J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE FRSL (/ˈruːl ˈtɒlkiːn/, ROOL TOL-keen;[lower-alpha 1] 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Quick facts: J. R. R. Tolkien CBE FRSL, Born, Died, Occupa... ▼

J. R. R. Tolkien CBE FRSL
Tolkien in the 1920s
Born	John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-01-03)3 January 1892 Bloemfontein, Orange Free State
Died	2 September 1973(1973-09-02) (aged 81) Bournemouth, Hampshire, England
Occupation	Author academic philologist poet
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford
Genre	Fantasy high fantasy mythopoeia translation literary criticism
Spouse	Edith Bratt ​ ​ (m. 1916; died 1971)​
Children	John Francis Michael Hilary Christopher John Priscilla Anne
Relatives	Tolkien family
Signature
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Years	1915–1920
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	Lancashire Fusiliers
Battles	World War I Battle of the Somme Capture of Schwaben Redoubt Capture of Leipzig Salient Capture of Regina Trench

From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College, both at the University of Oxford. He then moved within the same university to become the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and Fellow of Merton College, and held these positions from 1945 until his retirement in 1959. Tolkien was a close friend of C. S. Lewis, a co-member of the informal literary discussion group The Inklings. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.

After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda and, within it, Middle-earth. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term legendarium to the larger part of these writings.

While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused him to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature—or, more precisely, of high fantasy.