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J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography Kindle Edition

by Humphrey Carpenter (Author), J.R.R. Tolkien (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 1,115 ratings

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The authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. “One of the most interesting and readable biographies of a literary figure.” —The Times

In the decades since his death in September 1973, millions have read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books. Born in South Africa in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood and brought up in near-poverty. He served in the first World War, surviving the Battle of the Somme, where he lost many of the closest friends he’d ever had. After the war he returned to the academic life, achieving high repute as a scholar and university teacher, eventually becoming Merton Professor of English at Oxford where he was a close friend of C. S. Lewis and the other writers known as “The Inklings.”

Then suddenly his life changed dramatically. One day while grading essay papers he found himself writing “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit”—and worldwide renown awaited him.

Humphrey Carpenter was given unrestricted access to all Tolkien’s papers, and interviewed his friends and family. From these sources he follows the long and painful process of creation that produced The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion and offers a wealth of information about the life and work of the twentieth century’s most cherished author.

“J. R. R. Tolkien left his impress upon a whole generation as few recent writers have done . . . an excellent biography.” —Newsweek

“A panorama of vignettes done with poise and exhaustive command. A man emerges whole.” —The Washington Post Book World

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There may be a corner of the world where the name J.R.R. Tolkien is unknown, but you would be hard-pressed to find it. Since their publication, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have been published in every major language of the world. And though he single-handedly gave a mythology to the English and was beloved by millions, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien remained refreshingly unchanged by his fame and fortune, living out his days simply and modestly among the familiar surroundings of Oxford College. Humphrey Carpenter, who was given unrestricted access to Tolkien's papers, brilliantly puts meat to the bones of the Tolkien legend in J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, offering a well-rounded portrayal of this quiet, bookish man who always saw himself first and foremost as a philologist, uncovering rather than creating the peoples, languages, and adventures of Middle-Earth.

Carpenter chronicles Tolkien's early life with a special sensitivity; after losing both parents, Tolkien and his brother Hilary were taken from their idyllic life in the English countryside to a poverty-ridden existence in dark and sooty Birmingham. There were bright points, however. A social and cheerful lad, Tolkien enjoyed rugby and was proud of his gift for languages. It was also at this time that he met Edith Bratt, who would later become his wife. Academic life--both as a student and professor--is where this biography shines. Friendship with other men played a huge part in Tolkien's life, and Carpenter deftly reveals the importance these relationships--his complex friendship with C.S. Lewis, membership in the Inklings and the T.C.B.S.--had on the development of his writing.

The only criticism one can make about this book is that Carpenter tends to gloss over Tolkien's contributions to comparative philology. True, there is a chapter devoted to Tolkien's academic pursuits, but it tends to skim too lightly over the surface for this reviewer's tastes. Philology is a terribly methodical science, and the author clearly did not want to alienate readers who were primarily interested in Tolkien as a storyteller. Still, it would be nice to understand why Tolkien was held in such high esteem by his fellow academics. As it stands, Tolkien comes off as a slightly eccentric etymologist.

Fans who want to delve even deeper into Tolkien's life should pick up a copy of Carpenter's The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. --P.M. Atterberry

From Library Journal

Carpenter's 1977 biography offers a broad look at the Oxford don, who lived a relatively quiet life. This also details his close friendship with C.S Lewis.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00I7JFC7C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books (March 4, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 4, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3695 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #393,438 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #17 in Historical African Biographies (Kindle Store)
- #571 in Biographies of the Rich & Famous
- #582 in Historical British Biographies

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4.7 1,115 ratings

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Dan Schaeffer

Excellent insight to the life of Tolkien

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024

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Such a fan of Tolkien, so this book was a must. Got a really good grasp of the man and his life and what led to the writing of LOTR.

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ZyPhReX

A Very Reasonable View Into J.R.R. Tolkien's Life

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

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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.

7 people found this helpful

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Tyrone Martinez

Interesting, informative

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024

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I think this book is actually a whole lot better than what Tolkien actually wrote! Not a Tolkien fan as you guessed, but this talks about the man, not just his work. Unlike many bios on authors

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024

It was a gift

Great Bio of Tolkien!

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024

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If you are a fan of JRR Tolkien, this book is a must have if you are interested in where the motivation and inspiration came from to write such masterpieces.

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RenaeOwen

story of Author and His World

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2024

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This is an enjoyable biography that tends toward an intellectual biography that gives the life of Middle Earth as much as the sub-creator of it.

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T. Hooker

Not an Ordinary Oxford Don

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2012

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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.

40 people found this helpful

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patrickssword

Great Work

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2010

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An essential work for the person desiring to learn more about the roots of Tolkien's mythology and what I would call, "deepest desires of his heart." Read the LOTR and Similrillion first. You will find, I believe, the fullness of Tolkien's heart in these great works of fiction, which he believed were actually true (see letter to Milton Waldman, 1951). Book, while at times dry, keeps to the truth of who and what Tolkien expressed. Two things I loved, it shows how the messianic Earendel is basically the central theme of his whole work from which all the other things grew and developed, which sprang from his early reading of an Old English poem, Crist 1. Two, author maintains truth that WW1 and Tolkien's experience there was not the primary influence behind his writings, although it did influence him; mostly it seems through the death of some of his dearest friends which probably led to Tolkien's fascination with themes of life and death, and the loss of perfection (ie, the Fading of the Elves which is a primary theme throughout Tolkien's writings.) Read it! But read his works first.

8 people found this helpful

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Pedro H. Lima

A delight to read

Reviewed in Brazil on May 18, 2023

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It was a delight to read this biography. Packed with information, very readable, simply great. A look at his life from childhood through old age, his habits, his friends, his writings, all.
Great read for Tolkien fans.

Silvi

One of the most interesting biographies...

Reviewed in Germany on December 31, 2023

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I wish I had a hardcover one but the main point is to enjoy the reading, right?! It really is one of the readable biographies, no doubt and doesn't matter if you are a fan of LOTR or not.. 😊

PeteMK

Very good biog

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2023

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I have been a fan of Tolkien since I first read Lord of the Rings when I was about 17 (I had to borrow the three hardback volumes from the library). I have never read his biography, until now. This is by a biographer who met Tolkien and had cooperation from his family and friends. It is a delightful insight to the life of the great man.

One person found this helpful

Stanley James Hanna

Tolkien A Must Read

Reviewed in Canada on October 24, 2019

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I read this book when it was first published along with Carpenter's Inklings book. Both are excellently written and very informative. In the intervening years my appreciation of the full body of Tolkien"s work has grown. Now with so much new material and new perspectives offered on Tolkien and Lewis I decided to reread the biography. It was as good or better than the first time I read it. I definitely recommend it to anyone wishing to gain more perspective on this humble genius giant of the literary world.

Salvatore Mattera

Testo indispensabile per cominciare a studiare Tolkien

Reviewed in Italy on March 27, 2021

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La Biografia di Tolkien a cura di Humphrey Carpenter è uno dei due testi fondamentali da leggere per iniziare a capire e studiare questo autore.

L'altro testo fondamentale è la raccolta di Lettere a cura dello stesso Carpenter edita in Italia in passato col titolo "La Realtà in Trasparenza" e adesso come "Lettere (1914-1973)".

Carpenter forse pecca qui e lì nel suggerire qualche accostamento di troppo tra la vita di Tolkien e la natura delle sue opere ma questo spetterà al lettore giudicarlo, magari dopo aver approfondito il discorso con altra saggistica a riguardo.

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