JRR Tolkien: The Man Who Created the Lord of the Rings

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Michael Coren’s relatively brief treatment of J.R.R. Tolkien is a
refreshing change from more typical biographical tomes.

Coren boldly calls his subject “the world’s best loved author.”
Certainly The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are among the best loved
books for children in English. Toward the end of the 20th century, a
poll conducted by a British newspaper revealed the unsurpassed
popularity of the Ring trilogy in Britain. Coren introduces his
biography as “the story of an ordinary man who did extraordinary
things.” I doubt that Tolkien was ever ordinary. Coren, however,
admits that this story of God, religion, happiness, suffering, and
friendship also involves genius.

In seven chapters, the biographer sketches Tolkien’s childhood, his
years at Oxford and involvement with a group there called the Inklings
that included C.S. Lewis, his teaching career, and his years of
retirement. The book includes a bibliography and a thoroughly useful
index.

Coren, the author of biographies of G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, C.S.
Lewis, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is thoroughly at home in this period
of British history—some 100 years beginning in the late 19th century.
J.R.R. Tolkien is written in refreshingly clear prose and an informal
style that moves easily and reads well. The dozen black-and-white photos
are a welcome addition.