Post by Susanne on May 29, 2021 17:04:14 GMT
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien also known as J. R. R. Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3, 1892 to Arthur and Mabel Tolkien. At the age of 3, he moved to England with his mother and younger brother. Shortly after his father died back in South Africa and his mother decided to stay in England. His mother converted to Catholicism, a religion Tolkien follow for the rest of his life. His mother passed away when he was 12. He and his brother was raised by their mother’s priest.
He graduated from Oxford University in 1915, where he showed aptitude for languages. In 1916 he married Edith Bratt, who he had four children with; Christopher, Pricilla, Michael and John. After he graduated he was sent to the front as the First World War was raging through Europe.
Tolkien during the First World War.
After the war he briefly worked with the Oxford English Dictionary before he returned to the university. In 1920, at the age of 28, Tolkien worked as a professor at Leeds University and five years later he came to Oxford. His focus was on his job as a professor and his family, his writing was purely a hobby to him.
He rewrote the stories he had written for his children, which later turned into the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. His fascination with especially Norse mythology and his interest in languages had a big impact on his writing. He developed languages with their own grammar rules during his writing process.
He was 45 years old, when he debuted with the Hobbit in 1937. The Lord of the Rings was published in 1957. He wanted it as one book, but it was divided into three.
The books became a worldwide phenomenon, which have inspired fantasy authors in the present day. J.K. Rowling was inspired by him, when she wrote the Harry Potter series, which has several links to J. R. R. Tolkiens fantasy universe.
He was not interested in the fame that came with the books and the last couple of years of his life, he lived away from the public eye, focusing on writing down the myths of Midgård.
Tolkien with his wife Edith.
He died in 1973 from pneumonia.
His books have later been transformed to the big screen and the story about Tolkien himself have been turned into a movie as well, where the actors Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins portray Tolkien and Edith in the movie Tolkien from 2019.
Sources: forfatterweb.dk/oversigt/ztolkien200, litteratursiden.dk/forfattere/j-r-r-tolkien
