ALT.SF4M

  Tolkien - The Biography

   • k******d@d*****i.com
     30/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC

     I just finished the biography of JRR Tolkien written by Humphrey
     Carpenter.

     Really it's wonderful book. I was up past 2:00 am for a couple of nights

     running because I couldn't put it down!

     It concentrates quite a bit on his early life, it starts right at birth
     and

     goes all the way to his death in 1973. It flows nicely until about 2/3
     of the

     way through the book where there is an abrupt change in style (the
     author

     starts addressing the reader), but evens out again. Its filled with tons
     of

     details about Tolkien's life I found surprising and interesting (I did
     not

     know C.S. Lewis was a close friend). An amazing, and very sad thing,
     about

     Tolkien: though he was a brilliant and a prodigious writer and scholar,
     he was

     such a perfectionist that he hardly ever finished anything! _The Hobbit_
     and

     _Lord of the Rings_ almost didn't make it to the bookshelves. He
     considered

     _The Silmarillion_ his masterpiece, which was started before _Hobbit_ or
     _Lord

     of the Rings_ and was developed as those two books were written. He
     worried

     that he would die before it was finished, but yet wasted an extrodinary
     amount

     of time staying up all night playing Solitare. Tragically, when he died
     at age

     81, _Silmarillion_ was in a terribly disorganized state. Amongst his
     papers

     they discovered a sequel to _Lord of the Rings_, but he had never gotten
     past

     page three!

     His son, Christopher Tolkien, saw to it that _Silmarillion_, though

     incomplete, was published in 1977. Oddly, Carpenter's biography comes to
     a

     rather abrupt end at Tolkien's death. It includes little of the story of
     how

     the _Silmarillion_ came to be published and the world's reaction to it.
     A

     glaring ommission, given the detail and care with which other parts of
     the

     book are written. Though I think this leaves the biography incomplete, I

     wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the
     'creator

     of Middle Earth.'

     -- Doc

     k******d@d*****i.com

     Where IS my hidden pencil?

       • s******j@**.com
         31/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC

         In article <9605301805591.The_Win-D.*******d@d*****i.com>,

         Kevin Conod wrote:

         >An amazing, and very sad thing, about

         >Tolkien: though he was a brilliant and a prodigious writer and
         scholar, he was

         >such a perfectionist that he hardly ever finished anything! _The
         Hobbit_ and

         >_Lord of the Rings_ almost didn't make it to the bookshelves. He
         considered

         >_The Silmarillion_ his masterpiece, which was started before
         _Hobbit_ or _Lord

         >of the Rings_ and was developed as those two books were written. He
         worried

         >that he would die before it was finished, but yet wasted an
         extrodinary amount

         >of time staying up all night playing Solitare.

         I KNEW it. He was a lazy-ass GAMER! :-)

         --

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         ***@***.com ~ s*****s@a*****.***u.edu ~ s******j@**.com

         http://www.ini.cmu.edu/~sjones/

       • g*****o@l**.****t.net
         31/05/1996 00:00:000 UTC

         Kevin Conod (k******d@d*****i.com) wrote:

         : I just finished the biography of JRR Tolkien written by Humphrey
         Carpenter.

         : Really it's wonderful book. I was up past 2:00 am for a couple of
         nights

         : running because I couldn't put it down!

         Sounds interesting. When I was at Borders the other day, I found

         something unusual in the Audio Book section. It was a set of
         recording of

         JRR Tolkien and his close friends reading their favorite parts of
         his

         books. I read it quickly but I think they even have recording of
         Tolkien

         reading his poetry.

         --Glen

       • **@***.com
         15/06/1996 00:00:000 UTC

         Kevin Conod (k******d@d*****i.com) wrote:

         : I just finished the biography of JRR Tolkien written by Humphrey
         Carpenter.

         : Really it's wonderful book. I was up past 2:00 am for a couple of
         nights

         : running because I couldn't put it down!

         THIS is when you review it??

         I mean,HMCo sent me a review copy(my first) in 1977...