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Bagheera
Bree
Jun 9 2014, 2:26pm
Post #1 of 8
(280 views)
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Best Biography on Tolkien?
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I thought you lot were the best to ask this question. I'm looking to buy a biography on Professor Tolkien's life and I'd like to know anyone's opinion on the best one to get. I came upon some money recently (an Amazon giftcard) and realized, while I've studied the lives of Kipling and Lewis, and I've read many of Tolkien's books, I don't know much about the Professor's life. Any thoughts are appreciated.
Disclaimer: I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post. I wasn't sure if it should be in the main area or here, since this is more about literature (even if I'm asking for a book ABOUT Tolkien rather than one authored by him).
Enjoy the trailer for my fantasy novel:
We Kill Death
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squire
Half-elven
Jun 9 2014, 4:49pm
Post #2 of 8
(202 views)
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Humphrey Carpenter, 'Tolkien: The Authorized Biography' (1977), Houghton Mifflin
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That's really the only one. Any others are derivative from this one, or else discredited by reviewers.
If you enjoy it, I'd recommend you then read The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (2nd ed., 1995), edited by the same author with help from Christopher Tolkien.
Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth by John Garth (2003, Houghton Mifflin) focuses on Tolkien's life in the years when he began to write his Middle-earth legendarium. It has much new material that Carpenter did not focus on.
The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull (2006, Houghton Mifflin) is an encyclopedic and scholarly reference work that is not for the casual Tolkien fan. However, for those interested in Tolkien's biography it has the most amazingly detailed chronology of his life, literally reporting every known activity of his day to day life from birth to death, based on archival sources, letters, records, etc.!
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd & 4th TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion and NOW the 1st BotR Discussion too! and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Bagheera
Bree
Jun 9 2014, 7:23pm
Post #3 of 8
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That's all very helpful information. The last one (Tolkien Companion and Guide) sounds pretty hilarious, all those details. I'm not sure I'm at that level of fan dedication yet.
I definitely want to read his letters one day too. Carpenter's biography was the one I was looking at though. Thanks for confirming that's the right pick.
Enjoy the trailer for my fantasy novel:
We Kill Death
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Maciliel
Valinor
Jun 9 2014, 8:47pm
Post #4 of 8
(166 views)
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mae govannen, bagheera. : )
squire has given you excellent recommendations, and i will add another -- very enthusiastic -- nod for "letters."
not only is it very illuminating about middle-earth details (backstory, origins, clarifications) and publishing adventures, etc., but tolkien's personality clearly comes through in them.... he is a very good writer of correspondence, full of personality.
enjoy! : )
cheers --
.
aka. fili orc-enshield
+++++++++++++++++++
the scene, as i understand it, is exceptionally well-written. fili (in sort of a callback to the scene with the eagles), calls out "thorRIIIIIIN!!!" just as he sees the pale orc veer in for the kill. he picks up the severed arm of an orc which is lying on the ground, swings it up in desperation, effectively blocking the pale orc's blow. and thus, forever after, fili is known as "fili orc-enshield."
this earns him deep respect from his hard-to-please uncle. as well as a hug. kili wipes his boots on the pale orc's glory box. -- maciliel telpemairo
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CuriousG
Half-elven
Jun 9 2014, 9:00pm
Post #5 of 8
(164 views)
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to eating pony steaks at barbecues?
(I'm not sure what brought that up.)
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Voronwë_the_Faithful
Valinor
Jun 10 2014, 2:52am
Post #6 of 8
(152 views)
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I would make the same recommendations, word for word.
'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'
The Hall of Fire
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DaughterofLaketown
Gondor
Jun 10 2014, 3:26am
Post #7 of 8
(151 views)
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I second the Humphrey carpenter
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As it is official and the only one I have read. It's written in a very enjoyable style not dry like some biographies are.
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Bagheera
Bree
Jun 10 2014, 9:50pm
Post #8 of 8
(180 views)
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I've read many of C. S. Lewis' letters and feel like it was a wonderful way to get to know what the man was really like, and what he thought about his creations. I will certainly read Tolkien's letters one day too; the bits I've seen from other books were enlightening.
Enjoy the trailer for my fantasy novel:
We Kill Death
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