January 3 - the birthday of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

January 3, 2015 marks 123 years since the birth of the famous writer, poet, philologist, Professor, University of Oxford, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. It was he who gave the world the wonderful book "The Hobbit", "Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" that shaped the modern view of the work in the fantasy genre.

Dzh.Tolkin born January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, - a city that is now part of South Africa, and previously was a member of the Orange Free State - an independent state, which later became a part of the province of South Africa. His parents arrived in South Africa shortly before his birth in connection with the promotion of his father's career.

As a child, Tolkien was bitten by a tarantula. About sick boy care doctor named Thornton Quimby, and is believed to have served as a prototype it is Gandalf the Grey.

In February 1896, after his father's death, Tolkien family returned to England. The writer's mother, Mabel Tolkien was left alone with two small children in their arms, and with a very modest income, which was just enough room. In an effort to find a foothold in life, she plunged into a religion, adopted Catholicism and gave the children a proper education, with the result that Tolkien remained a lifelong deeply religious man.

Mabel also taught his son the basics of the Latin language and instilled a love of botany, so from an early age Tolkien liked to draw landscapes and trees. For four years, thanks to the efforts of the mother, the baby John already knew how to read, and even wrote the first letter. Tolkien's mother died of diabetes in 1904, before her death, she confided parenting Father Francis Morgan, a priest of the Birmingham church - a strong and extraordinary personality. It was Francis Morgan developed an interest in Tolkien philology, for which he was subsequently very grateful to him.

In 1900 Tolkien enters King Edward's School, Birmingham, where he learned the Old English and began to explore other - Welsh, Old Norse, Finnish, gothic. He showed up early linguistic talent, after studying starovalliyskogo and Finnish languages, he began to develop the "elf" languages.

In 1908 he met his future wife, Edith Mary Brett, had a great influence on his work. Betrothal took place in Birmingham in January 1913, and the wedding - March 22, 1916. The couple lived together for 56 years and raised three sons and a daughter.

In 1914, Britain entered the First World War. In 1914 Tolkien enlisted in the Corps military training, in order to delay conscription and have time to get a bachelor's degree. In 1915 Tolkien graduated with honors from the University and went to serve a lieutenant in the regiment of riflemen Lancashire; John was soon called to the front and took part in the First World War.



John survived the bloody battle of the Somme, killing two of his best friends from the KGB ("Tea Club"), and then hated the war, fell ill with typhus, and after long-term treatment was sent home with a disability. The following years he devoted scientific career: first taught at the University of Leeds, in 1922 was appointed professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature at Oxford University, where he became one of the youngest professors (30 years) and soon earned a reputation as one of the best philologists in world.



At the same time, he began writing a cycle of myths and legends of Middle-earth, which would later become the "Silmarillion". His family had four children, for them the first time he wrote, spoke, and then wrote "The Hobbit", which was later published in 1937 by Sir Stanley Unwin. "The Hobbit" was a success, and Unwin suggested Tolkien to write a sequel; However, work on the trilogy took a long time, and the book was finished only in 1954, when Tolkien was about to retire.



The trilogy was published and was a huge success that surprised many of the author and publisher. Unwin expected to lose significant money, but the book really liked him personally, and he really wanted to publish a work of his friend. For convenience edition book was divided into three parts, so that after the publication and sale of the first part, it became clear whether the remaining print.

In 1945, Tolkien became a professor of English language and literature at Oxford Merton College and remained in that post until his retirement in 1959. For many years he worked as a third-party examiner at University College Dublin. In 1954, Tolkien received an honorary degree from the National University of Ireland.

In 1948 Tolkien finished work on the novel "Lord of the Rings" - almost a decade after the first draft. He suggested that a book publisher Allen & Unwin. As conceived by Tolkien, along with the "Lord of the Rings" should publish "The Silmarillion", but the publisher did not go for it. Then in 1950, Tolkien offered their product publisher Collins, but the publisher Milton Waldman officer said that the novel "in dire need of cuts." In 1952, Tolkien wrote again to Allen & Unwin: «I am happy to discuss the possibility of publishing any part of the text." Publisher has agreed to publish the novel as a whole, without cuts.

In the early 1960's "The Lord of the Rings" was released in the US with the permission of the publisher Ballantine Books Tolkien and had a stunning commercial success. Roman got on fertile ground: the youth of the 1960s with enthusiasm movement "hippies" and the ideas of peace and freedom, saw the book incarnation of many of his dreams. In the mid 1960's "The Lord of the Rings" is experiencing a real "boom". The author himself admitted that the success he flatters, but eventually tired of popularity. He even had to change the phone number, because the fans bother him calls. In 1961, CS Lewis fussed about Tolkien award the Nobel Prize in literature. However, Swedish academics rejected the nomination with the wording that the books of Tolkien's "not in any way be called prose top class».

Even as a child, John and his comrades came up with several languages ​​to communicate with each other. This passion for the study of existing and construction of new languages ​​stayed with him for life. Tolkien is the creator of several artificial languages ​​Quenya, or the language of the High Elves; Sindarin - the language of the gray elves. Tolkien knew several dozen languages, new languages ​​was largely guided by the beauty of sound. He said: "No one believes me when I say that my long book - an attempt to create a world in which the language that matches my personal aesthetic might be natural. Nevertheless, it is true ».

"The Lord of the Rings" Tolkien was filmed repeatedly, first in the form of animated films by Ralph Bakshi (Lord of the Rings, 1978) and Rankin Bass (Return of the King, 1980), and in 2001-2003 Peter Jackson took off-budget blockbuster "The Lord of the Rings" in the form of three films have received numerous awards and grossed a total of nearly $ 3 billion. Subsequently, Jackson took the novel adaptation of "The Hobbit", also in three parts: in 2012, rolling out the film "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", a year later - "The Hobbit: Heath Smog", and concluded the trilogy in 2014 film "The Hobbit: The Battle Five Armies. "



There is also an animated film adaptation of "The Hobbit" in 1977. A number of computer games created by Tolkien's books and their adaptations, of which the best known strategy for The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and MMORPG «The Lord of the Rings Online." Of all the participants in the film adaptation of Jackson's only one person knew and socialized with Tolkien - is Christopher Lee, the famous English actor born in 1922, starring in more than 250 films.



Many famous writers fantasy admit that they have turned to this genre inspired by Tolkien's epic, such as Robert Jordan, Nick Perumov, Terry Brooks, Robert Salvatore. A contemporary of Professor Ursula Le Guin notes poetry and rhythm of his style.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/243841/