J.R.R Tolkien Father of the Modern High Fantasy Genre

Childhood & Youth John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on January 3 rd, 1892 His father died in 1896 and his mother moved him and his brother, Hilary, to the West Midlands of England He was sent to school in Birmingham at King Edward’s School His mother converted to Roman Catholicism and Tolkien remained a devout Catholic his whole life His mother died from diabetes in1904 Tolkien and his brother were left in the care of Father Francis Morgan

Childhood & Youth He was very gifted in languages and by the age of 12 had already mastered Latin, Greek, Gothic and Finnish He made up his own languages for fun He met and fell in love with a woman named Edith Bratt but was forbidden by Father Morgan to see her until he was 21 He went to Exeter College, oxford in 1911 and obtained degrees in “Honor Moderations” and later “English Language and Literature” Edith Bratt converted to Catholicism and they picked up their relationship where it left off

War & Academia When war broke out, Tolkien returned to Oxford instead of joining up right away He finished his first language, “Qenya” which was similar to Finnish Tolkien enlisted as a second lieutenant Before he left for France, he and Edith married in the Warwick countryside in March of 1916 He came down with “trench-fever” and was sent back to England after 4 months In 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant

War & Academia In 1918, he was appointed to Assistant Lexicographer for the preparation of the “Oxford English Dictionary” In 1920, he became an Associate Professor in English Language at the University of Leeds He continued to work on, The Book of Lost Tales In 1925, Tolkien secured Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford

The Reuel/Tolkien Family In 1917, Tolkien’s 1 st son, John Francis Reuel was born Edith gave birth to 2 more sons, Michael Hilary Reuel in 1920, and Christopher Reuel in 1924 In 1929, Tolkien’s only daughter, Priscilla, was born His son John entered the priesthood, while his sons Michael and Christopher joined the Royal Air Force and later became professors and Priscilla became a social worker

Professor Tolkien & The Inklings In 1945, Tolkien got the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature, which he kept until his retirement in 1959 Tolkien founded a group of friends called, “The Inklings” C.S. Lewis was among the members of The Inklings and Tolkien is credited with Lewis’ return to Christianity The Inklings met regularly for conversation, drinking and readings of their works-in-progress

The Storyteller One day when grading his student’s exams, he found a blank page with only the phrase, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit”. The Hobbit was published in 1937 and was an immediate success He presented Quenta Silmarillion to his publisher but they requested a sequel to The Hobbit instead This developed into The Lord of the Rings

The Cult In 1965, LOTR was printed in a pirated paperback version and alerted millions of Americans to its existence By1968, LOTR had become the bible for “Alternative Society” Tolkien was flattered but disapproved of his work and LSD being experienced at the same time Fans came to stand outside of his house and called him at 3AM to ask him trivia questions about LOTR Due to Tolkien’s success, the genre of fantasy literature had been revived and inspired

Other Works Scholarly Essays The Monsters & the Critics The Adventures of Tom Bombadil Translations: Ancrene Wisse Sir Gawain Sir Orfeo The Pearl The Legendarium Imram Farmer Giles of Ham Leaf by NIggle Smith of Wootton Major The Silmarillion Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth The Book of Lost Tales History of Middle-Earth The Peoples of Middle-earth

Retirement Tolkien retired in 1959 Edith and Tolkien moved to Bournemouth Edith died on November 22, 1971 Tolkien returned to Oxford and moved into rooms provided by Merton College Tolkien died on September 2, 1973 He and Edith are buried together in a single grave in the Catholic section of Wolvercote cemetery in the suburbs of Oxford