The Birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien + Thoughts on My Year of Reading Tolkien
‘The Professor’ by Jenny Dolfen
On this day in 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in what was the Orange Free State, now Free State Province, in South Africa.
His father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, died in South Africa while his young family were in England visiting relatives.
Left without an income, Arthur Tolkien’s wife, Mabel, took their sons, 3-year-old Tolkien and baby Hilary Arthur Reuel, to live with her parents in Birmingham.
She taught both boys at home, awakening in Tolkien, through botany lessons, what would become his lifelong enjoyment of plants and trees.
But as his favourite lessons involved languages, Mabel also taught him the rudiments of Latin despite his young years.
By the time he was 4, Tolkien could read and, soon afterwards, mastered writing as well.
Encouraged to read, he enjoyed stories about Native Americans, the fantasy works of George MacDonald, and Andrew Lang’s ‘Fairy Books’.
I guess it would be fair to say, Mabel Tolkien’s schooling approach played a big part in Tolkien’s philological pursuits and the creation of his much-loved stories.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention his beloved wife, Edith, his muse and inspiration for Lúthien, undoubtedly one of Tolkien’s greatest heroines.
Edith Bratt, aged 17 (1906) - Wikipedia
Having spent all of 2022 immersing myself in Tolkien’s Middle-earth works and ending with ‘The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien’, I confess to feeling a little bereft now I’ve finished.
There was something quite extraordinary spending all that time in Middle-earth over the 3 Ages, going over familiar stories and discovering new ones.
And I’ve been left in complete awe at Tolkien’s prodigious creative talent.
At one point, I was on the verge of putting aside my work-in-progress, in fact, just ditching the whole writing thing, knowing I could never write anything nearly as amazing as Tolkien.
Yes, I know – daft!
Thankfully, that didn’t last long as I decided to turn it around and use him as my inspiration instead.
‘The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien’ book cover
Reading Tolkien’s letters gave me a better understanding of why he started writing ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, how frustrating he found having to juggle writing and work, how his religious belief coloured his writing in subtle ways, his absolute dislike of allegory, and just how much ‘The Silmarillion’ meant to him.
Even though he didn’t seem to think himself a good father, Tolkien’s love for his children and how proud he was of them, comes across in his letters.
I especially enjoyed reading his letters to his sons, Michael and Christopher, and how much he valued Christopher’s input where ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was concerned.
While reading ‘The Letters…’, I felt sad that the practice of letter-writing has become a thing of the past.
When I first left home and came to the UK, I used to write pages of letters to my parents and sisters, and I still remember the excitement of getting letters from them.
That continued after I met Neil; before we got married, he was still in the Navy, and we’d exchange letters, his letters to me as long as the ones I sent him.
Thinking back on my letter-writing days, I wonder if that was the start of my story-writing as the thing my parents and sisters always commented on was the length of my letters, literally pages and pages.
Anyway, I digress.
I have no doubt I’ll be re-reading Tolkien this year, and in the years to come, while dipping in and out of ‘The Letters…’ as there’s a wealth of extra information in it to do with the Middle-earth legendarium.
Looking back, I do have one grievance – why on earth did it take me so long to read ‘The History of Middle-earth’?
It really is a mystery, considering the first 3 volumes have been sitting on my bookshelf for years!
But, better late than never, I guess.
So, on what would have been Tolkien’s birthday, I want to say a big thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien, for not only writing these timeless stories, but also for keeping as many notebooks and scraps of notes as you did, which then led to Christopher dedicating so much time and effort compiling his father’s notes to give us even more of the wonderful world Tolkien had created.
And even then, we still want more…
For those who are interested, I’ve compiled all my Tolkien posts into one space, which can be accessed via the ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ tab at the top of the page.