When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, I wonder if he had an
inkling of the way in which he would capture the imaginations of people worldwide?
Before the movies were even considered, millions of readers had become captivated
by his tales of Middle Earth, elves, dwarfs, wizards, hobbits, orcs, men,
and other creatures. There is a lot of excitement
over the Harry Potter books and movies, and while I like and enjoy them,
J.K. Rowling's world is but the daydream of a child compared to the vast and
intracate world of Middle Earth imagined and created by the hand of J.R.R.
Tolkien. How exciting it is to now have a visual interpretation of that world
available in movie theaters and now
in a collector's edition DVD!
Contents of this website:
About J.R.R. Tolkien
John
Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in South Africa. Living in
the last decade of the 19th century and through most of the 20th, Tolkien
saw amazing change during his lifetime. As with all writers, his personal
experiences heavily influenced the themes and characters of his books. Hobbits
epitomized much of what Tolkien valued and held dear: good friends, good food,
time to relax and talk, gardening, and a good pipe.
It is amazing in our day of worldwide, instant publishing via
the internet to read about the excruciating pains Tolkien went through to
write, proof, and publish his books. He eventually become a noted professor
at Oxford University in England, where he was good friends with another extraordinary
author, C.S. Lewis. In the genre of children's literature, Lewis is best known
for his Chronicles
of Narnia series, which starts with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Lewis was an influencial Christian scholar and writer as well, penning such
classics as Mere
Christianity and The
Screwtape Letters.
Tolkien wrote much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a response
to industrialization, which threatened to transform the pristine air and countryside
of England into polluted and corrupted factory wastelands. The themes which
he triumphs in the series are universal ones: good versus evil, bravery against
incredible odds, the strength of loyal friends, the pain of betrayal, and
the destiny of heroes and heroines-- who save the world (as they knew it)
from an evil fate.
Tolkien lost his dear wife, Edith, on November 29, 1971. His
deep affection for her is reflected in many of his writings, for she was his
"Luthien," a character in his book The
Simarillion which would be completed following his own death in 1973 by
his son, Christopher. In fact, the headstone at their gravesite in England
bears their names, their dates of birth and death, and their allegorical names
from The
Simarillion: Beren and Luthien.
If you would like to learn more about the life of J.R.R. Tolkien,
I highly recommend Scholastic's short (125 page) paperback biography: J.R.R.
Tolkien: The Man Who Created the Lord of the Rings.
Get the books!
If you don't already, you should purchase the original Lord
of the Rings books. If you enjoy these, I have some other suggestions worth
considering:
Get Some Posters!
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
Lord of the Rings |
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
|
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
The Lord of the Rings - Legolas |
The Lord of the Rings - Fellowship |
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - Legolas |
The Lord of The Rings - Stonemen |
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers |
The Lord of The Rings - Saruman |
The Lord of the Rings - Frodo |
The Lord of the Rings - Orcs |
Download Some Wallpaper!
Great computer desktop wallpaper is available from these sites:
