JRR Tolkien

JRR TOLKIEN
dates

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, hobbits and Middle-earth have suffered, like Milne and Pooh, Baum and Oz, from the well-meant, but not exactly academic, outpourings of their enthusiasts.
Fortunately, attempts at the Disneyfication of Tolkien's work have largely failed due to the depth, detail and intensity of his creation, and Tolkien's own academic and intellectual integrity has meant that critical analysis of his work has usually had a firm basis.

Biography and backgrounds

The Tolkien Society is a good place to start. It co-ordinates plenty of analytical activity on Tolkien, his life and work.
Similarly, the Mythopoeic Society is a literary and educational organization devoted to fantasy and mythic literature, especially Tolkien and CS Lewis.
While Graham Roger's Tolkien in Oxford is a fan site, it is well constructed, very detailed and includes specific Hobbit material. Another detailed fan site is lord-of-the-rings.org with a very detailed biography and bibliography.
For early English and medieval studies generally, try ORB, Labyrinth, NetSerf and the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.

Texts and studies

As Tolkien's works are all still in print, there are no (legal!) online versions available. However, there is plenty of support material:

The Encyclopedia of Arda is a growing online guide to the characters and names of Middle-earth
For Tolkien's languages go to the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, the Tolkien Language List (including mailing lists and discussion groups), or Ardalambion
This Hobbit site from New Zealand offers plenty of teaching ideas and fun activities.
The movies of "The Lord of the Rings" have their official site as well as an informative National Geographic support site
And, as a fan site, The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Network just about has it all.

And lastly, why not do a bit of searching. The ubiquitous Google or Alta Vista build good results from your search. Try "Tolkien" (it will bring up either John or son Christopher!) or "The Hobbit" or "Lord of the Rings" as names , as well as descriptors such as children's literature, Middle earth, mythology or "One Ring" . Combine descriptors because there are millions of sites out there!

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