Biography

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa on January 3, 1892 to Arthur and Mabel Tolkien. Arthur was a banker and had moved to Africa for better job prospects, but suddenly passed away in 1896. In the same year, Tolkien, his mother, and brother Hilary moved back to the West Midlands in England.
The West Midlands were an ideal place for an aspiring author of fiction to grow up. Poverty-stricken, industrial Birmingham was close by, complete with its oppressive smog and dismal city blocks. However, rolling green hills, quaint farms, and stone fences, the picture of rural England, could be found close by in places like Worcestershire. This juxtaposition of two very different environments ignited his imagination and provided valuable resources for him to draw on in his fiction.
Tolkien's mother, a diabetic, fell ill and died in 1904, and so young John was sent to live at a boarding house belonging to a Mrs. Faulkner. During this time, he began to show an interest in philology, having mastered both Greek and Latin and showing a profound interest in Finnish. He also showed interest in a young woman lodging with Mrs. Faulkner as well, a young Edith Bratt three years his senior. The local priest forbade Tolkien contact with Bratt for three years, until he was 21; he followed that mandate religiously and promptly proposed as soon as he was of age. They married in March 1916. Meanwhile, he had enrolled at Oxford in 1911 and immersed himself in the Classics, Old English, Germanic languages (esp. Gothic), Welsh, and Finnish.Tolkien graduated from university in 1915, on the eve of World War I. He did not rush to join up, but was drafted and eventually served four months on the Western Front during the Somme offensive. However, Tolkien soon fell ill to "trench fever," a typhus-like infection, and was removed from active duty in November 1916.

Around the same time as the armistice was signed, Tolkien was appointed Assistant Lexicographer on the Oxford English Dictionary in 1918. However, this sort of work bored him, and he was thereafter appointed Associate Professor of the English Language at the University of Leeds in 1920. During this time, he collaborated with E.V. Gordon on his first serious translation Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. His version was so successful that he was eventually able to secure a post as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University in 1925.In moving to Oxford, Tolkien had come home, as he stayed there until his retirement in 1969. Although rare, his scholarly publications were extremely influential, the most famous of which was his expository lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and Critics. While at Oxford, he also became a member of a social group comprised of literary professors who met often for conversation, drink, and readings from their works-in-progress. This group became known as "The Inklings," and included such other prominent writers as Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, and above all C.S. Lewis, one of Tolkien's closest friends.
Meanwhile, Tolkien had been developing his mythology and elaborate languages. Most of his ideas began as bedtime stories that he told his children, and one involving a hobbit eventually made its way into a manuscript. An unsuspecting employee of the prestigious publisher Allen & Unwin came across this story, encouraged him to finish it, and it was published as The Hobbit in 1937.
Stanley Unwin, chair of the firm, was incredibly pleased with the success of The Hobbit, and commissioned Tolkien to write another novel. He quickly brought out a copy of the Silmarillion, a book he had been working on since his time in the hospital during the war. However, it received poor reviews and Unwin decided not to publish it. Tolkien was then given one more chance to come up with a stellar work of fiction.
By anyone's standards, Tolkien more than rose to the occasion. His next project was the Lord of the Rings series, published in three versions during 1954 and 1955. The public appeal was astounding, and by the time paperback versions were available in 1965, a veritable cult of Tolkien fans was growing in England and America.
Tolkien harbored mixed feelings towards his massive following. On the one hand, he was flattered that his work was so widely popular, and also a little amazed that he was suddenly becoming rich. However, he was upset that many of his readers bought his novels for a "great trip," during which they would use LSD and read about Middle Earth.
After the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien did continue to publish stories, poems, and songs relating to Middle Earth. He eventually finished The Silmarillion, and had it published by his son a few years after his death. J.R.R. Tolkien eventually died on September 2, 1973, of natural causes.

Biography adapted from David Doughan at www.tolkiensociety.org