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Tolkien, J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel)

(1892-1973), South African-born British medieval scholar, philologist, and writer of fantasies. His mother, worn out by the climate, returned in England with her two sons in 1895. His parents died very early, leaving the two boys in the hands of father Morgan, a priest in a Birmingham church. During his school age, . Tolkien's scholarly work at the University of Oxford concerned Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature. This scholarship is evident in the epic works he created about the fantasy world called Middle Earth, begun while he was still an undergraduate. He also started creating his own language at the time. He wrote The Hobbit (1937) for his children. Its sequel, the trilogy entitled The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955) ( The Fellowship of the Ring ; The Two Towers ; The Return of the King ), is an imaginative, profound tale of the conflict between good and evil forces for possession of a magical ring that bestows absolute power. The Silmarillion (1977), which presents the mythological beginnings of Middle Earth, and Unfinished Tales (1980), which contains unincorporated stories, were edited and completed by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien. Tolkien also wrote criticism and served as the Merton Professor of English at Oxford from 1945 to 1959. His books have been translated in more than 24 languages, and have sold millions of copies the world over. He died in 1973 after a short illness.