Tolkien - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Tolkien

Gere Book Talk

March 18 2013

Kristen A.Slide2

Born 1892 in South Africa

H

is parents were English His father was manager of a bankThe city was rather like a town in the Old West, it was still developingHis mother Mabel, didn’t like AfricaJ.R.R. had a brother two years younger than him – named HilaryThey were close brothersPlayed outside often

Early LifeSlide3

April 1895, Mabel took the boys to England for a visit.

November 1895, she learned that Arthur had come down with rheumatic fever.

Early 1896, Mabel was preparing to return when she received a telegram that he had passed awayThey stayed in England, near BirminghamThey lived in the English countryside with meadows, a stream, a mill and trees, later serving for the model of The Shire

Move to EnglandSlide4

His mother taught him to read,

and later

penmanship, Latin, French, and botanyAn uncle paid for Ronald’s tuition at King Edward’s after passing the entrance exam in 1900The school was in town and they lived out of townHis mother could not afford the daily train fare so they moved closerEarly SchoolingSlide5

In 1902 Tolkien and his brother switched schools and attended the Grammar School of St. Philip, which was attached to a church and a community of priests who cared for it

It was Roman Catholic

They moved again – just next door to the school

It

was here they meet Father Francis

Community member and the parish priest who became good friends with Mabel and her family

Tolkien thought of him as a second father

Father Francis MorganSlide6

Even though St. Philips school was closer and cheaper, it could not provide the same level of education he was getting at King Edwards

His mother tutored him and he received a scholarship to return to King Edwards in the fall of 1903

Return to King EdwardsSlide7

April 1904, Mabel was hospitalized with diabetes

She recovered in June enough to return home

Father Francis Morgan arranged for her to have two rooms in the cottage of the postman and his wife, who cooked for themThey were happy to be back in the country sideThe boys returned to school in the fallIn November, Mabel passed away after going into a diabetic comaRonald was 12

Mabel passes awaySlide8

Father Francis didn’t want to let the boys live with their predominately Protestant family

There was one of Mabel’s aunts who was indifferent to religion and lived close to their school, so he arranged for the boys to live with her

New ArrangementsSlide9

He was very intellectual and meet similar boys at King Edward’s

A group of them begun having tea in the library

They called themselves the T.C.B.S. The Tea Club and Barrovian SocietyTheir friendships were deep and they shared hopes ideals, projects, and encouraged each other’s workThere were four key membersTolkien – languages

Christopher Wiseman –

maths

, music, composing

R.Q. Gilson - drawing and design

Geoffrey Bache Smith – English Literature and Poetry

T.C.B.S at King Edward’sSlide10

1908 Father Francis learns that the boys do not like it at their aunt’s house so he finds them lodging with a woman living behind the school

This woman had another border, Edith, who was also an orphan, three years older than Tolkien

At school Edith had shown talent as a pianist, but because she had an inheritance enough to keep her, no one thought it important or necessary to cultivate her piano skillsThey fell in love over the summer of 1909, he was 17, she 20They went out in secret but gossip got round to Father Francis who told Tolkien he was not to see her anymore and made new living arrangements

The couple meet up again , and again Father Francis found out and this time forbade Tolkien to even write to her, until he was 21, if he did it again he would withdraw his support

He didn’t give up on her

EdithSlide11

The summer between leaving King Edward’s and starting at Oxford, Tolkien traveled to Switzerland with a group of a dozen people, including his brother

Hilary had left school at this point and had decided to go into agriculture, and later become a fruit farmer

At the end of the trip, he purchased several postcards, one of which had an old man on itThis postcard he later wrote was the ‘Origin of Gandalf’Trip to SwitzerlandSlide12

He passed the entrance and scholarship exam to Oxford, Father Francis helped him out with additional funding

Started in the fall of 1911

He was intellectually lively, but also took part in sports including rugby, and played pranksThere was a class division at OxfordTolkien was from working class, most other students were of upper class, there was however a group of ‘poor scholars’ like Tolkien that were predominate in his college of ExeterAlso at Exeter there was a group of Roman Catholics

Student at OxfordSlide13

Classics was his major originally but he changed to English

English was split into Language and Literature

He chose LanguageLanguagesHandwritingAlphabetsMythologyHe wanted to make a mythology for English, because there were so many tales and sagas written in ancient languages he felt like English needed one

InterestsSlide14

On his 21

st

birthday (1913) he wrote to Edith asking her to marry himShe wrote back that she was already engaged, but not for loveThey met up and Tolkien won her backThey agreed to keep things a secret and not marry until he completed his schoolingHe told Father Francis who did not opposeEdith was a member of the Church of England, not Roman Catholic, as Tolkien was

To be married she had to become one, which she did, not because she wanted to, but for Tolkien

Reunion with EdithSlide15

During his studies he read Anglo-

Sacon

literature, one of the poems he read was called the Crist which includes the terms Earendel and middle-earthHe said “I felt a curious thrill as if something had stirred in me, half wakened from sleep. There was something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could grasp it, far beyond ancient English.”

They sparked his imagination enough he made them his

Finding Middle-EarthSlide16

1914

Tolkien was determined to finish his degree before enlisting, but everyone else including his brother had

He enrolled in a program that allowed him to remain studying at Oxford but go through army training at the same timeChristmas vacation that year he meet up with the T.C.B.C. – it was for the last timeTwo of them died in the warThe following June he completed his degree and was sent to war the next monthNovember 1916 he was sent to hospital with trench fever and eventually sent home

He started writing during this healing period

First

W

orld WarSlide17

He worked on a team creating the Oxford English Dictionary

He was assigned to define the words: warm, wasp, water, wick and winter

His first son John was born in November of 19171920, he got a job at Leeds University as Reader in English LanguageTheir second son Michael was born October 1920After the WarSlide18

He moved to Leeds by himself, leaving the family in Oxford until Edith was ready to move in 1921

He visited on the

weekendsEdith was not happy at first to move, but liked it when she got there – it lacked the formality and snobbery she disliked of Oxford and she made friendsTolkien was good at teaching and well likedHe drew in students to specialize in linguistics

He kept up his own writing

Stories and poems that were precursors to his Lord of the Rings work

His tenure ended in 1924

Their 3

rd

son Christopher was born in November 1924LeedsSlide19

He got a job in 1925 as professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford and moved back

T

he family moved around in Oxford several times but remained in Oxford till 1968Student response to him was varied, but he often had students turn up to his lectures who were not registered for the class The University required professors to give minimum 36 lectures or classes a yearIn his 2nd year, Tolkien gave 136 due to staff shortages

His real work begun at this time as well when his storytelling and languages grew to involve the people and places the languages would have arose out of

Their 4

th

child, Priscilla was born in 1929

He retired in 1959

Back to OxfordSlide20

“I do not like giving "facts" about myself other than "dry" ones (which anyway are quite as relevant to my books as any other more juicy details). Not simply for personal reasons; but also because I object to the contemporary trend in criticism, with its excessive interest in the details of the lives of authors and artists. They only distract attention from an author's works … and end … in becoming the main interest

.

”He would however respond to serious letters from readers about his workPersonal LifeSlide21

[Tolkien] and Edith were still very different people with widely different interests, and even after fifty years of marriage they were not always ideal company for each other. Occasionally there were moments of irritation between them, just as there had been throughout their lives. But there was still, as there always had been, great love and affection, perhaps even more now that the strain of bringing up a family had passed

.

-from Humphrey Carpenter, authorized by Tolkien’s heirs after his deathThey were married 55 years until Edith passed away in 1971, age 82, he died 2 years later, age 81

Married LifeSlide22

At Christmas times the children, as most, wrote letters to Santa

Tolkien would write back to them as Santa with tales of the North Pole, creating a characters who would develop and re-appear throughout the years

He did this for 19 years until 1939 when the children were a bit too old for it, and WW2 was comingHe would tell the children stories at bed, epically if they could not sleepTom Bombadil, and early version of a Hobbit, originated as a story for his kids as well

He was modeled on one of Michael’s dolls, which John had stuffed down a toilet to be saved by Tolkien

Children’s StoriesSlide23

Seems to have been a warm, close relationship with all of his children

John became a Roman Catholic priest

Michael became a schoolmasterPriscilla became a social workerChristopher took up his father’s work becoming his literary executor, and editor of his un-finished workThe ChildrenSlide24

In a family memoir by John and Priscilla:

Christopher was always much concerned with the consistency of the story and on one occasion … interrupted: 'Last time, you said Bilbo's front door was blue, and you said

Thorin had a golden tassel on this hood, but you've just said that Bilbo's front door was green, and the tassel on Thorin's hood was silver'; at which point Ronald exclaimed 'Damn the boy!' and strode across the room to make a note.He served the WW2 in South Africa, then returned to OxfordHe was a member of his father’s club the Inklings and it was he not his father who read new sections of Lord of the Rings to them for review

Christopher TolkienSlide25

the person most likely to know what he was about. And the knowledge that he wanted me to be his literary executor gave me the confidence to do it. I could not help him in his lifetime as much as I wished, for just to sort out his papers, which were in an enormous mess, would have meant asking him to step aside from them for a year or two. Since his death I've seen far more of his total literary and moral purpose than before. I've had his whole opus spread out in front of me, letters, papers, essays—and more than he ever had, because of the confusion the papers were in.

Christopher TolkienSlide26

They were friends for about 40 years

They met in 1926 at an English Department tea

Lewis was as important as Tolkien’s children were in the development of Lord of the RingsThey were both members of the Inklings were members could read their works in progress and get advise and opinionsA later life version of the T.C.B.S.The group met at a pub called The Eagle and ChildIt was to this group that Tolkien read

The Hobbit

&

Lord of the Rings

and Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet

C.S. LewisSlide27

The friends had differing views on religion

Tolkien was Roman Catholic, Lewis was Protestant

Lewis could not accept Tolkien’s religious views and Tolkien could not accept Lewis’sThey also had different views as to what mythology wasLewis thought it a kind of lieTolkien took it as a way of showing the truthThey drifted apart to the point that when Lewis got married Tolkien didn’t know till he read it in the paper

C.S. LewisSlide28

When he begin writing

The Hobbit

is un-known, but it was Tolkien family story like the Santa story that was told in many forms many a timeIt did start sometime in the early 1930’s with the sentence “ In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” and everything spiraled from thereIt was a children’s story, which Lewis said was good, but was not sure children would like itHe had written an incomplete version of it that his family and few others knew aboutOne person who did know about it was family friend and ex-student Elaine Griffiths, who worked at a publishing firm, who told a

collouge

Susan

Dagnall

about it

The HobbitSlide29

Dagnall

borrowed the manuscript from Tolkien, read it and asked him to finish it for publication

October 1936 it was finishedAt the publishing firm – Allen & Unwin – the chairman tested it out on his 10 year old son RaynerHe approved and was paid a shilling for his workRayner

later took over the firm and was responsible for the publication of

Lord of the Rings

It was published September 1937 and was sold out before the start of Christmas

It was published in the United States soon after

HobbitSlide30

Tolkien was eager to see

The

Silmarillon published so when asked for a sequel to The Hobbit, he put this forth as well as Lord of the Rings, to Allen and Unwin in 1937

He was told that is wasn’t what they were looking for in a sequel

He put it forth to Collins as well who were also looking to publish

The Hobbit

’s sequel – this time he only submitted

The

SilmarillionHe was told they would publish if he finished itTolkien then offered them Lord of the RingsHe was later so busy with other projects he never finished this – even thought it was most important to him

The

SilmarillionSlide31

He was upset with

Unwin

whose son, Rayner had been the child to approve The Hobbit, had said in a letter not intended for Tolkien to see, that he didn’t think The Silmarillion should be publishedWhile he was very upset it meant he was under no obligation to Allen &

Unwin

, and could have Collins publish his work

Because

The

Silmarillion

was not yet complete he had a similar situation all over again with CollinsHe received a letter from Rayner asking about his publication plans – he had calmed down by now and published it with the first company Allen & UnwinPublicationsSlide32

When he started writing LOTR in the late 1930’s, is was to be just as light and aimed at children as

The Hobbit

He ran into some problems when he tried brining in The Silmarillion to the sequelOnce it really started moving though, Aug 1938 he wrote:In the last two or three days, after the benefit of idleness and open air, and the sanctioned neglect of duty, I have begun again on the sequel to the "Hobbit"—The Lord of the Ring. It is now flowing along and getting quite out of hand. It has reached about Chapter VII and progresses toward quite unforeseen goals. I must say I think it is a good deal better in places and some ways than the predecessor; but that does not say that I think it either more suitable or more adapted for its audience. For one thing it is, like my own children (who have the immediate serial rights), rather "older".… If the weather is wet in the next fortnight we may have got still further on. But it is no bed-time story.

A month later clarifying:

When I spoke, in an earlier letter to Mr. Furth, of this sequel getting "out of hand", I did not mean it to be complimentary to the process. I really only meant it was … becoming more terrifying than The Hobbit. It may prove quite unsuitable. It is more "adult".… The darkness of the present days has had some effect on it

.

He does refer here to the beginning of WW2 but he believed his work was a mythology, a truth to be applied to many situations, not a fantasy version of a real war

Beginnings of Lord of the RingsSlide33

They divided it into the three parts

They felt it was a bit risky so they told

Tolkien he would get no money until the publishing costs had been recovered then they money would be split 50/50Part 1 & 2 were out in 1954, part 3 in 1955They printed 3.5 thousand copies of book 1 which sold out in 6 weeksThe printing costs were regained a year after the 3rd

book came out

He finally got paid in 1956, his first check for £35,000

Lord of the Rings PublicationSlide34

1965, American Publisher Ace printed an unofficial version of

Lord of the Rings

, U.S copyright laws at the time permitted thisThe official American publisher, Houghton Mifflin / Ballantine Books realized they needed a superior edition to competeIt took time do this and by the time they got it, Ace Books were already sellingTolkien received a lot of fan mail and began adding to each letter he responded to, asking people to buy the official one, that he approved of and was getting paid forIt worked, and the Sci-Fi Writers of America put pressure on Ace who agreed to cease printing it

American PublishingSlide35

Places Named A

fter Tolkien

Information from www.tolkienlibrary.comSep. 5, 2012 by Pieter CollierSlide36

Crater on Mercury

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved a proposal to assign names to nine impact craters on the planet Mercury.

Mercury's north polar region is of high scientific interest because of the shadowed craters there that host radar-bright deposits that may consist of water ice. All of the nine newly named craters host such deposits. In keeping with the established naming theme for craters on Mercury, they are all named after famous deceased artists, musicians, or authors or other contributors to the humanities.

One of the craters has been named in

honour

of JRR Tolkien.Slide37

Asteroid 2675 Tolkien

2675 Tolkien is a small main belt asteroid, which was discovered by M. Watt on April 14, 1982 at the Anderson Mesa station, which is operated by the Lowell Observatory.

Asteroid Tolkien sticks between Jupiter and Mars with no propensity to ever cross the Earth. Tolkien has an absolute magnitude (brightness) of 12.5. You can only see up to magnitude 6.0 with your bare eyes, unfortunately. And the asteroid is probably much, much fainter than even that from our position on Earth. You'll probably need some mega-telescope to glimpse it.

To

honour

J.R.R. Tolkien some more the same person M. Watt named the second asteroid he discovered 'Bilbo'. 2291 Bilbo is also a main-belt asteroid and was discovered on April 21, 1982.Slide38

Tolkien Neighbourhood

In the Dutch town of

Geldrop, near Eindhoven in The Netherlands, the streets of an entire neighbourhood are named after Tolkien himself (Tolkien Avenue) and some of the best-known characters from his books. The

neighbourhood

was built in 1998 to 2000 and exists of 107 exclusive houses, designed by the architect office Van den

Pauwert

.

The

neighbourhood is full of streets named after the characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, while the main road is named Tolkien Avenue (Dutch: Laan

van Tolkien). Though the

neighbourhood

has streets with names of lesser known characters as

Farin

,

Cirion

and

Silmariën

, there is no street named after one of the best known characters, Bilbo Baggins. Slide39

Tolkien Tree

In 2006 the Wilderness Committee launched a preservation campaign to force the Canadian government to take urgent action and ban old growth logging: Protect Vancouver Island's Ancient Forests.

Two of Canada's widest trees were recently discovered by the Wilderness Committee in the Upper

Walbran

Valley And of all the places and things named after Tolkien this was probably the biggest

honour

ever, one of the old trees was named after the author Tolkien.

It is not just an old tree, but it is a giant old tree! The ancient cedar named "Tolkien Giant" measures 4.76 m (15.7

ft) in diameter. Ken Wu, who is pictured beside this magnificent unprotected big tree, reminds us: "We're so incredibly fortunate here to have these gargantuan sized old growth trees still growing in wilderness ecosystems." The senseless killing of these last big trees is an ecological crime that has yet to be fully exposed.

Let us hope Giant Tolkien lives on and on, and when all rooms, pubs, houses, boats are long gone and forgotten.. I secretly hope Giant Tolkien will still be around and inspire people just like the author does.Slide40

Places Tolkien Fans Should Visit

Information from

www.tolkienlibrary.comAug. 29, 2012 by Imogen ReedSlide41

The

Lauterbrunnen

Valley, SwitzerlandWhen Tolkien sat down and sketched many of the locations from Middle-earth, the startling similarity between his drawing of the Elvish outpost Rivendell and the actual pictorial landscape of

Lauterbrunnen

is easily evident. It is no surprise to find out that Tolkien travelled to the valley during his late teens where he must have been captivated by the rolling hills and river

Weisse

Lütschine

cutting its way through the valley, which probably formed the inspiration for the Bruinen River (River Loudwater) of Middle-earth.Slide42

Tolkien’s Home in Oxford

Just as important as Birmingham where Tolkien grew up, Oxford is where he lived, worked,

socialised and died. Oxford is also the place where Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings. Only a blue plaque signifies the importance of 20 Northmoor Road in North Oxford where Tolkien penned his famous works. However, as it took him 17 years to complete the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit in its cramped rooms, the unimposing cottage is certainly a must see for any Tolkien fan.Slide43

The Eagle and Child

Tolkien was a keen drinker and enjoyed public houses. In Oxford, his local was the Eagle and Child where the great man drank for over 30 years. He was a regular within the pub's walls and often spent time with other literary figures of the age such as CS Lewis. Tolkien, Lewis and other writers, formed a literary club known as the Inklings, who would read passages of each other's work in the pub, which is now commemorated by a plaque.Slide44

The Somme

Tolkien was one of the unfortunate many that fought in the Battle of the Somme in Northern France during the First World War, the events of which had a huge impact on his life and beliefs. As a serving

Signalling officer for the 11th Battalion of The Lancashire Fusiliers, Tolkien lost many friends, including school chums Robert Gilson and Geoffrey Bache Smith. Tolkien himself was probably saved by contracting trench fever, which forced him to return to England to convalesce. However, the war affected him greatly. He wrote many times on his hatred for war, whatever the cause, which is particularly evident to the letters sent to his son, Christopher during the Second World War. Perhaps his descriptions of the desolation following the battles in the

Silmarillion

owe much to his wartime experiences, in particular, the devastating effect of

Morgoth's

monstrous iron dragons, which perhaps owe homage to the use of tanks for the first time during the Battle of the Somme.