knowledge and skills to her children.

  His grandfather John Suffield, who was proud of his lineage of skilled engravers, also had a great influence on the initial formation of John’s personality. John's mother and grandfather strongly supported John's early interest in Latin and Greek.

  In 1896, Mabel and her children moved from Birmingham to the village of Sarehole. It was in the vicinity of Sarehole that Tolkien became interested in the world of trees, seeking to discern their secrets. It is no coincidence that unforgettable, interesting trees appear in Tolkien’s works. And the mighty giants of Listven amaze readers in his trilogy - The Lord of the Rings.

  Tolkien is no less passionate about elves and dragons. Dragons and elves would be the main characters in the first fairy tale written by Ronald at the age of seven.

  In 1904, when John was barely twelve years old, his mother died of diabetes. Their distant relative, a priest, Father Francis, becomes the children's guardian. The brothers move back to Birmingham. Feeling longing for free hills, fields and beloved trees, John is looking for new affections and spiritual support. He becomes more and more interested in drawing, revealing extraordinary abilities. By the age of fifteen, he amazes school teachers with an obsession with philology. He reads the Old English poem Beowulf and returns to the medieval legends about the Knights of the Round Table (see ARTHUR'S LEGENDS). Soon he independently begins to study the Old Icelandic language, then gets to German books on philology. The joy of learning ancient languages ​​captivates him so much that he even invents his own language, “Nevbosh,” that is, “new nonsense,” which he creates in collaboration with his cousin Mary. Writing funny limericks becomes an exciting pastime for young people and at the same time introduces them to such pioneers of English absurdism as Edward Lear, Hilaire Belok and Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Continuing to study Old English, Old Germanic, and a little later Old Finnish, Icelandic and Gothic, John “absorbs in immeasurable quantities” their tales and legends. At sixteen, John met Edith Bratt, his first and last love. Five years later they got married and lived a long life, giving birth to three sons and a daughter. But first, they faced five years of difficult trials: John’s unsuccessful attempt to enter Oxford University, Father Francis’s categorical rejection of Edith, the horrors of the First World War, typhus, which John Ronald suffered from twice. In April 1910, Tolkien watched a performance of Peter Pan based on the play by James Barrie at a Birmingham theater. “It’s indescribable, but I won’t forget it as long as I live,” John wrote. Still, luck smiled on John. After his second attempt at the Oxford exams in 1910, Tolkien learned that he had been given a scholarship to Exeter College. And thanks to an exit scholarship from King Edward's School and additional funds provided by Father Francis, Ronald could already afford to go to Oxford. During his last summer vacation, John visited Switzerland. He will write in his diary. “Once we went on a long hike with guides to the Aletsch glacier, and there I almost died...” Before returning to England, Tolkien bought several postcards. One of them depicted an old man with a white beard, wearing a round wide-brimmed hat and a long cloak. The old man was talking to a white fawn. Many years later, when Tolkien found a postcard at the bottom of one of his desk drawers, he wrote down: “Prototype of Gandalf.” This is how one of the most famous heroes of The Lord of the Rings first appeared in John’s imagination. Upon entering Oxford, Tolkien meets the famous self-taught professor Joe Wright. He strongly advises the aspiring linguist to “take up the Celtic language seriously.” Ronald's passion for theater intensifies. He plays the role of Mrs. Malaprop in R. Sheridan's play The Rivals. By the time he came of age, he himself wrote a play - Detective, Cook and Suffragette for the home theater. Tolkien's theatrical experiences turned out to be not only useful for him, but also necessary. In 1914, when the First World War begins, Tolkien rushes to complete his degree at Oxford so he can volunteer for the army. At the same time he enrolls in courses for radio operators and communications operators. In July 1915, he passed the English language and literature exam for a bachelor's degree ahead of schedule and received first-class honors. After undergoing military training in Bedford, he was awarded the rank of sub-lieutenant and assigned to serve in the regiment of Lancashire Fusiliers. In March 1916, Tolkien got married, and already on July 14, 1916 he went into his first battle. He was destined to find himself at the center of a meat grinder on the Somme River, where tens of thousands of his compatriots perished. Having known all the “horrors and abominations of the monstrous massacre,” John began to hate both the war and the “inspirers of the terrible massacres...”. At the same time, he retained admiration for his comrades in arms. Later he would write in his diary: “perhaps without the soldiers with whom I fought, the country of the Hobbitan would not have existed. And without The Hobbits and The Hobbits there would be no Lord of the Rings." Death spared John, but he was overtaken by another terrible scourge - “trench fever” - typhus, which claimed more lives in the First World War than bullets and shells. Tolkien suffered from it twice. From the hospital in Le Touquet he was sent by ship to England. In the rare hours when John's terrible illness left him, he conceived and began to write the first drafts of his fantastic epic - The Silmarillion, a story about three magic rings of omnipotent power. On November 16, 1917, his first son is born, and Tolkien is awarded the rank of lieutenant. In 1918 the war ends. John and his family move to Oxford. He is admitted to the compilation of the Universal Dictionary of the New English Language. Here is a review from the writer’s friend, linguist Clive Stiles Lewis: “he (Tolkien) visited the inside of language. For he had a unique ability to feel both the language of poetry and the poetry of language.” In 1924 he was confirmed with the rank of professor, and in 1925 he was awarded the chair of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford. At the same time, he continues to work on The Silmarillion, creating a new incredible world. A peculiar other dimension with its own history and geography, phenomenal animals and plants, real and surreal creatures. While working on the dictionary, Tolkien had the opportunity to think about the composition and appearance of tens of thousands of words that absorbed Celtic origins, Latin, Scandinavian, Old German and Old French influences. This work further stimulated his gift as an artist, helping to unite different categories of living beings and different times and spaces into his Tolkienesque world. At the same time, Tolkien did not lose his “literary soul”. His scientific works were permeated with the figurativeness of the writer's thinking. He also illustrated many of his fairy tales, and especially loved to depict humanized trees. A special place is occupied by Santa Claus's letters to children, illustrated by him. The letter was specially written in the “shaky” handwriting of Santa Claus, “who had just escaped from a terrible snowstorm.” Tolkien's most famous books are inextricably linked. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were written between 1925 and 1949. The main character of the first story, The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, has the same opportunities for self-expression in a vast and complex world as a child explorer. Bilbo constantly takes risks to get out of threatening adventures, he must be resourceful and brave all the time. And one more circumstance. Hobbits are a free people, there are no leaders in the Hobbits, and Hobbits get along just fine without them. But The Hobbit was just a prelude to Tolkien's great other world. Key to looking into other dimensions and warning. Serious cause for thought. The action-packed tale repeatedly hints at a world of far more significant improbabilities lurking behind it. The transition bridges to the immense future are two of the most mysterious characters of the Hobbit - the magician Gandalf and a creature named Gollum. The Hobbit was published on September 21, 1937. The first edition was sold out by Christmas. The tale receives the New York Herald Tribune award for best book of the year. The Hobbit becomes a bestseller. Then came The Lord of the Rings. This epic novel has become an elixir of love for life for tens of millions of people, a road into the unknowable, paradoxical proof that it is the thirst for knowledge of miracles that moves the worlds. Nothing in Tolkien's novel is accidental. Be it the snarled faces that once flashed on the canvases of Bosch and Salvador Dali or in the works of Hoffmann and Gogol. So the names of the elves came from the language of the former Celtic population of the Welsh peninsula. Dwarves and magicians are named, as the Scandinavian sagas suggested, people are called by names from the Irish heroic epic. Tolkien's own imaginations of fantastic creatures have the basis of “folk poetic imagination.” The time spent working on The Lord of the Rings coincided with World War II. Undoubtedly, all the experiences and hopes, doubts and aspirations of the author at that time could not help but be reflected in the life of even his other existence. One of the main advantages of his novel is the prophetic warning about the mortal danger lurking in unlimited Power. Only the unity of the most courageous and wise champions of goodness and reason, capable of stopping the gravediggers of the joy of being, can resist this. The first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings were published in 1954. The third volume was published in 1955. “This book is like a bolt from the blue,” exclaimed the famous writer C.S. Lewis. “For the very history of the novel-history, dating back to the times of Odysseus, this is not a return, but progress, moreover, a revolution, the conquest of a new territory.” The novel was translated into many languages ​​of the world and first sold a million copies, and today has surpassed the twenty million mark. The book has become a cult among young people in many countries. Troops of Tolkienists, dressed in knightly armor, still organize games, tournaments and “walks of honor and valor” in the USA, England, Canada, and New Zealand to this day. Tolkien's works first began to appear in Russia in the mid-1970s. Today, the number of Russian fans of his work is not inferior to the number of adherents of the Tolkien world in other countries. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers directed by Peter Jackson (filmed in New Zealand) appeared on world screens, and a new wave of interest in the novel The Lord of the Rings arose among young and very young people. The last tale Tolkien wrote in 1965 is called The Blacksmith of Great Wootton. In his final years, Tolkien was surrounded by universal acclaim. In June 1972, he received the title of Doctor of Letters from Oxford University, and in 1973, at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth awarded the writer the Order of the British Empire, second class. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973, in Bornemouth at the age of eighty-one. Published in 1977 final version The Silmarillion, published by the writer's son Christopher Tolkien.

  John Roland Ruel, Tolkien (Tolkien) was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

  His father was a bank clerk from Birmingham. Looking for better life the family moved to South Africa. That same year their son, John, was born.

  Two years later, on February 17, 1894, the mother of the future writer gave birth to another boy. Due to the fact that the local climate had a bad effect on the children, the mother takes them back to England. Thanks to the efforts of his mother, young John could read and write some letters at the age of four.

  In February 1896, Tolkien's father died, suffering from severe bleeding. Mother Mabel Suffield took care of the family. Thanks to the fact that she had a good education and spoke several languages ​​fluently, the children grew up educated and well-mannered people.

  Tolkien's grandfather had a rather large influence on the formation of the teenager's personality. Mom and grandfather contributed in every possible way to John's early passion for Latin and Greek.

  In 1896, the mother and children moved to Sarehole Village. It is here that the future writer discovers the talent of a popular novelist. In the vicinity of the village, he became seriously interested in the natural world, trying to learn all the secrets of creation.

  In his last years, Tolkien was recognized by the whole world, and in June 1972 he received the title of Doctor of Literature from Oxford University. In 1973, Tolkien was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

  John Tolkien died on September 2, 1973, in Bornemouth (UK). At that time he was 81 years old.

  John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; UK, Birmingham; 01/03/1892 – 09/02/1973
  Tolkien's books have had a huge influence on world literature. They have been filmed more than once in different countries of the world. A huge number of games, cartoons, comics and fan fiction have been created based on Tolkien’s books. The writer is rightly called father modern genre fantasy and he consistently ranks high in the ranking of the most influential and popular writers 20th century.

  Biography of Tolkien by John Ronald Ruel

  John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in the Republic of South Africa. His family ended up there thanks to the promotion of his father, who worked as a manager of one of the branches of an English bank. In 1894, the second child in the family was born - Hilary's brother Arthur Ruel. John Tolkien lived in the Republic of South Africa until 1896, when, due to the death of his father, the boys’ mother was forced to return to England. The family's income was small and the mother, in search of consolation, became a deeply religious person. It was she who instilled in the children a love of Catholicism, taught them the basics of the Latin language, botany, and taught Tolkien to read and write at the age of 4. But when John was only twelve years old, their mother died of diabetes. Since then, the priest of the Birmingham church, Francis Morgan, took up the upbringing of the brothers.
  In 1900, John Tolkien entered King Edward's School, where his considerable abilities for languages ​​were almost immediately discovered. Thanks to this, by the time he graduated from school, the boy already knew Old English and began studying four more languages. In 1911, John Tolkien visited Switzerland where, together with his comrades, he covered 12 km in the mountains. The impressions received during this journey formed the basis of his books. In October of the same year he entered Oxford University, first to the department classical literature, but is soon transferred to the Department of English Language and Literature.
  In 1913, John Tolkien announced his engagement to Edith Mary Brett, whom he had known for more than five years, but at the insistence of Francis Morgan did not communicate with whom until he came of age - 21 years old. Despite the fact that by this time Mary had already given her consent to marry another person, the engagement took place, and three years later the wedding took place. They lived together for 56 years, raising three sons and a daughter.
  In 1914 the First World War. To complete his education, Tolkien enlisted in the Military Corps. But after receiving a bachelor's degree in 1915, he was admitted to the army as a lieutenant. He served in the army until November 1916 and managed to take part in the Battle of the Somme and many other battles. He was discharged due to trench fever and was subject to bouts of illness for more than two years.
  After the end of the war, John Tolkien worked as a professor at Leeds and then Oxford universities. It was at this time that he began work on his novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. The book was originally written for her children, but then she received unexpected confession thanks to publication in 1937. During the Second World War, John Tolkien was asked to take up the work of a codebreaker if necessary, but his services were not in demand.
  After the war in 1945, Tolkien became a professor at Oxford's Merton College, as well as an examiner at the University of Dublin. Here he worked until his retirement. At the same time, he begins work on his own famous book"Lord of the Rings". It has been released in parts since 1954. It was a widespread success, and against the backdrop of the emerging hippie movement, it was perceived as a revelation. Tolkien's books and the writer himself became widely known, which is why he even had to change his phone number. After this, several more of Tolkien’s books were published, but many of the writer’s sketches remained sketches and were published by his son after the writer’s death. The writer's death occurred as a result of a stomach ulcer in 1973. Nevertheless, new Tolkien books are still coming out to this day. The writer’s son, Christoph Tolkien, took up the task of finalizing his father’s unfinished works. Thanks to this, the books “The Silmarillion” and “The Children of Hurin” were published. Tolkien's last book was The Fall of Gondolin, which was published in August 2018.

  Tolkien's books on the Top books website

  John Tolkien’s books are still popular to read today, and recently released film adaptations only fuel interest in his work. This allowed them to occupy high places in ours. And given their so-called academic nature in this genre, we predict that in the future Tolkien’s books will be read with the same enthusiasm.

  J. R. R. Tolkien book list

  Middle Earth:

  Other books by Tolkien:

  The Ballad of Aotru and Itrun
  Beowulf
  Return of Beorchthnoth, son of Beorchthelm
  The road goes on and on
  The story of "The Hobbit"
  History of Middle-earth
  Blacksmith of Greater Wootton