Summary of John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 Tolkien had a very different childhood from what he would have had if he had been a healthier child. He was born in 1892 in Bloemfontein, one of the two Boer republics that had won independence from British rule in South Africa. His father died from rheumatic fever in 1896, and his mother took the boys back to England.

#2 Tolkien had a flair for calligraphy, which he had inherited from his mother. He learned to read by the age of four, and began to absorb the children’s books that were popular at the time. He especially yearned for tales of dragons.

#3 Tolkien had a keen sensitivity towards the sounds of different languages, and he enjoyed reading and reciting them. He showed unusual linguistic propensities, and he was drawn to the fluidity of Greek punctuated by hardness.

#4 Tolkien’s interest in philology, the study of language, was sparked at school. He invented languages and spent his spare time studying them. He was effusive about philology, and he rarely discussed his private lang. with anyone else.