J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was one of the most famous writers of the 20th century for his fantasy novels—the Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He was an English poet, well-known philologist and Professor of Anglo-Saxon and the English Language and Literature at Oxford between 1925 and 1959. He is widely believed to have caused the resurgence in fantasy literature in the second half of the 20th century.

Tolkien grew up with an interest in nature, fantasy and languages and read widely. He also started to write poetry, a practice that would continue throughout his life. When he returned from fighting in World War II, he started to write the Book of Lost Tales, some of the fragments of which are contained in The Shaping of Middle Earth.

Tolkien's first job after World War I was with the Oxford English Dictionary...