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J.R.R. Tolkien

Born

in Bloemfontein, Mangaung, Free State, South Africa

January 03, 1892

Died

September 02, 1973

Website

https://www.tolkienestate.com/

Genre

Fantasy, Fiction, Children's

Influences

Traditional Catholicism, Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas, Norse Mytholog ...more

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.

Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.

Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life. ...more

Combine Editions
J.R.R. Tolkien’s books

Average rating: 4.37 · 12,172,709 ratings · 252,948 reviews · 771 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Hobbit, or There and Back Again 4.30 avg rating — 4,372,629 ratings — published 1937 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) 4.40 avg rating — 3,074,413 ratings — published 1954 — 1050 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) 4.50 avg rating — 1,094,236 ratings — published 1954 — 883 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3) 4.58 avg rating — 1,013,453 ratings — published 1955 — 909 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lord of the Rings 4.54 avg rating — 720,060 ratings — published 1954 — 922 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hobbit, Part One by J.R.R. Tolkien, David Wyatt (Illustrator) 4.31 avg rating — 381,526 ratings — published 1937 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor), Ted Nasmith (Illustrator) 4.03 avg rating — 327,645 ratings — published 1977 — 645 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings 4.61 avg rating — 142,154 ratings — published 1954 — 186 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Children of Húrin 4.05 avg rating — 91,525 ratings — published 2007 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor) 4.02 avg rating — 43,465 ratings — published 1980 — 75 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by J.R.R. Tolkien…

Series by J.R.R. Tolkien

Middle Earth (3 books)
by

J.R.R. Tolkien

4.40 avg rating — 10,429,204 ratings

The Hobbit (2 books)
by

J.R.R. Tolkien,

Rob Inglis (Narrator)

4.31 avg rating — 383,039 ratings

Tales of Middle Earth (3 books)
by

J.R.R. Tolkien,

Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

4.06 avg rating — 132,139 ratings

The History of Middle-Earth (13 books)
by

J.R.R. Tolkien,

Christopher Tolkien (editor)

4.01 avg rating — 62,101 ratings

Unfinished Tales (1 book)
by

J.R.R. Tolkien,

Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

4.01 avg rating — 44,705 ratings

More series by J.R.R. Tolkien…

With the advent of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+ we’re currently experiencing a kind of Golden Age...

Polls

Fourth Quarter 2014 Long Read

1862, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, 1463 pages

35 votes, 20.8%

1605, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 982 pages

25 votes, 14.9%

1954, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1178 pages

21 votes, 12.5%

1872, Middlemarch by George Eliot, 904 pages

20 votes, 11.9%

1844, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, 1276 pages

17 votes, 10.1%

800 BC, The Iliad by Homer, 683 pages

11 votes, 6.5%

1874, The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, 723 pages

11 votes, 6.5%

1957, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, 1168 pages

9 votes, 5.4%

1993, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, 1474 pages

8 votes, 4.8%

1930, The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil, 1774 pages

5 votes, 3.0%

1996, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, 1079 pages

5 votes, 3.0%

1748, Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson, 1534 pages

1 vote, 0.6%

168 total votes

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J.R.R. Tolkien’s Followers (76,362)

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