Posted on November 8, 2018 at 12:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Those of us lucky enough to know our grandparents still often don’t fully grasp the importance of their experiences until they’re long gone.
However, if your ancestor was an acclaimed author, you have the rare luxury of examining his or her psyche through their published works.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandson Simon did just that last year, on the 125th anniversary of his birth; we're sharing this post in advance of the hundred-year anniversary of the World War I armistice (Sunday).
Tolkien fought in World War I, including the Battle of the Somme, and like many veterans, Simon wrote, Tolkien didn’t have much to say about his service.
But in re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Simon could see how those battlefields — and the ones that would follow so incredibly soon afterwards — had indelibly marked his grandfather.
Simon’s piece was posted on the BBC’s website, and if you want to learn more about Tolkien’s actual experiences, the Tolkien Society website has more detail in its biography of the author.
Categories: Today in Books