Una completa biografía que recoge las vivencias del creador de El Señor de los Anillos, desde su infancia como huérfano, hasta la guerra mundial y el desarrollo de su asombrosa literatura.

Very readable. I appreciated the list of reading groups Tolkien formed over the years, the real world inspiration for some characters and ideas, the bits about his wife, and some allusions to his impact on the academic world. ( )

As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day.” Wars were fought and won, infrastructure was built and fortified, and the culture of the ancient West flourished as a result. Similarly, the Middle-Earth of Tolkien’s imagination did not spring up ex nihilo from his imagination but is the culmination of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s life work. Various elements of Middle Earth had their genesis in his life experience and academic pursuits of Tolkien. In Tolkien: The Making of a Legend, noted expert on Tolkien and the Inklings, Colin Duriez, tells the story of Tolkien’s life and the events which shaped him as an author.


J.R.R. Tolkein: The Making of a Legend by Colin Duriez
Tolkien’s life story found its way into his fiction. A tarantula bite in childhood may have provided the background fpr Ungoliant or Shelob (13) . Places that were special to Tolkien provided the basis for important locations (i.e. the Shire, the two towers, the Ivy Bush all have their origin in actual locations). The love Tolkien had for his wife Edith provided the inspiration for the story of Luthien and Beren (one of the central legends of Middle Earth). His experience of warfare in World War I made him critical of the way technology was destroying modern life(a major theme in the LotR trilogy). But Tolkien’s literary vision was also enriched by his friendships and academic pursuits.

In his schooldays he and a group of literary friends formed a ‘Tea Club, later known as the TCBS (Tea Club Barrovian Society). They dreamed of later literary achievements (though several members did not survive the First World War). As an academic at Oxford, Tolkien formed the ‘Coal Biters’ a group which gathered weekly to translate and read Norse Mythology. Later, the Inkling(with C.S. Lewis and others) would meet Tuesday mornings at the Eagle and Child. The members of that group listened to, discussed and critiqued early drafts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The friendship with Lewis was mutually beneficial and while it cooled somewhat in later years, Tolkein and Lewis continued to support one another throughout their life. Tokien’s relationship with Lewis and other writers provided him the relational support he needed and helped him hone his craft as an author.

And of course Tolkien’s own genius grew up with keen interest in and talent for language. His skill at languages enabled him to create several Elvin languages. His work on the OED (after his military service) would prove to give him the proper training to create the world of Middle Earth and in later years, his academic writings mostly served to enrich his fiction.

This is an interesting biography and paints a compelling vision of its subject. Druiez shares the effect Tolkien’s reading of Beowulf had for his students. This, coupled with Tolkien’s belief in the power of story, makes me appreciate Tolkien’s fiction all the more. As one who has enjoyed Tolkien’s books (and Peter Jackson’s adaptations) I do not hesitate to recommend this book. It is a readable account of a much beloved author.

Thank you to Kregel Publications for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for this review. ( )

They say, write what you know.
But what if you happen to write about things like Orcs, Hobbits, and Elves? Do you really know this enough to write about it? In a way, yes, JRR Tolkien did write what he knew. Or, more like it, the way he saw the world. Overcoming tremendous odds, he gave us some of the best loved stories that still thrive today.

When you read this book, you're getting an intimate peek inside a complex individual that was molded by his fair share of life, death, loss, and love. Be prepared for emotional turmoil that followed him thru his life. Cheer for him when he finds his one true love, and pity him when he ultimately sets aside that love because of the wishes of another.

Not only will you meet the man behind the Hobbit, but the story of JRR Tolkien's perseverance through hardships will inspire you when you thought your hope was gone.

JRR Tolkien had a gift. He was a romantic. I know. Many a man would shudder to be labeled a romantic, but he saw life differently than most. When the regular person would see only an ordinary tower, JRR saw not a normal tower, but a different time and place with evil and good, fighting against one another and that tower, a pinnacle that holds it all in the balance.

Conjuring stories and poems on a whim, he was an immensely gifted man. A creator not only of worlds and words, but of entire languages.

But why would he desire to write such stories as The Hobbit? To reignite a love for fairy tales to a new readership.

He has succeeded in this and his stories live on and will continue to do so for generations of romantics to come. ( )

Although, I have been a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for years, I knew very little about the author behind these magical works. More has been written about J.R.R. Tolkien than by him. He has been studied by scholars and critics for generations. Tolkien is enigmatic and complex, as is his work. For those reasons and a myriad of others, I was so pleased to be introduced to this Tolkien biography by Colin Duriez. In the forward, Doriez writes, “Though my book is not intended for scholars but for ordinary readers wishing to explore the life of Tolkien and how it relates to the stories of Middle-earth, the wisdom from those (other authors) I’ve mentioned, and many others, is a necessary background (p. 9-10).”

With even a most tertiary look into the background of Colin Duriez, it becomes quite clear that as an academic, a professor, and a writer, he has made it his life’s work to study the works of Tolkien. He appears to have read nearly every work ever written by or about Tolkien, which made it all the more remarkable that he was able to condense his intensive years of study into a book for the ordinary reader.

In J.R.R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend, Duriez focuses on the lonely, orphaned boy who was fascinated with languages and fantasy. Though not antisocial by any means, he definitely lived an active life inside his head. In Duriez’s book, the reader also learns of the horrible losses and emotional toil that he endured as a soldier in WWI. His marriage to his first love, after years of separation, is endearing as is his love for his children. Despite his devotion to academia, he was a family man at heart. The land of Middle-Earth, as it turns out, is a land that Tolkien had invented early in his youth, and it was his love of languages and study of them (philology), that lead him to create this enchanted world. He shared the stories with his children and eventually developed a manuscript that he shared with his good friend and colleague, C.S.Lewis. Lewis said, “In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself, and am never more myself than when I do (p. 54).

Lewis quickly became one of Tolkien’s biggest fans and encourages him to publish his work. Like generations of fans afterward, Lewis fell in love with the Hobbit of Middle Earth and the stories that followed. It may have been Tolkien’s love of languages that led him to write these epic novels, but for most readers, it is the characters, the fantasy, the heroism, the story itself that captures the imagination.

For an introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien, a fascinating man who lead an extraordinary life both inside and outside of his head, I highly recommend this book. If you are already a Tolkien scholar, you probably won’t gain much from this particular biography. For the average reader, however, it is perfect!

In compliance with FTC guidelines, please note that I received a free review copy from Kregel Blog Tours in return for an honest review. ( )