J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend (edition 2012)

Although, I have been a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for years, I knew very little about the author behind these magical works. More has been written about J.R.R. Tolkien than by him. He has been studied by scholars and critics for generations. Tolkien is enigmatic and complex, as is his work. For those reasons and a myriad of others, I was so pleased to be introduced to this Tolkien biography by Colin Duriez. In the forward, Doriez writes, “Though my book is not intended for scholars but for ordinary readers wishing to explore the life of Tolkien and how it relates to the stories of Middle-earth, the wisdom from those (other authors) I’ve mentioned, and many others, is a necessary background (p. 9-10).”

With even a most tertiary look into the background of Colin Duriez, it becomes quite clear that as an academic, a professor, and a writer, he has made it his life’s work to study the works of Tolkien. He appears to have read nearly every work ever written by or about Tolkien, which made it all the more remarkable that he was able to condense his intensive years of study into a book for the ordinary reader.

In J.R.R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend, Duriez focuses on the lonely, orphaned boy who was fascinated with languages and fantasy. Though not antisocial by any means, he definitely lived an active life inside his head. In Duriez’s book, the reader also learns of the horrible losses and emotional toil that he endured as a soldier in WWI. His marriage to his first love, after years of separation, is endearing as is his love for his children. Despite his devotion to academia, he was a family man at heart. The land of Middle-Earth, as it turns out, is a land that Tolkien had invented early in his youth, and it was his love of languages and study of them (philology), that lead him to create this enchanted world. He shared the stories with his children and eventually developed a manuscript that he shared with his good friend and colleague, C.S.Lewis. Lewis said, “In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself, and am never more myself than when I do (p. 54).

Lewis quickly became one of Tolkien’s biggest fans and encourages him to publish his work. Like generations of fans afterward, Lewis fell in love with the Hobbit of Middle Earth and the stories that followed. It may have been Tolkien’s love of languages that led him to write these epic novels, but for most readers, it is the characters, the fantasy, the heroism, the story itself that captures the imagination.

For an introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien, a fascinating man who lead an extraordinary life both inside and outside of his head, I highly recommend this book. If you are already a Tolkien scholar, you probably won’t gain much from this particular biography. For the average reader, however, it is perfect!

In compliance with FTC guidelines, please note that I received a free review copy from Kregel Blog Tours in return for an honest review. ( )

Title: J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend
Author: Colin Duriez
Pages: 192
Year: 2012
Publisher: Lion
This book is about the life of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the man who created the world of Middle-earth and wrote books about this fantasized world that he imagined as a child. Tolkien was born January 3, 1889, to Arthur and Mabel Tolkien in South Africa. The imagination of Tolkien evolved with many eventful experiences that changed and shaped his life. When he was still young, John and his brother Hilary moved with their mother to England, where she died a few years later. Their father had died in South Africa during the Boer War. As he grew up, John became interested in different medieval languages such as Gothic and Welsh, which he would use to develop the Elf language in his books about Middle-earth. He would later write a series of stories (that he never finished) about the creation and mythology of Middle-earth, called “the Silmarillion”. When he was young man, he married his high school sweetheart, Edith, and served in the British military in WWI. This certainly shaped his perspective about war and influenced his writing.
During the years that followed, he went to Oxford where he met one of closest friends C. S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, as well several other books. He continued to write “the Silmarillion” and also wrote The Hobbit. Four children were born to John and Edith. Their names were John, Michael, Christopher, and Pricilla. During WWII, Tolkien served as an air-raid warden. During the 1950s, Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. These books didn’t really become best-selling books until the 1960s and 70s. In 1971, J. R. R. Tolkien’s wife died and two years later he died himself. On their gravestones, the names Beren and Luthien were inscribed after the two lovers Tolkien wrote about in “the Silmarillion”.
I thought it was very interesting to read about this man who wrote these much beloved books that are now becoming blockbuster movies. I kind of feel sorry for this man because he lost both his father and mother when he was still a child; this tragedy would continue to plague him for the rest of his life. He continued to suffer a lot of things up to the time of his death. Yet, at the same time, I thank God for Tolkien’s endurance and firm belief in Him. I thank Tolkien for writing these books, especially The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that has influenced many with Christian values in subtle ways. I’m certain God is giving Beren and his wife Luthien an everlasting peaceful rest from the darkness of Mordor. I look forward to meeting them when I go to heaven someday.
My rating is 4 ½ stars.
Note: I received a complimentary copy for an honest review of this book. The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/ . Also follow me on Twitter @lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457 ( )

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, know as J. R. R. was born on 3 January 1892, in Southern Africa. He was the first son of Arthur and Mabel, and was joined by a brother Hilary on 17 February 1894.
Both boys had a had sad beginning, loosing their Dad in 1896, and their Mom to Diabetes, there was no treatment. They became the wards of a priest, and soon lived with a woman who gave them room and board...that is it. How sad, and yet each point of his life shows the rich mind he possessed, and later shows up in bits and pieces in his writings.
Love the reference to Hobbit, that came from his travels to Interlaken in Switzerland. What a mind he had, and was able to share with the World. He had in his lifetime become friends with C. S. Lewis, a former Atheist who came to know the Lord many think because of Tolkien.
He fell in love with Edith as a child, and later pursues her as a young man. I personally enjoyed this story, and bringing this man to life in my mind. He started out with such a harsh life, but the talent of this man is legendary.
Enjoy!

I received this book from Kregel, and was not required to give a positive review. ( )

Of Tolkien Duriez says, “Myth and story was embodied in language” (p. 143) and myth and story restore “a true meaning of ordinary and humble things that make up human life” (p. 176). That sums up his life and writing in my estimation. I’ve read Humphrey Carpenter’s biography which is the official biography of Tolkien and I’ve also read the Tolkien Letters. Duriez’s J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend is as much a must read for Tolkienphiles.

I not only enjoyed refreshing my history of Tolkien’s life but I enjoyed the writing and storyline Duriez presents. He covers his life from cradle to the grave. In the biography itself I gathered some wonderful Tolkien tidbits and memorable sayings.

It’s also interesting how this biography and recent discoveries have intersected. Duriez reports,
One day Tolkien and Lewis would even plan to collaborate on a book on language, a project that never materialized. (p. 145)
Lo and behold this work has this month been uncovered. The Telegraph reports (“JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis joint work discovered”)
The beginning of a joint book by CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien has been discovered in a manuscript book in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

An American academic called Steven Beebe, of Texas State University, San Marcos, had seen the material some years ago, but has only recently realised what it is. It is written in Lewis's hand in the same notebook that contains early drafts for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Magician's Nephew.

Lewis and Tolkien had planned their joint book, to be called Language and Human Nature, in 1944, with publication envisaged for 1950.

You should read this book but especially so if you love Tolkien--even if you’re read Carpenter’s or other biographies. You won’t be disappointed with Duriez’s J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend. My only tiff would be Duriez teasing about the amount of information that could’ve been included surrounding the publication of The Lord of the Rings. Says Duriez, “Even his dealings with his publisher and another potential publisher could fill a small book” (p. 192). But then we get few details about the process as a whole.

Tolkien’s work on Middle-Earth is timeless because he captures the essence of our life within his faerie stories and myth. He has an uncanny ability to penetrate into the depths of the human condition and uncover truth. For instance, he says after WWII
We are attempting to conquer Sauron with the Ring. And we shall (it seems) succeed. But the penalty is, you will know, to breed new Saurons, and slowly turn Men and Elves into Orcs” (p. 191 as quoted in Letters to his son Christopher).
Tolkien was right then and he’s even more right today. You should read him and understand his life in connection with the larger corpus of his work. Duriez will help you do this. ( )

I've always been interested in how a book or a series of books like Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit come to be written. How does one take an idea (an inkling really) and turn it into a story that will catch the imaginations of millions over the years & around the world?

What you'll find in this biography is a book spanning the long life of J.R.R. Tolkien and the experiences that he lived through that helped him form the events within the book. From growing up & being raised by the Catholic Church, tinkering with the child's play of forming languages to actually learning how languages are formed, traveling to Finland and other countries which gave him the ability to describe the sweeping vistas he wrote of in his books to participating in World War II and the horrors he saw and lived through on a daily basis for years thus giving him the ability to write about the many varied wars & battles in his books - you will find out what made Tolkein "tick".

Tolkein was a man gifted with the ability to take what he saw, felt and lived through and describe it to the average man whether learned or not. He was a loving husband, father and a strong friend to have backing you up - and it also sounds like he was a "brilliant" thinker (Eistein type brilliant) and had the ability to make the English, Welsh and the Ancient forms of writing and language understandable to his students (at least those that wanted to understand).

If you are a FAN of LOTR's, The Hobbit and any of the several Appendices that he wrote, or perhaps are a fan of poetry (of which he was very gifted) be sure to grab a copy of JRR Tolkien: The Making of a Legend.

Disclaimer: I was offered a copy of JRR Tolkien: The Making of a Legend to read and review on GivingNSharing by Kregel Publications. I was not required to write a positive review & no money exchanged hands. ( )