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Tolkien

Tolkien. Thomas Honegger t.m.honegger@gmx.de. http:// www. db-thueringen.de/ content/top/ index.xml. J.R.R. Tolkien . John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien the Philologist/Medievalist Tolkien the Catholic Tolkien the Poet and Storyteller Tolkien the Artist and Illustrator

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Tolkien

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  1. Tolkien Thomas Honegger t.m.honegger@gmx.de

  2. http://www.db-thueringen.de/content/top/index.xml

  3. J.R.R. Tolkien

  4. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien • Tolkien the Philologist/Medievalist • Tolkien the Catholic • Tolkien the Poet and Storyteller • Tolkien the Artist and Illustrator • Tolkien the Family Man • Tolkien the Soldier • Tolkien the Icon of Popular Culture • etc.

  5. Why a biographical approach? • the traditional literary critical tool-kit seems inadequate for dealing with Tolkien’s work • Tolkien’s literary works are ‘by-products’ of his passion for languages • Tolkien did not see himself as an author of fiction • Tolkien’s primary motivation for writing was personal pleasure (and that of his children and friends)

  6. Main Works of Fiction • The Hobbit (1937) • The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) • The Silmarillion (1977)

  7. Main Works of Tolkien Criticism • J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter (1977) • The Road to Middle-earth by Tom A. Shippey (1992, 3rd edition 2003)

  8. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien • Born 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein (Orange Free State, South Africa) • Dies 2 September 1973 in Bournmouth (GB)

  9. The Tolkien Brothers(John Ronald & Hilary *1894)

  10. Tolkien’s Childhood • born 1892 in Bloemfontein • return to England in Spring 1895; father Arthur remains in South Africa • 1896 Arthur Tolkien dies • 1896-1900: Sarehole Mill (Birmingham)

  11. Early Influences • being bitten by a tarantula in SA • Mabel Tolkien (neé Suffield) knows Latin, French, German and could paint, draw, and play the piano. • gamgee-tissue = a surgical tissue made from cotton wool (ater Dr Gamgee) • reads Andrew Lang’s Fairy TaleBooks:story of Sigurd who slew the dragon Fafnir

  12. Early Influences 2 • being chased by a farmer for picking mushrooms • Atlantis dream: a great wave towering up and advancing ineluctably over the trees and green fields => drowning of Númenor • the unspoilt and pre-industrial landscape of Sarehole Mill => partial inspiration for The Shire

  13. The Idyll of Sarehole Mill

  14. Early Influences 3 • 1900 Mabel Tolkien is received into the Catholic Church. • Moving house to Moseley, a Birmingham suburb. • Ronald begins to attend King Edward’s School • 1901 Move to King’s Heath. Names on coal-trucks: Natyglo, Senghenydd, Blaen-Rhondda => Ronald discovers Welsh

  15. Early Influences 4 • 1902 Move to Edgbaston • St. Philip’s Grammar School • Birmingham Oratory; friendship with Father Francis Xavier Morgan • 1903 Ronald back to King Edward’s School => Greek, Shakespeare (Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill), Chaucer (Middle English)

  16. Father Francis Morgan

  17. Early Influences 5 • 1904 Mabel Tolkien is discovered to have diabetes; dies aged 34 => Ronald and Hilary left full orphans • 1905 the boys move to their Aunt Beatrice’s house. Father Francis Morgan is their guardian. • teachers: Robert Cary Gilson & medievalist Brewerton

  18. Early Influences 6 • Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Old Norse • Gothic

  19. Gothic • BAGME BLOMA • Brunaim bairiπ Bairka bogumlaubans liubans liudanei,gilwagroni, glitmunjandei,fagrafahsa, liπulinπi,fraujinodei fairguni.

  20. Gothic • FLOWER OF THE TREES • The birch bears fine leaves on shining boughs, it grows pale green and glittering, the flower of the trees in bloom, fair-haired and supple-limbed, the ruler of the mountain.

  21. Early Influences 7 • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other Middle English poems

  22. Early Influences 8 • 1908 Tolkien brothers move to Mrs Faulkner’s house. Ronald meets Edith Bratt.

  23. Edith Bratt (*1889)

  24. Edith Bratt (c. 1916)

  25. Influences 9 • 1909 Ronald and Edith decided that they were in love. • Autumn 1909: romance discovered by Father Francis Morgan. Further contact forbidden. They continue to see each other in secret. • Ronald fails to attain a scholarship for Oxford

  26. Father Francis Morgan

  27. Influences 10 • 1910 Ronald and Hilary move to new lodgings. Secret meetings discovered. Ban on all contact. • Edith Bratt moves to Cheltenham. • December: Ronald wins scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford.

  28. J.R.R. Tolkien 1911

  29. Ronald and Edith • 1910 - 3 January 1913: Tolkien respects Father Francis ban on all communication with Edith. • 3 January 1913: Ronald writes to Edith and asks her to marry him. • 1914 Ronald and Edith engaged. • 1916 22 March Ronald and Edith are married.

  30. Device of Luthien

  31. Device of Beren

  32. Device of Melian

  33. Device of Thingol

  34. age-difference (Ronald 16, Edith 19)difference in religiondifference in social background father figure (Father Francis) opposed to union separation ‘task’ to achieve age/racial difference (Beren mortal human, Luthien immortal elf) father (Thingol) opposed to union separation task to achieve Ronald & Edith / Beren & Luthien (Silmarillion)

  35. Another ‘Patient’ Couple

  36. Influences 11 • 1911 T.C.B.S. (Tea Club Barrovian Society < friends who meet at Barrow’s Stores) • Visit to Switzerland => Redhorn Pass

  37. Tolkien at Oxford 1 • Autumn 1911-Summer 1915 • reads Classics, later switches to Germanic languages (Honours School of English Language and Literature) • extensive ‘club’ life • The Battle of the Eastern Field • Summer 1912: trains with a cavalry regiment => Tolkien was a good horseman

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