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very detailed and lively written
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J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
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The authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. 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.
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.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1977
This edition
- Format
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288 pages, Paperback
- Published
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June 6, 2000 by William Morrow
- ISBN
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9780618057023
- ASIN
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0618057021
- Language
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English
Characters More characters
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Beowulf
Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between the 8th and the early 11th century, set in Denmark and Sweden. Commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxo...
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C.s. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. He is be...
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J.r.r. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the field...
About the author
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Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inklings. He won a Mythopoeic Award for his book The Inklings in 1982.
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Community Reviews
Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
4 stars
31(31%)
3 stars
36(36%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
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Fascinant.
Especialment el catalitzador que el porta (potser) a començar a escriure les novel.les, la mort d’alguns amics durant la primera guerra mundial.
També el concepte de subcreació, i de com és la “màxima aspiració de l’home cristià”.
Fa uns mesos em vaig llegir la de l’Arthur Conan Doyle, carregada de batalletes, aventures i l’enorme ego de l’autor que personalment em tira enrere. Quina diferència.
M’ha fet venir ganes de tornar a llegir-me El Senyor Dels Anells. I potser també El Silmarillion, tot i que espero que no sigui així
Especialment el catalitzador que el porta (potser) a començar a escriure les novel.les, la mort d’alguns amics durant la primera guerra mundial.
També el concepte de subcreació, i de com és la “màxima aspiració de l’home cristià”.
Fa uns mesos em vaig llegir la de l’Arthur Conan Doyle, carregada de batalletes, aventures i l’enorme ego de l’autor que personalment em tira enrere. Quina diferència.
M’ha fet venir ganes de tornar a llegir-me El Senyor Dels Anells. I potser també El Silmarillion, tot i que espero que no sigui així
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I'm giving this five stars which is strange for two reasons.
1. I'm not even a huge Tolkien fan. I like and admire The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but I've only read them once and never the Silmarillion or his other works.
2. After the turbulence of his early years, Tolkien's adult life was uneventful. How could a biography be interesting if all the action is in the first quarter?
Well, it is.
In the early years, it's Tolkien's circumstances that are remarkable. His formative years are filled with adversity, through which his talent yet shines. After the war is over and he settles down to the sedentary and outwardly very ordinary life of a scholar, what is there left to fill three quarters of the book? The answer is: the making of his stories. The biographer highlights the remarkable contrast between the outward and the inward parts of Tolkien's life. He captures a sense of the man himself - all his infuriating distractible genius - with charity as well as honesty. The hold that LOTR came to have over its early readers was strikingly similar to the hold it has today, and for the same reason - it was a return to a romantic mythology that breathes fresh air into the atmosphere of jaded godlessness exemplified by contemporaneous works like The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies.
Most incredible in light of the LOTR's rise to fame and devoted following is the fact that it was so nearly never published at all.
1. I'm not even a huge Tolkien fan. I like and admire The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but I've only read them once and never the Silmarillion or his other works.
2. After the turbulence of his early years, Tolkien's adult life was uneventful. How could a biography be interesting if all the action is in the first quarter?
Well, it is.
In the early years, it's Tolkien's circumstances that are remarkable. His formative years are filled with adversity, through which his talent yet shines. After the war is over and he settles down to the sedentary and outwardly very ordinary life of a scholar, what is there left to fill three quarters of the book? The answer is: the making of his stories. The biographer highlights the remarkable contrast between the outward and the inward parts of Tolkien's life. He captures a sense of the man himself - all his infuriating distractible genius - with charity as well as honesty. The hold that LOTR came to have over its early readers was strikingly similar to the hold it has today, and for the same reason - it was a return to a romantic mythology that breathes fresh air into the atmosphere of jaded godlessness exemplified by contemporaneous works like The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies.
Most incredible in light of the LOTR's rise to fame and devoted following is the fact that it was so nearly never published at all.
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The earliest biography of Tolkien and still the best. Simple to read, tons of interesting facts and insightful on who Tolkien was as a person. I also saw a lot of Tolkien in me after reading this biography. We even almost share the same birthday; a day between me and Tolkien.
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Livro muito bem escrito, com leitura fluida e cativante. Talvez um pouco maior do que eu gostaria. O autor é extremamente detalhista, parecendo que foi um espectador diário da vida de Tolkien. Tirando algumas partes (não todas) desde um pouco antes da 1ª guerra até a escrita de "O Hobbit", que eu achei a leitura bastante cansativa, li o resto muito rapidamente e com muito interesse. Especialmente os capítulos sobre as reuniões com seus amigos, principalmente C. S. Lewis, e o capítulo que conta sobre a escrita de "O Senhor dos anéis". Um livro excelente! Vale a leitura para quem é fã de Tolkien.
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Оказа се трудно да напишеш нещо за автор като Толкин, защото е необикновен.
Опитът - https://knigoqdec.blogspot.com/2018/1...
С него обаче слагам точка на книжната си година. И просто добавям един цитат...
"- Но - възпротивил се Луис - митовете са лъжи, били те и лъжи, издишани през сребро.
- Не - отвърнал Толкин, - не са.
И сочейки вековните дървета на Магдалин Гроув, чиито клони се огъвали на вятъра, той тласнал спора по друга ос. Наричаш дървото "дърво" - подел - и не мислиш повече за думата. Ала то не е било "дърво", докато някой не го е кръстил така. Наричаш звездата "звезда" и казваш, че е просто топка газ, въртяща се по математически курс. Но всъщност ти я виждаш така. Като именуваш и описваш нещата по този начин, ти само създаваш собствени термини за тях. И точно както речта е инвенция за предметите и идеите, и митът е инвенция за истината...
...Единствено чрез митотворчество, единствено ставайки "под-творец" и измисляйки истории, Човекът би могъл да се стреми към състоянието на съвършенство...
...Митовете ни може и да издават заблуда, но те сочат, било то и несигурно, към истинския пристан..."
Опитът - https://knigoqdec.blogspot.com/2018/1...
С него обаче слагам точка на книжната си година. И просто добавям един цитат...
"- Но - възпротивил се Луис - митовете са лъжи, били те и лъжи, издишани през сребро.
- Не - отвърнал Толкин, - не са.
И сочейки вековните дървета на Магдалин Гроув, чиито клони се огъвали на вятъра, той тласнал спора по друга ос. Наричаш дървото "дърво" - подел - и не мислиш повече за думата. Ала то не е било "дърво", докато някой не го е кръстил така. Наричаш звездата "звезда" и казваш, че е просто топка газ, въртяща се по математически курс. Но всъщност ти я виждаш така. Като именуваш и описваш нещата по този начин, ти само създаваш собствени термини за тях. И точно както речта е инвенция за предметите и идеите, и митът е инвенция за истината...
...Единствено чрез митотворчество, единствено ставайки "под-творец" и измисляйки истории, Човекът би могъл да се стреми към състоянието на съвършенство...
...Митовете ни може и да издават заблуда, но те сочат, било то и несигурно, към истинския пристан..."
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O John Ronald Reuel … how little did I know, when I fell in love with your Middle Earth long ago, what SACRED FIRE secretly inspired thee …
It is an open secret, of course, but all the world - the English-speaking world particularly - wishes to conceal it. Well, after all these years, I discovered your "secret" which I speak of here … http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2012/...
It is an open secret, of course, but all the world - the English-speaking world particularly - wishes to conceal it. Well, after all these years, I discovered your "secret" which I speak of here … http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2012/...
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Rico em detalhes, respeitoso, e muito inspirador. Foi bastante formidável a experiência de ler este livro. Sem sombra de dúvidas Ronald Tolkien é uma inspiração para meros mortais como eu.
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