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The Biography of J.R.R Tolkien By Humphrey Carpenter

Summery Ronald Tolkien was born January 4, 1892 in Bloemfontein, Africa. His mother and father however, died before Ronald Tolkien was 14. So Ronald Tolkien moved to a housing home with his little brother, Hilery. There he met is first girl, and they became friends. Tolkien, loving literature and writing, he moved to Oxford. Edith, wrote a letter to him in 1913, telling him that she was to be engaged to her friends brother, Geprge Field. Tolkien went to see her before, and after a long conversation, they agreed that they should be married, and that George was not the right man. So Edith Bratt became Edith Tolkien in 1916. In November of 1916, Tolkien began to write the Simarillion. Then, continuing his writing career, he became a professor at Oxford. The same year his first son was born. Tolkien continued to write poems and stories, along with his favorite friend, C.S Lewis. In 1930, Ronald Tolkien began to write maybe his most famous book, then a series... The Hobbit. It took him seven years to finish. And in 1937, he published it by Rayner Unwin. It was such a popular book, he began to write Lord of the Rings. After eight years of writing, and having had four children, he wrote,"I find it difficult to work-beginning to feel old and the fire dying down." the family moved to Sandfield, where Edith's poor health became worse. It caused her to die in 1971 of a inflamed gull-bladder at age 80. Tolkien moved to Merton College to become a resident honorary fellow. But, due to chest inflation, Ronald Tolkien died on September 2, 1973, age 81. My Opinions I liked the first part of the biography, when Humphrey is referring to Ronald Tolkien's childhood. That part, to me, was very interesting. You never know through his books about his own personal backround, and until i read this book, I had no idea he was born in Africa. The very last part was my favorite. it was interesting how long it took him to write, finish, and publish The Lord of the Rings. His sense of humor also interested me. in one area of the book, he says," There is quite a bit of linguistic wisdom in it." he stated this when he was talking about the language he made up in his teenage years, called Tangwar. Tolkien called it his elfish language. Tolkien also said about his Lord of the Rings books," The Lord of the Rings is one of those things: if you like it you do, if you dont then you boo.

The Theme The themne of J.R.R Tolkien's Biogrpahy is about perserverance. His life was completely down hill: his parents were dead, he goes to an orphanage, etc. But through all of that, he keeps up with his school work and his studies, gets married, and becomes a famous and loved author. Another theme of this biograohy his persistance. An example would be when he was trying to get The Hobbit published. No publishers thought it was good and they would not publish it. But he kept persisting until one publisher did. Humphrey Carpenter states in the beginning of the book,"It is rather like some strange spirit has taken on the guise of an elderly professor. The body may be pacing this shabby little surburban room, but the mind is far away, roaming the plains and mountains of Middle-Earth." He means that Tolkien would not sit and wait to be old, but he continued to write in a manor of a youth. LINK: http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html

MY OTHER LINK: http://www.indepthinfo.com/tolkien/biography.shtml