The order of the reading is historical - it will follow the order in which it was written.
1937 Publication of Hobbit
1950 appearance in America, followed in a few years by the Trilogy
confusion on content: is it chldren fare or adult material?
Edmund Wilson ->major critic of Tolk. labeled as "escapist": characters not well rounded(?), too one sided- good or evil.
WH Auden ->defender of Tolk. '62 defense see's resonances of all mighty works including Bible
Ace Books published unauthorized version in '60s. Authorized version by Random House/Ballantine
Late 60's TOlk becam a "youth icon"; a must read for the counter culture.
Time Magazine July 1967 Frodo=Bhudda=Jesus
Subsequent authors get their start in wake of Tolk.
Early 70's; first "serious" look at the works.
Sept 73 Death of Tolkien
77 Publication of Silmarillion
John Ronald Ruel Tolkien (tolkuhn = fool hardy or half-witted)
Born South Africa 1892
bit by tarantula at age of 3
Tolkien's father died & buried in South Africa
Liked to read Arthurian and Norse Sagas
mother converted from Church of England to Catholicism
1904 Mother diagnosed w/ diabetes & died later that year
Invented languages w/ rules as a child based on Spanish & Gothic
1910 achieved scholarship to Oxford.
Hike in Switzerland and collected a postcard of mountains/tree/old man w/ beard and hat - pattern for Gandalf. He kept this card.
Joseph Wright - a prof who profoundly impressed Tolk at Oxford on further studies in languages.
Read Mabinogion and Kalevala.
Jan 3 1913, 21st bday, wrote to Edith and proposed.
Works of William Morris impressed TOlk to write of ancient times
Tolkien impressed w/ this poem and to invent a story around this line.
1st day in WWI he saw a battle where 20,000 allied troops died. Wasted landscape and bodies influenced him so much he never wrote about them.
Coalbiter -> Inlkings
Tolkien, CS Lewis, Chas. Williams, Owen Barfield.
Tom Bombadil -> based on a child's doll who got flushed down the toilet and later rescued.