Джон Р. Р. Толкин. Биография

Tolkien himself didn't really approve of biographies. More precisely, he did not like it when a biography was turned into a kind of literary research. "I am absolutely sure that studying the biography of the author in order to understand his works is an empty business." However, he could not help but realize that, since his works are so enormously popular, the likelihood of writing a biography after his death is very high. And it seems that Tolkien gradually collected materials for his future biography himself: he supplied old letters and papers with his comments. In addition, he wrote several pages of memoirs about his childhood. So there is hope that he still was not categorically against the publication of this book. But his real biography is The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, for the true truth about him is contained in these books. He could laugh at anyone, but mostly he laughed at himself. Once at a New Year's party in the thirties, Tolkien covered himself with an Icelandic sheepskin fireplace rug, smeared his face with white paint and portrayed a polar bear. On another occasion, he dressed up as an Anglo-Saxon warrior, armed himself with a battle ax and went out to chase a dumbfounded neighbor. In his old age, he liked to slip his false teeth along with a handful of change to absent-minded sellers. "My humor is rustic," he wrote, "and even the most benevolent critics find it tiresome."