John Ronald Reuel Tolkien Interview
Mr. Tolkien, I thank you for letting me interview you.
Tolkien: Oh it's my pleasure that you chose me out of the other writers during my time.
Well...I might as well get into it. For the first question... Tell me about the place and time you lived.
Tolkien: Oh it's my pleasure that you chose me out of the other writers during my time.
Well...I might as well get into it. For the first question... Tell me about the place and time you lived.
Tolkien: Well, I was born in South Africa in 1892 on the 3rd of January. During this time I had a terrifying experience with a giant hairy spider.(tolkiensociety.org) At age 3 me and my brother went to visit our grandparents in Burmingham, England. This happened in 1895, my father stayed behind in South Africa. He died there before he could come to England, and a year later we moved to north Worcestershire.(birmingham.org.uk)
In Worcestershire we lived in Sarehole, it was mostly farmland, the people there were small in imagination. While there my mother taught us and my aunt taught me science so I could enter King Edwards school. After that we moved multiple times. During all this my mother died from Diabetes in 1903 and me and my brother were orphaned.(birmingham.org.uk)
Thank you for that, I must say, I am an arachnophobe and I'm afraid of them. Seeing that spider would of given me a heart attack. Next question is what events in your early life got you interested in the arts?
Tolkien: I had linguistic gift that was the staple for an arts education. I had mastered Latin and Greek both. I then went on to "master" different modern and ancient languages, I had even created a lot of my own. During this I joined the T.C.B.S., it was a club that me and my friends from King Edwards made and we would meet after hours. This took place in my later years in school and we would meet up at the Borrow Stores and we would exchange and give criticism to each other about our literary works. (tolkiensociety.org)
Another thing that influenced me was when I moved on from King Edwards to Oxford, I had joined the Rugby team and wrote an epic poem about one match we had. I was also very active in the after school clubs, they influenced me very much. Also a major thing would be the first World War. Two of my friends had died in action, one being Geoffrey Smith who sent a letter to me before the mission he was killed on, I returned home with Trench Fever. One line from the letter was "may you say things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them".(talkingabouttolkien.com)
That's fairly sad. On that note we will move onto the next question, With the interests and talents you have today, what mentors helped you develop these?
Tolkien: A mentor... Ah, my mother would be the one who started it, she was the one who had started to teach me language, it all started with German. Another would be when I went to King Edwards. I was not a fan of the classics but my philological gifts carried me through. I was allowed to join the headmaster in his classes on the new testament in Greek. I even became close friends with him and his son, Robert Gilson.
Together we formed T.C.B.S. and that sparked it even more. We had an interest in language, Myth, legends and we were greatly interested in the Saxon Tales. People say they were an earlier form of the Inklings, We wrote, we even recited them and fell in love with words.
OK... That's actually nice how your mother was one of your mentors. Anyway, the next question for you is what was literature like when you entered it?
Tolkien: When I first wrote it was during World war one. During that time most of literature was about the war, poetry and fiction alike. I myself even wrote about that myself with The Silmarillion. During this people didn't think war as a suitable thing to write about. Most of the writers wrote about it and nothing else.
Next question. What did major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?
Tolkien: One thing that impacted my work that I mentioned before was WW1, but more along the lines of myths and even religion were what influenced me more. The hobbit was one that majorly influenced me with, well, The Hobbit and different myths like Beowulf. They both sprang from the Anglo Saxon. Another is Christian Theology, I chose different events and dates to correspond with dates and events in my books.
Other myths like the Norse myths and Finnish myths also influenced my writing. In the Finnish myths, there were Ents, they are giant talking trees. Another from Norse mythology is Hobbits interest genealogy.(tolkiengateway.com)
I like the way you worded that. The next is what were your accomplishments and methods you used in your writing?
Tolkien: Ah. Well you see, Some of my accomplishments were, well, getting as much popularity as I got with my books. During all of that I never expected the amount of popularity I got. I only wrote as a hobby as compared to my job as a teacher.
My methods actually came from the different languages. I created my own fairy languages for my books. They were derived from Gothic languages all the way to Angelo Saxon. I write in detail from my imagination. Putting pen to paper was a habit I got from childhood.(Talkingabouttolkien.com)
Brilliant, our next question is... What were key opportunities that you had that led to turning points in your life and art?
Tolkien: Well, one opportunity was going to a lodge because it was a place for orphans. This is where I mt my future wife. I was Sixteen and she was nineteen. I was forbidden to see her until I turned twenty one. When that time came, she broke off her engagement for me and we got married. Her name was Edith Bratt and there were so many things I loved about her.(birmingham.org.uk)
Key opportunities in my art was when I taught at Oxford. I created the Inklings a Group much like T.C.B.S. They were in love with language and word, I like to believe I was like a mentor. Much like the T.C.B.S. we wrote and did a lot of things like what I did during school. (birmingham.org.uk)
My next question is what roadblocks did you encounter to become an artist?
Tolkien: A major roadblock was World War one, I had to survive that, especially in the trenches. The four of us joined and only two of us survived, from T.C.B.S. Another roadblock would of been getting published, during all of what happened it is a writers nightmare trying to find someone to publish you. (talkingabouttolkien.com)
What personal stories tell about your success in the arts.
Tolkien: Well, when I was going through my life, one story is when I was able to get published for the Hobbit and the Lord Of the Rings.
How did your work impact the arts?
Tolkien: When everything happened... I learned that I influenced others to write fantasy. I inspired Christopher Paolini to write Eragon. He had wrote it sixty years after reading my books. I also inspired movies and music. Movies were made about my movies, Three movies for six books, they made the for other people to enjoy my work in a new form.
Then from the movies came the Music. The people who loved the movie can listen to the music and it created such a fan base. I honestly feel them to be lunatics, it was seen as this wonderful story when I believe that some of the work simply doesn't capture the tone of the epic.(Mentalfloss.com) I'm terribly sorry that the last bit got a little off topic.
No, it's perfectly alright. I thank you Mr. Tolkien for allowing me to interview you, with being busy as a professor and all. Although I must ask, is it true you chased a neighbor dressed as an axe wielding warrior?
Tolkien: Actually it was an Anglo-Saxon warrior, but yes I did. I would also hand shop keepers my false teeth as payment. I even went as a polar bear to a party. Students said I could turn a class room into a mead hall.
Again thank you Mr. Tolkien for going with my questions.
Tolkien: Oh you are very welcome.
Information from
http://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/59736/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-jrr-tolkien
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223202752160&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FInlineWrapper
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223104719000&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FInlineWrapper
http://www.talkingabouttolkien.com/e_tolkien1_bio.html
http://www.biography.com/people/jrr-tolkien-9508428#early-life
http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/tolkiensimpact.html
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/J.R.R._Tolkien's_inspirations/notes
In Worcestershire we lived in Sarehole, it was mostly farmland, the people there were small in imagination. While there my mother taught us and my aunt taught me science so I could enter King Edwards school. After that we moved multiple times. During all this my mother died from Diabetes in 1903 and me and my brother were orphaned.(birmingham.org.uk)
Thank you for that, I must say, I am an arachnophobe and I'm afraid of them. Seeing that spider would of given me a heart attack. Next question is what events in your early life got you interested in the arts?
Tolkien: I had linguistic gift that was the staple for an arts education. I had mastered Latin and Greek both. I then went on to "master" different modern and ancient languages, I had even created a lot of my own. During this I joined the T.C.B.S., it was a club that me and my friends from King Edwards made and we would meet after hours. This took place in my later years in school and we would meet up at the Borrow Stores and we would exchange and give criticism to each other about our literary works. (tolkiensociety.org)
Another thing that influenced me was when I moved on from King Edwards to Oxford, I had joined the Rugby team and wrote an epic poem about one match we had. I was also very active in the after school clubs, they influenced me very much. Also a major thing would be the first World War. Two of my friends had died in action, one being Geoffrey Smith who sent a letter to me before the mission he was killed on, I returned home with Trench Fever. One line from the letter was "may you say things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them".(talkingabouttolkien.com)
That's fairly sad. On that note we will move onto the next question, With the interests and talents you have today, what mentors helped you develop these?
Tolkien: A mentor... Ah, my mother would be the one who started it, she was the one who had started to teach me language, it all started with German. Another would be when I went to King Edwards. I was not a fan of the classics but my philological gifts carried me through. I was allowed to join the headmaster in his classes on the new testament in Greek. I even became close friends with him and his son, Robert Gilson.
Together we formed T.C.B.S. and that sparked it even more. We had an interest in language, Myth, legends and we were greatly interested in the Saxon Tales. People say they were an earlier form of the Inklings, We wrote, we even recited them and fell in love with words.
OK... That's actually nice how your mother was one of your mentors. Anyway, the next question for you is what was literature like when you entered it?
Tolkien: When I first wrote it was during World war one. During that time most of literature was about the war, poetry and fiction alike. I myself even wrote about that myself with The Silmarillion. During this people didn't think war as a suitable thing to write about. Most of the writers wrote about it and nothing else.
Next question. What did major cultural, economic and political situations of the time impact your work?
Tolkien: One thing that impacted my work that I mentioned before was WW1, but more along the lines of myths and even religion were what influenced me more. The hobbit was one that majorly influenced me with, well, The Hobbit and different myths like Beowulf. They both sprang from the Anglo Saxon. Another is Christian Theology, I chose different events and dates to correspond with dates and events in my books.
Other myths like the Norse myths and Finnish myths also influenced my writing. In the Finnish myths, there were Ents, they are giant talking trees. Another from Norse mythology is Hobbits interest genealogy.(tolkiengateway.com)
I like the way you worded that. The next is what were your accomplishments and methods you used in your writing?
Tolkien: Ah. Well you see, Some of my accomplishments were, well, getting as much popularity as I got with my books. During all of that I never expected the amount of popularity I got. I only wrote as a hobby as compared to my job as a teacher.
My methods actually came from the different languages. I created my own fairy languages for my books. They were derived from Gothic languages all the way to Angelo Saxon. I write in detail from my imagination. Putting pen to paper was a habit I got from childhood.(Talkingabouttolkien.com)
Brilliant, our next question is... What were key opportunities that you had that led to turning points in your life and art?
Tolkien: Well, one opportunity was going to a lodge because it was a place for orphans. This is where I mt my future wife. I was Sixteen and she was nineteen. I was forbidden to see her until I turned twenty one. When that time came, she broke off her engagement for me and we got married. Her name was Edith Bratt and there were so many things I loved about her.(birmingham.org.uk)
Key opportunities in my art was when I taught at Oxford. I created the Inklings a Group much like T.C.B.S. They were in love with language and word, I like to believe I was like a mentor. Much like the T.C.B.S. we wrote and did a lot of things like what I did during school. (birmingham.org.uk)
My next question is what roadblocks did you encounter to become an artist?
Tolkien: A major roadblock was World War one, I had to survive that, especially in the trenches. The four of us joined and only two of us survived, from T.C.B.S. Another roadblock would of been getting published, during all of what happened it is a writers nightmare trying to find someone to publish you. (talkingabouttolkien.com)
What personal stories tell about your success in the arts.
Tolkien: Well, when I was going through my life, one story is when I was able to get published for the Hobbit and the Lord Of the Rings.
How did your work impact the arts?
Tolkien: When everything happened... I learned that I influenced others to write fantasy. I inspired Christopher Paolini to write Eragon. He had wrote it sixty years after reading my books. I also inspired movies and music. Movies were made about my movies, Three movies for six books, they made the for other people to enjoy my work in a new form.
Then from the movies came the Music. The people who loved the movie can listen to the music and it created such a fan base. I honestly feel them to be lunatics, it was seen as this wonderful story when I believe that some of the work simply doesn't capture the tone of the epic.(Mentalfloss.com) I'm terribly sorry that the last bit got a little off topic.
No, it's perfectly alright. I thank you Mr. Tolkien for allowing me to interview you, with being busy as a professor and all. Although I must ask, is it true you chased a neighbor dressed as an axe wielding warrior?
Tolkien: Actually it was an Anglo-Saxon warrior, but yes I did. I would also hand shop keepers my false teeth as payment. I even went as a polar bear to a party. Students said I could turn a class room into a mead hall.
Again thank you Mr. Tolkien for going with my questions.
Tolkien: Oh you are very welcome.
Information from
http://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/59736/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-jrr-tolkien
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223202752160&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FInlineWrapper
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Lib-Central-Archives-and-Heritage%2FPageLayout&cid=1223104719000&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FInlineWrapper
http://www.talkingabouttolkien.com/e_tolkien1_bio.html
http://www.biography.com/people/jrr-tolkien-9508428#early-life
http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/tolkiensimpact.html
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/J.R.R._Tolkien's_inspirations/notes
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