J.r.r. Tolkien: A Biography

I bought this for my 36 year-old son as requested. He said it is a great book on Tolkein. He has read many.

With his high fantasy literature, J.R.R. Tolkien has provided the tinder that stokes the imagination of millions. His books are known around the world, and for great reason. Having read some of his work myself, thought it prudent to see what events provided him with the impetus to create a whole mythology to boot.In that sense, J.R.R. Tolkien – A Biography by Humphrey Carter, which was featured in the March Book Haul, provides some illumination into the underlying reasons that drove Tolkien to write what he wrote and create what he did.The biography is split up into 8 parts, some of which are more interesting than others. Admittedly, autobiographies can run quite dry many times, but this still did a reasonable job of showing us Tolkien in his most authentic form.Tolkien’s growth, his early years, his friendship with C.S. Lewis, and even his penchant for countless revisions are all catalogued within the book. It was particularly interesting to see what a perfectionist Tolkien was. In a sense, this allowed Tolkien to fine tune his writing process while at the same time expanding his Legendarium.The Legendarium was created by Tolkien to serve as the fictional mythology about Earth’s remote past, and is composed by The Simarillion, The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings, The History Of The Middle-Earth and more. This however, is not discussed in the book. I only mention it to supply the fervent reader for additional avenues to explore Tolkien’s unbounded work.My favorite parts of the autobiography were about the creation of his books. Be that as it may, Tolkien’s skill in poetry, in conjunction with his relentless passion as a philologist to pursue the roots of language and learn everything about it was also highly intriguing.In fact, regarding his penchant for writing Lord Of The Rings and linguistics, Tolkien had this to say:“One writes such a story not out of the leaves of trees still to be observed, nor by means of botany and soil-science; but it grows like a seed in the dark out of the leaf-mould of the mind: out of all that has been seen or thought or read, that has long ago been forgotten, descending into the deeps. No doubt there is much selection, as with a gardener: what one throws on one’s personal compost-heap; and my mould is evidently made largely of linguistic matter.”[1]In its entirety, the book provides ample latitude of background while still providing enough fascinating components of Tolkien’s life. Each reader will undoubtedly gain different insights, but regardless, it’s intriguing to note that Tolkien himself was not an avid fan of biographies.Tolkien believed that biographies wouldn’t provide the truest nature of the person, and perhaps he was right. Just like movies, which are based on books, provide merely a facsimile of the depth which is entirely superficial of what great books provide, autobiographies will likewise never capture in full breadth and scope the life of an individual. Still, readers are lucky that Tolkien wrote phenomenal fiction because it allows us to see Tolkien’s soul as it is infused within pages. And there’s no more authentic biography than a writer’s words.___________________________________________________________Source:[1] Humphrey Carter, J.R.R. Tolkien – A Biography, p. 131.

Who was J.R.R. Tolkien? This question has been posed by many over the years, which may explain the plethora of books and articles written about him (especially in light of the Lord of the Rings movies some ten years ago).In 2010, I read Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings. I've posted my review of that elsewhere on this site. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography is of equal quality to that later work, though the primary focus here is on the creator of Middle Earth.The following are among the "new" insights I found in this work:1. Edith Tolkien, though a friend of Joy Davidman, felt jealousy over her husband's devotion to C.S. Lewis (perhaps in part because "Jack" was socially awkward in her presence).2. Though a perfectionist, J.R.R. Tolkien often experienced difficulty in focusing on a given task (which lead to frequent publication delays).3. Tolkien disliked the adaptation of the Catholic Mass into the vernacular from Latin.4. Tolkien's mother knew Latin, French, and German, and he related most closely with her side of the family. He and his brother were homeschooled by their mom at a young age, and Tolkien could even read by the age of four.5. Tolkien lost both parents before he was a teenager; a local priest, Father Francis Morgan, proved indispensable in filling a great gap in both Tolkien boys' lives.6. He treasured his friendships with other males from school days, time in the army, and career as an academic.7. J.R.R. Tolkien did not own a car after World War II. Thus, he had to arrange taxis for himself and his wife.8. He was grieved by the "different breed of men, less discursive, less sociable in the old way, and certainly less Christian" (239) who replaced his generation of scholars at Oxford.9. Tolkien's great works all developed in a different manner. The Simarillion was the first major story he began, but also the one he never completed. The Hobbit took the shortest amount of time to complete. The Lord of the Rings series suffered from endless starts and stops until he settled on its contents and publisher.This book contains simply some of the finest narrative storytelling one can find anywhere. Of particular interest is the section on "Tolkien's typical day" that parallels the "imaginary" Inklings meeting in The Inklings. There is also an insightful account of how C.S. Lewis came to faith in Christ through his friendship with Tolkien.

Tolkien led a very interesting life, which I had not read about before. I enjoyed this book, except for the speculation about certain things in his life. Just give me the facts! 😊

i cant see the print and would have bought Kindle if 1) i knew that the print was so small a picture eith a rule would be nice and 2) that i wasn't locked out of google and thus unable to purchase kindle on AMAZON.com. stupid change

I would definitely say this is probably for the more die-hard Tolkien reader, but I found myself enchanted as Carter deftly guides us through Professor Tolkien’s life and career with great charm and humanity. I’m not one to go for biographies (and neither was Tolkien), but this is a very good one nonetheless.

I have only read J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and have obviously seen the films. The books are amazing in many ways and being able to read about the man behind them was a privilege. What's interesting is the amount into the time, effort and the challenges that Tolkien had with LoTR over the 16 years it took from writing to publication.Yet this book is far from being focused just on the LoTR. It provides a background of Tolkien's life from birth to death, his natural ability with languages, his family, the war, Oxford and being appointed professor at the age of 32 among many other accomplishments.This book is a very easy read and uncovers the intriguing life of J.R.R. Tolkien.Three Key Takeaways from the book:1. Good friends with C.S. Lewis2. Lord of the Rings took 16 years from writing to publication3. J.R.R Tolkien was known to most people as Ronald

Firstly, I’ve got to say that J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphry Carpenter was a real eye-opening biography. I was completely in the dark going into this book, having never read the Silmarillion, The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings (I know, I know. Don’t shoot!!!) but left in awe of his achievements both academically and creatively.It’s great to see that Carpenter doesn’t shy away from the truth and paints Tolkien as a highly intelligent, if not, slightly eccentric man. It was inspiring to see how the creation of Middle Earth and its history/language was basically a lifelong work.The book takes you quite swiftly through Tolkien’s childhood in Birmingham and South Africa, then touches on his time as a soldier in WW1, Oxford as a student and teacher, his writing struggles, philologist, to his lifelong marriage.One thing I enjoyed reading about was his life as an English Professor, in which, Tolkien would often meet with his peer group to smoke and read aloud the Bard poems in Old Norse.I mean, who doesn’t, right?Among these peers was C.S. Lewis who, most famously, wrote the Narnia Books for children. I was totally absorbed in this biography, thanks to Carpenter’s simple and engaging writing style. It has just the right amount of detail; some biographies tend to bang on and on for ages.

I thought this biography of Tolkien would be great as I am such a great fan of his work, but was disappointed. There was very little about his background, his time in World War 1 taking part in the battle of the Somme and catching trench fever, that invalided him out of the war.There was also very little on how he wrote the Hobbit too, and as a result found this book to be too dry and too short. Sure it has a timeline at the back and a simplified family tree of Tolkien, but it isn't very comprehensive and doesn't go back very far, only mentioning that it goes back to Saxony in Germany. Overall only 3 stars out of 5.

This biography was the first to appear after Tolkien's death. While it isn't (thankfully) a cut and paste rush job - Carpenter was given a great deal of help by the Tolkien family, who also co-operated with him on an edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's letters - it isn't the most thoughtful or analytical reflection on Tolkien's like and work, either. The author seems hesitant to praise, let alone fully analyse, Tolkien's work, and also reluctant (perhaps because of his closeness to the family) to give a warts and all portrait of Tolkien's family life. There are hints at marital discord and personal unhappiness, but basically the door marked family life is kept shut. So those keen to connect the writing with the man will have to look elsewhere - to John Garth's book on Tolkien and the Great War, for example; those wanting to examine more closely Tolkien's part in the literary and academic traditions he worked in should turn to Tom Shippey's book Author of the Century.

I had read this before a long time ago and bought it to re-read after seeing the recent bio-pic of Tolkien. Considering that much of Tolkien's life was uneventfully spent studying and teaching it's an achievement to make it interesting to the reader. There was less about his relationship with his wife and children than I might have liked, but I suppose the counter argument is that people are interested more in his writing, and how that developed in places from his life experience, than anything else. I would certainly recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about Tolkien.

Have been asked to review this book and am half way through...would love to book a whole weekend away from normal hustle and bustle, so that I could read this in one go! What an amazing life; lost count of how many times JRR Tolkien moved and have only reached his 33rd year! Fascinating and well written so far, am sure the next half of the book is just as good. Have discovered where he got his inspirations from but wouldn't spoil it for anyone...as a teaser, I now know how/where a Smeagle type character and other Hobbit/TLOTR type characters made their debut in JRR Tolkien's writings! Worth every penny for anyone interested in or studying author or his books, as details seem to come from reliable sources (family and diaries/notes).