J.R.R. Tolkien: His Life and Work Through His Autographs

Everything about Tolkien is here."

A definitive edition, compiled using rare materials from Oxford University's Bodleian Library!

Tolkien's life story is a myth itself.

"Tolkien." That's the original title of this book. The name "Tolkien" appears in bold gold letters on the cover, with three English words (Maker of Middleearth) in smaller letters below. The name Tolkien and the world in which his vast mythology unfolds—Middle Earth—speak for themselves, and nothing more needs to be said. This title speaks volumes. Yes, everything about Tolkien is here. Tolkien is generally known as a "fantasy writer." However, Tolkien's primary interest was language. Creating and refining the Elvish language was his tireless life's work. And for a language to exist, there must be people to speak it and a world in which they live. From this idea, Tolkien's "fantasy stories" were born. Nearly every country has a creation myth explaining how the world came into being. But Britain lacked one. Tolkien wanted to bestow a mythology on England, which he achieved through several beautiful stories. However, Tolkien's stories aren't the only mythology he created; his life story itself is a mythology. And this book contains all of that. -From the Translator's Afterword

"I wrote it with my own blood. I don't know if it's thick or thin. I can't write anymore." J.R.R. Tolkien

Learn all about Tolkien's fantasy world, imagined through his pictures and maps, and his life story, whose very existence is a mythology!

Table of Contents

Introduction

Essays Tolkien's Life * Catherine McIlwain Tolkien and the Inklings * John Garth Fairy: Tolkien's Dangerous Land * Verlin Flieger The Creation of Elvish * Carl F. Hosteter Tolkien and "The Noble Spirit of the North" * Tom Shippey Tolkien's Visual Arts * Wayne G. Hammond, Christina Scull

Catalogue Chapter 1: Reading Tolkien: "For England, for My Country" Chapter 2: Childhood: "Born with a Gift for Language" Chapter 3: Student Life "The Beginnings of the Great Mythology" Chapter 4: The Perfect Creation: "I combined old colors anew." Chapter 5: The Silmarillion: "The Silmarillion is my heart." Chapter 6: The Professor's Study: "Stealing from time already mortgaged." Chapter 7: The Hobbit: "In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit." Chapter 8: The Lord of the Rings: "This story was written with my own blood." Chapter 9: Maps from The Lord of the Rings: "It was a good idea to draw the map first and then adapt the story to it."

List of Authors Acknowledgments Bibliography Illustration Sources Exhibition Catalog Index Translator's Afterword

■Author■ Catherine McIlwaine Tolkien Archivist at the Bodleian Library. She has worked in the Tolkien Archive since 2003.

J. R. R. Tolkien 1892-1973. Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He returned to Birmingham, England with his mother at the age of three, where his father died shortly thereafter, and his mother also died when he was ten. Under the tutelage of a Catholic priest, he studied at King Edward VI School and then at Exeter College, Oxford University. He majored in comparative linguistics (philology) and graduated with honors. After serving in World War I, he served as a lecturer and professor at the University of Leeds. In 1925, he became a professor at Oxford University at an exceptionally young age, where he devoted himself to research and teaching until his retirement in 1959. During this time, he became known worldwide as a fantasy writer for his children's books, The Hobbit, and its sequel, The Lord of the Rings. He began creating an Elvish language as a hobby in his teens and continued to write mythological stories throughout his life, but he never completed them during his lifetime. These were published posthumously as The Silmarillion.

■Translator■ Yamamoto Shiro Born in 1954. Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Professor at Showa Women's University. Specializes in translation theory and British literature and culture. His goal is to develop a translation theory appropriate for the Japanese context based on a critical evaluation of Western translation studies. His books include Reading Anne of Green Gables in the University of Tokyo Classroom (University of Tokyo Press), Rereading Classic English Literature (Kodansha), One-Shot World Literature (Asahi Shimbun Publications), and Translation Lessons: Final Lectures at the University of Tokyo (Asahi Shinsho). His translations include L.M. Montgomery's Complete Edition of Anne of Green Gables (Hara Shobo), J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (Hara Shobo), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Hara Shobo), Nitobe Inazo's Bushido (Asahi Shinsho), B. Wilson's Philosophy: Thinking for Yourself (University of Tokyo Press), and Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (Kaiseisha, co-translation).