Issue 78 J.R.R. Tolkien

Windows on the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tolkien found in all stories echoes of the greatest story of all.

An American professor spent a summer with Tolkien. He remembers the man, his faith, and his writings.

At odds with his age, he created another.

After nearly losing her to another, Tolkien adored his beloved Edith.

Without philology, Middle-earth would never have exisited. But what is philology?

Through a character named Niggle, Tolkien revealed his own creative process.

Tolkien joined these authors in countering the decadence of a dark century.

How did tolkien’s approach to writing for a secularizing world compare with those of his Christian contemporaries?

Catholicism anchored Tolkien’s life and suffused his writings.

Chronology of major events related to Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings.

The characters are mythic, but the epic sweeps across a Christian moral landscape.

Tolkien relished his weekly meetings with this club of remarkable friends.

Tolkien and Lewis made an odd couple, but the contributed profoundly to each other’s work.

His were small people surmounting impossible odds.

Scores of authors have paid Tolkien the highest homage—imitation.

Like Bilbo discovering one dwarf after another at his door, Tolkien found himself, in the 1960s, hosting a growing American fan club.

From light romps to profound reads, a bumper crop of books tells us more about the maker of Middle-earth.