Tolkien where he lives in what country. Writer John Tolkien Ronald Ruel: biography, creativity, books and reviews. Tolkien's early years, childhood and family

John Tolkien (or Tolkien) is a man whose name has forever become part of the world classics. Throughout his life, the writer wrote only a few famous literary works, but each of them became a legend in the world of fantasy. Tolkien is often called the father, the creator of this genre. The fairy-tale worlds created by other authors took Tolkien’s stencil as a basis, then based on the example they created their own stories.


Tolkien's books

Tolkien's two most popular books are and. To date, the number of copies of The Lord of the Ring has been released over 200 million. Compared to the books of modern fantasy writers, the writer’s works continue to be sold and republished with great success.

The writer's fan club was founded half a century ago and today the number of its members is only growing. Fans of the Professor (as Tolkien is called) gather for themed evenings, hold role-playing games, write apocrypha, fan fiction, communicate freely in the language of orcs, gnomes, elves, or simply love to read Tolkien’s books in a pleasant atmosphere.

The writer's novels had a colossal influence on world culture XX century. They were repeatedly filmed in films, adapted for animation, audio plays, computer games and theatrical plays.

List of Tolkien books online:


Brief biography of John Tolkien

The future writer was born in South Africa in 1892. In 1896, after the death of his father, the family moved to England. In 1904, his mother died, Tolkien and his brothers were sent to a boarding school with a close relative, a priest, in Birmingham. John received a good education in college, his specialty was the study of Germanic and Anglo-Saxon languages ​​in classical literature.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was enlisted as a lieutenant in a rifle regiment. While on the battlefield, the author did not stop writing. Due to illness he was demobilized. In 1916 he got married.

Tolkien did not give up his studies of linguistics, in 1920 he became one of the teachers at the University of Leeds, and after some time - a professor at the University of Oxford. It was during his working days that the idea of ​​the “hobbit” came to him.

The book about the short Bilbo Baggins was published in 1937. At first it was classified as children's literature, although the author himself insisted on the opposite. Tolkien drew all the illustrations for the story himself.

The first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was published in 1954. The books have become a real find for science fiction lovers. The trilogy initially received some negative reviews from critics, but audiences eventually embraced Tolkien's world.

The professor left his teaching post in 1959, having written an essay, a collection of poems, and a fairy tale." In 1971, the writer’s wife died, and two years later Tolkien died too. In their marriage they had four children.

J. R. R. Tolkien (full name- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) - English writer. He became famous for his books The Hobbit or There and Back Again and The Lord of the Rings, although he published many other works. After his death, the book “The Silmarillion” was published based on the surviving records; Subsequently, his other texts were published, and they continue to be published to this day.

The name John was traditionally given in the Tolkien family to the eldest son of the eldest son. His mother named him Ronald instead of Rosalind (she thought it would be a girl). His close relatives usually called him Ronald, and his friends and colleagues called him John or John Ronald. Ruel is the surname of a friend of Tolkien's grandfather. This name was borne by Tolkien's father, Tolkien's brother, Tolkien himself, as well as all his children and grandchildren. Tolkien himself noted that this name appears in Old Testament(in Russian tradition - Raguel). Tolkien was often referred to by his initials JRRT, especially in his later years. He liked to sign his name with a monogram of these four letters.

1891 March Mabel Suffield, Tolkien's future mother, sails from England to south africa. On April 16, Mabel Suffield and Arthur Tolkien get married in Cape Town. They go to live in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Boer Orange Republic (now part of South Africa).

1894 17 February Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, second son of Mabel and Arthur, is born in Bloemfontein.

1896 February 15 In Africa, Arthur Tolkien unexpectedly dies of illness. Mabel Tolkien and her children remain to live with their parents. In the summer, Mabel Tolkien and her children rent an apartment and live separately with the children.

1900 spring Mabel Tolkien converts to the Catholic faith (along with her children), as a result of which she quarrels with most of her relatives. In the fall, Tolkien goes to school.

1902 Father Francis Xavier Morgan, Tolkien's future guardian, becomes Mabel Tolkien's confessor.

1904 November 14 Mabel Tolkien dies of diabetes, father Francis, in her will, becomes the guardian of her children.

1908 Tolkien, sixteen, meets nineteen-year-old Edith Bratt, his future wife.

1909 Having learned about Tolkien's novel, Father Francis forbids him to communicate with Edith until he comes of age (twenty-one years old).

Tolkien achieves considerable success in the school rugby team.

1913 January 3 Tolkien comes of age and proposes to Edith Bratt. Edith breaks off her engagement to someone else and accepts Tolkien's proposal.

1914 January 8 Edith Bratt converts to the Catholic faith for Tolkien's sake. Soon the engagement takes place. On September 24, Tolkien writes the poem “The Voyage of Eärendel,” which is considered the beginning of the mythology, the development of which he subsequently devoted his whole life to.

1915 July Tolkien receives a bachelor's degree at Oxford and joins the army as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

1916 Tolkien studies to become a signalman. He is appointed battalion signalman. On March 22, Tolkien and Edith Bratt are married in Warwick.

On June 4, Tolkien leaves for London and from there to the war in France. On July 15, Tolkien (as a signalman) takes part in battle for the first time. On October 27, Tolkien falls ill with “trench fever” and is returned to England. He himself never fought again.

1917 January-February Tolkien, recovering, begins to write “The Book of Lost Tales” - the future “Silmarillion”. November 16 Tolkien's eldest son, John Francis Ruel, is born.

1920 autumn Tolkien receives a position as a lecturer in English at the University of Leeds and moves to Leeds. In October, Tolkien's second son, Michael Hilary Ruel, is born.

1924 Tolkien becomes Professor of English at Leeds. November 21 Tolkien's third and youngest son, Christopher John Ruel, is born.

1925 Tolkien is elected professor of Old English at Oxford and moves there with his family early next year.

1926 Tolkien meets and becomes friends with Clive Lewis (future famous writer).

1929 end of the year Tolkien's only daughter, Priscilla Mary Ruel, is born.

1930-33 Tolkien writes The Hobbit.

In the early 30s. An informal literary club, the Inklings, gathers around Lewis, which includes Tolkien and other people who later became famous writers.

1936 The Hobbit is accepted for publication.

1937 On September 21, The Hobbit is published by Allen & Unwin. The book is a success and publishers are asking for a sequel. Tolkien offers them The Silmarillion, but the publishers want a book about hobbits. By December 19, Tolkien is writing the first chapter of the sequel to The Hobbit - the future Lord of the Rings.

1949 autumn Tolkien finishes the main text of The Lord of the Rings. He does not want to give it to the Allen & Unwin publishing house, since they refused to print The Silmarillion, and in 1950-52 he tries to give The Lord of the Rings along with The Silmarillion to the Collins publishing house, which initially shows interest.

1952 Collins refuses to publish The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien agrees to give it to Allen & Unwin.

1954 July 29 The first volume of The Lord of the Rings is published in England. November 11 The second volume of The Lord of the Rings is published in England. Tolkien is urgently required to complete the appendices, which should be published in the third volume.

1955 October 20 In England, the third volume of The Lord of the Rings is published with appendices, but without an alphabetical index.

1959 summer Tolkien retires.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; UK, Birmingham; 01/03/1892 – 09/02/1973
Tolkien's books have had a huge influence on world literature. They have been filmed more than once different countries peace. A huge number of games, cartoons, comics and fan fiction have been created based on Tolkien’s books. The writer is rightly called the father of the modern fantasy genre and he consistently ranks high in the ranking of the most influential and popular writers of the 20th century.

Biography of Tolkien by John Ronald Ruel

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in the Republic of South Africa. His family ended up there thanks to the promotion of his father, who worked as a manager of one of the branches of an English bank. In 1894, the second child in the family was born - Hilary's brother Arthur Ruel. John Tolkien lived in the Republic of South Africa until 1896, when, due to the death of his father, the boys' mother was forced to return to England. The family's income was small and the mother, in search of consolation, became a deeply religious person. It was she who instilled in the children a love of Catholicism, taught them the basics of the Latin language, botany, and taught Tolkien to read and write at the age of 4. But when John was only twelve years old, their mother died of diabetes. Since then, the priest of the Birmingham church, Francis Morgan, took up the upbringing of the brothers.
In 1900, John Tolkien entered King Edward's School, where his considerable abilities for languages ​​were almost immediately discovered. Thanks to this, by the time he graduated from school, the boy already knew Old English and began studying four more languages. In 1911, John Tolkien visited Switzerland where, together with his comrades, he covered 12 km in the mountains. The impressions received during this journey formed the basis of his books. In October of the same year, he entered Oxford University, first to the Department of Classical Literature, but was soon transferred to the Department of English Language and Literature.
In 1913, John Tolkien announced his engagement to Edith Mary Brett, whom he had known for more than five years, but at the insistence of Francis Morgan did not communicate with whom until he came of age - 21 years old. Despite the fact that by this time Mary had already given her consent to marry another person, the engagement took place, and three years later the wedding took place. They lived together for 56 years, raising three sons and a daughter.
In 1914, the First World War began. To complete his education, Tolkien enlisted in the Military Corps. But after receiving a bachelor's degree in 1915, he was recognized as a lieutenant in the army. He served in the army until November 1916 and managed to take part in the Battle of the Somme and many other battles. He was discharged due to trench fever and was subject to bouts of illness for more than two years.
After the end of the war, John Tolkien worked as a professor at Leeds and then Oxford universities. It was at this time that he began work on his novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. The book was originally written for her children, but then it received unexpected recognition with its publication in 1937. During the Second World War, John Tolkien was asked to take up the work of a codebreaker if necessary, but his services were not in demand.
After the war in 1945, Tolkien became a professor at Oxford's Merton College, as well as an examiner at the University of Dublin. Here he worked until his retirement. At the same time, he begins work on his most famous book, The Lord of the Rings. It has been released in parts since 1954. It was a widespread success, and against the backdrop of the emerging hippie movement, it was perceived as a revelation. Tolkien's books and the writer himself became widely known, which is why he even had to change his phone number. After this, several more of Tolkien’s books were published, but many of the writer’s sketches remained sketches and were published by his son after the writer’s death. The writer's death occurred as a result of a stomach ulcer in 1973. Nevertheless, new Tolkien books are still coming out to this day. The writer’s son, Christoph Tolkien, took up the task of finalizing his father’s unfinished works. Thanks to this, the books “The Silmarillion” and “The Children of Hurin” were published. Tolkien's last book was The Fall of Gondolin, which was published in August 2018.

Tolkien's books on the Top books website

John Tolkien’s books are still popular to read today, and recently released film adaptations only fuel interest in his work. This allowed them to occupy high places in ours. And given their so-called academic nature in this genre, we predict that in the future Tolkien’s books will be read with the same enthusiasm.

J. R. R. Tolkien book list

Middle Earth:
  1. The Fellowship of the Ring
  2. Two fortresses
  3. Return of the King
  4. The Silmarillion
  5. Children of Hurin
  6. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Poems from the Scarlet Book
  7. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth

John Ronald Rael Tolkien (1892-1973)

N.B. Full version biographies, photographs, video interviews with Tolkien - see the website http://www.biodata.narod.ru

Professor of literature and English, famous for the novel “The Lord of the Rings” (1954-1955). Tolkien's book began its triumphal march in the mid-60s. Young people especially liked her. Tolkien's Oxford friend, C.S. Lewis, also gained recognition as the "fantasy" author of Narnia, a series of stories written in the fantasy style.

John Ronald Reiel Tolkien was born into a British family in the South African city of Bloemfontein. When he was three years old, his mother took him to England. At an early age he lost his father. In 1904 his mother died and young John Ronald Reyel moves with Hilary's brother to his aunt's house in Birmingham. Since 1908 he has been studying English language and literature at Oxford, receiving an honors degree in 1915. In 1908, Tolkien married Edith Bratt, whom he met back in 1908. First world war Tolkien served in the army and witnessed the events on the river. Somme. He returned to his homeland with a shell shock, during his recovery he began to study ancient languages ​​and began work on the book “The Silmarillion” (published in 1977). For the rest of his life, Tolkien occupied himself with the mythology of his fantasy world.

In 1918 he joined the group of compilers of the New English dictionary, and in 1919 received a position as a freelance lecturer at Oxford. He also worked as a lecturer at the University of Leeds. In 1925 he received a position as professor of Anglo-Saxon studies at Oxford University. In 1945 he was appointed professor at Merton College*, where he worked until 1959. His scientific works were dedicated to Chaucer (1934) and the edition of Beowulf (1937). He was interested in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, from which he drew ideas for the invented language Kuenya, and which influenced many of his stories. Most of the characters living in the fictional Middle Land are derived from heroes of English folklore and mythology or idealized Anglo-Saxon history.

In the 30s, together with K.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Tolkien created the unofficial literary association “Inklings,” which also later included Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien and Owen Barfield. They all loved to tell stories and gathered every Tuesday for lunch at the Bird and Baby pub. At these meetings, one of the Inklings would read an excerpt from his work, not necessarily fantastic, and over time such meetings became a noticeable phenomenon in cultural life Oxford. Williams died in 1945, and meetings ceased in 1949.

While The Hobbit (1937) is considered a fantasy story for children (the writer created it for his children), the epic tale The Lord of the Rings has a deeper meaning and is intended for an adult audience.

Although critics saw allusions to World War II in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien repeatedly denied all such interpretations. “The Lord of the Rings is, of course, fundamentally a religious and Catholic work, unconsciously at first, but consciously in the revised edition,” Tolkien wrote in 1953 to Robert Murray, a Jesuit priest. “This is why I should not include or should cut out virtually all references to anything like “religion,” cults, or practices in the fictional world. Because the religious component is included in the plot and symbolism.” (“The Letters of R. J. J. Tolkien”, 1981). Tolkien's Catholicism does not appear overtly in the book. On the other hand, the use of biblical language gives the book an archaic flavor. In his preface to the work, Tolkien expresses his opposition to allegory: “As for any inner meaning or “message,” it was not the intention of the author. Neither allegorical nor topical... It was written long before the foreshadowing of 1939 became a threat of imminent disaster, and from this point of view the narrative would have developed in a substantially similar way if that disaster had been averted.”

In the mid-60s, paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings became incredibly popular and the book became a cult favorite. In 1968, the Tolkiens moved to Poole, near Bournemouth, but after the death of his wife in 1971, Tolkien returned to Oxford. In 1972, the Queen awarded John Ronald Reiel Tolkien the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 2nd Class. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973.

The Hobbit was published when the author was forty-five. The history of Middle-earth was continued in The Lord of the Rings. The book was published when Tolkien was over sixty. His desire to create a new mythological world arose from his fascination with folklore and myths: “From the very beginning I was saddened by the poverty of my country: it did not have its own stories, did not have the qualities that I sought and discovered in the legends of other countries. Greek, Celtic, Roman, Germanic, Scandinavian and Finnish - but nothing English, except the contents of pathetic collections of folk art.” Another reason was his denial of modern England. He rarely watched films, focusing mainly on the Old English dialects of the West Midlands (the central counties of England) and contenting himself with the company of other professors. Tolkien also loved to draw, although he was never very good at drawing realistic figures. He admired the portraits of Frans Hals and Van Dyck, and was impressed by such Italian masters as Fra Filippo Lippi, Giotto and Botticelli. Tolkien's mother was a gifted artist and taught her son to draw and paint.

The worlds of Tolkien's epics are inhabited by elves, dwarves, magicians and evil monsters. He saw himself as a hobbit: “I love gardens, trees, farm lands devoid of traces of mechanization. I smoke a pipe, I like simple healthy food...” The writer created languages ​​for the races inhabiting his “Middle-earth”. He developed complex geographical, historical and social components as the basis for his works. But he also wanted action to move beyond this framework and for others to develop his ideas further. Since the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's admirers around the world have continued his work, forming an entire industry of computer games, fantasy literature and other related genres of creativity.

“One painting in particular haunted him. It all started with a leaf fluttering in the wind - but the leaf hung on a branch, and there a trunk appeared - and the tree began to grow and cling to the ground with fantastically bizarre roots. Strange birds flew in and sat on the branches - they should also be taken care of. And then the landscape began to unfold around the tree. The surrounding area was overgrown with forest, and mountains covered with snow could be seen in the distance. Melkin forgot to think about the rest of the paintings; and others he simply took and placed on the sides of a large picture with a tree and mountains. The result was such a huge canvas that Melkin had to get a stepladder. […]
- What is the name of this area?
The shepherd was surprised.
- Don’t you know? This is Melkin’s Country,” he said proudly.
- How? - Prikhott exclaimed. - Did you really come up with all this, Melkin? I had no idea how smart you are. Why were you silent?
- He tried to tell you for a long time, but you didn’t pay attention. Then he only had a canvas and a box of paints, and you - or someone else there, it doesn’t matter - wanted to patch the roof with this canvas. All this around is what you called “Melkin’s daub.”
“But then everything was not at all like the real thing,” Prikhott muttered.
“Yes, it was only a reflection,” said the shepherd, “but you could catch it if you wanted.”
“It’s my own fault,” Melkin intervened. “I should have explained it to you, but I myself didn’t understand what I was doing.” Oh well, it doesn't matter now... You see, I have to go. Maybe we'll meet again. Goodbye!"
R. J. J. Tolkien. “Sheet of Melkin’s work.”

Tolkien talks about how the beginning of the story “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” unexpectedly arose: “...And I remember picking up a paper and actually throwing... I nearly gave an extra mark for it, an extra five marks actually - there was one page on this particular paper left blank - glorious - nothing to read. So I scribbled on it - I can"t think why: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit.”

_____
TOLKIEN (Tolkien) John Ronald Reyel (1892-1973), English writer, philologist. The fairy tale "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" (1937). In the fairy-tale-knightly epic trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" (novels "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", both 1954, "The Return of the King", 1955; revised edition 1966) there is a pessimistic concept about the irreversible influence of evil on historical development. Monographs on J. Chaucer (1934) and Beowulf (1937), Middle English Dictionary.

LEWIS Clive Staples (1898-1963), English writer, philologist, Christian thinker and publicist. During World War I he served in France, from 1918 to 1954 at Oxford, and in 1954-63 professor of medieval studies at Cambridge. Wrote by St. 40 books, including about the work of J. Bunyan, stories in the fantasy genre. His story “Letters of Screwtape” (1942) and philosophical and religious treatises “Love”, “Suffering”, “Miracle” brought him worldwide fame, in which Lewis acted as an energetic apologist for Christianity. The series for children "The Chronicles of Narnia" was written in 1950-56.

SOMME (Somme), a river in northern France. 245 km, basin area 5.5 thousand km2. Flows into the strait. English Channel. Average water flow 45 m3/s. Navigable. Connected by canals to the Oise and Scheldt. During the 1st World War, 1.7-18.11.1916, Anglo-French troops in the north (east of Amiens) unsuccessfully tried to break through the positional defenses of the 2nd German Army; both sides lost St. 1.3 million people. On the Somme, on September 15, British troops used tanks for the first time.

Merton (College) - Merton (College) is one of the oldest colleges at Oxford University, founded in 1264.

John Tolkien (often mistakenly spelled Tolkien in Russian) is a man whose name will forever remain part of world literature. This author wrote only a few full-fledged literary works in his life, but each of them became a small brick in the foundation of an entire world - the world of fantasy. John Tolkien is often called the founder of this genre, its father and creator. Subsequently, various fairy-tale worlds were created by many writers, but it was Tolkien’s world that always acted in such cases as a kind of tracing paper, a kind of example for millions of other authors in different parts of the Earth.

Tolkien reading Namárië + Tolkien Caricatures

Our story today is dedicated to the life and work of one of the most brilliant writers of our time. To the man who created a whole world for us, in which fairy tales seem alive and real...

Tolkien's early years, childhood and family

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in January 1892 in the city of Bloemfontein, which today is part of the Republic of South Africa. His family ended up in the very south of the Dark Continent due to the promotion of his father, who was entrusted with the right to manage a representative office of one of the local banks. As noted in some sources, the mother of our today’s hero, Mabel Tolkien, arrived in South Africa when she was already seven months pregnant. Thus, the Tolkien couple’s first child was born almost immediately after the move. Subsequently, John's younger brother appeared in the family, and then a younger sister.

As a child, John was a completely ordinary child. He often played with his peers and spent a lot of time outside the home. The only memorable episode from his early childhood was an incident involving a tarantula bite. According to medical records, John Tolkien was treated by a certain doctor named Thornton. According to some researchers, it was he who later became the prototype of the wise and kind wizard Gandalf, one of the main characters in three of Tolkien’s books. In addition, the same tarantula that bit the boy in early childhood also received a unique reflection. The image of the spider was embodied in the evil spider Shelob, who attacks the heroes of Tolkien’s book in one of its episodes.

In 1896, after the death of the father of the family from a prolonged fever, the entire family of our today's hero moved back to England. Here mother Mabel Tolkien settled with her three children in the suburbs of Birmingham, where she lived until her death. This period became very difficult in the life of the family of the future writer. There was always a shortage of money, and the only joy for Mabel Tolkien and her children was literature and religion. John learned to read quite early. However, during this period, most of his table literature consisted of religious books. Subsequently, fairy tales by some English and European writers were added to them. Thus, Tolkien’s favorite works were the books “Alice in Wonderland”, “Treasure Island” and some others. It was this strange symbiosis of fairy-tale and religious literature that laid the foundations corporate identity, which was organically embodied by him in the future.

After the death of his mother in 1904, John was raised by his grandfather, a priest of the local Anglican church. It was he, according to many, who instilled in the future writer a love of philology and linguistics. With his encouragement, Tolkien entered King Edward's School, where he began to study Old English, Gothic, Welsh, Old Norse and some other languages. This knowledge was subsequently very useful to the writer in developing the languages ​​of Middle-earth.

Subsequently, for several years, John Tolkien studied at Oxford University.

Works of Tolkien - writer

After graduation, John Tolkien was drafted into the army and participated in many bloody battles as part of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Many of his friends died during the First World War and his subsequent hatred of warfare remained with Tolkien for the rest of his life.

The Story of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

John returned from the front as an invalid and subsequently earned his living exclusively by teaching. He taught at the University of Leeds and then at Oxford University. Thus, he earned the fame of one of the best philologists in the world, and subsequently also the fame of a writer.

In the twenties, Tolkien began writing his first literary work- "The Silmarillion", which consisted of short stories and contained a description of the fictional world of Middle-earth. However, work on this work was completed somewhat later. Trying to please his children, John began writing a lighter and “more fabulous” work, which soon became known as “The Hobbit or There and Back Again.”

In this book, the world of Middle-earth came to life for the first time and appeared before readers in the form of a holistic image. The book "The Hobbit" was published in 1937 and became quite successful among the British.

Despite this fact, for a long time Tolkien did not seriously think about a professional writing career. He continued to teach, and at the same time worked on the cycle of tales of the Silmarillion and the creation of the languages ​​of Middle-earth.

In the period from 1945 to 1954, he wrote exclusively small works - mainly stories and fairy tales. However, already in 1954, the book “The Fellowship of the Ring” was published, which became the first part of the famous “Lord of the Rings” series. It was followed by other parts - “The Two Towers” ​​and “The Return of the King”. The books were published in Britain and then in the USA. From that moment on, a real “Tolkien boom” began all over the world.

Tolkien's Confession, The Lord of the Rings

In the sixties, the popularity of the epic “The Lord of the Rings” became so great that it turned into one of the main trends of that time. Tea houses, restaurants, public institutions and even were named in honor of Tolkien's heroes. botanical gardens. Some time later, many prominent figures even advocated for Tolkien to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This award, however, passed him by. Although the writer’s personal collection still accumulates a lot of awards and various literary prizes.


In addition, already at that time John Tolkien sold the rights to the screen adaptation of his works. Subsequently, prominent figures in England and the United States created numerous audio plays, games, animated films, and even full-length Hollywood blockbusters based on Tolkien’s books. However, the author himself no longer found most of this. In 1971, after the death of his wife Edith Mary, the writer fell into a prolonged depression. Literally a year later, he was diagnosed with a bleeding stomach ulcer, and some time later he also had pleurisy. On September 2, 1973, Tolkien died from numerous illnesses. The great author is buried in the same grave with his wife. Many of his works (mostly short stories) were published posthumously.