Talk:J. R. R. Tolkien

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Featured articleJ. R. R. Tolkien is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
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Source for Tolkien's Fellowship at Pembroke[edit]

Hey all, unable to edit the page due to its semi-protected status but here is a good source for the single "citation needed" tag on this page, demonstrating that Tolkien was fellowship status at Pembroke College:

https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/news/memorial-jrr-tolkien-commissioned  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:603:5401:D6D0:58DF:4CFE:E916:B793 (talk) 23:54, 18 December 2023 (UTC)[reply] 

Memorials and Legacy[edit]

I just emancipated the memorials section from the legacy section. It seems to me that the two concepts are quite distinct and should be mentioned apart. They both are excellent sections as they stand, by the way. This should probably also be changed on a lot of other pages, but I'll try it here first to see how the discussion plays out. Smit1937 (talk) 09:03, 4 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Memorials to Tolkien[edit]

If I may make a suggestion, there is a small bust of Tolkien in the chapel at Exeter College, Oxford, and the undercroft bar sign is written in a font which is deliberately evocative of Tolkien’s Tengwar script. While small features such as these are not normally mentioned in memorials sections, especially if the person is honoured to the same extent as Tolkien, I feel as though- Exeter being his Almer Mater- these are worthy of note. 2A00:23C4:E851:C701:3939:1849:9B84:8BFD (talk) 07:17, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The bust is pictured in the article. The font's style may indeed be somewhat Tengwaroid, but I don't see any reliable sources which make that point. If one can be found, we could add a comment or footnote to the image caption, citing the source. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:20, 21 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not seeing any tengwaresque quality, myself. —Tamfang (talk) 03:10, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ancestry[edit]

I have a suggestion with the Ancestry part of the Article. Instead of "Tolkein was English, and thought of himself as so." It should be more along the lines of "Tolkein was primarily of English Descent, he also had some Prussian German Ancestry on his Paternal side" In my opinion this would fit better when it comes to describing his Ancestry and would flow better into the information about his Paternal Ancestors. Morrison1543 (talk) 20:27, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but it's far too convoluted for the context, and it's actually ambiguous about whether it's describing his view or later research, so best we don't go there. The existing statement reflects his views well enough. Chiswick Chap (talk) 00:06, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

John Ronald Philip Reuel Tolkien[edit]

I was wondering how I can add some information from Dr. Holly Ordway's article, "What’s in a Name? Tolkien and St. Philip Neri", to the page without my edit being reverted as it was before by FlightTime. FlightTime claimed on my talk page that my edit was disruptive, but even after I voiced my objection on FlightTime's talk page and got a response, I still do not see how my edit was disruptive in any way. I followed the cite web template when citing the source and I kept the page at J. R. R. Tolkien because that is the name that most people know him as. FlightTime suggested (somewhat hostilely, but I didn't mind) that I post on the talk page to the page in question. Would somebody be willing to please explain to me where exactly I went wrong with my edit and how I can add the information to the page without my edit getting reverted a second time? I look forward to and await a response.Dour1234 (talk) 20:37, 28 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Dour1234:, the Ordway article is an interesting light on Tolkien's Catholicism, and I'm glad to have been pointed to it. However, I don't see that
  • a single instance of 'Philip',
  • written in an obscure script (in 1931 nobody else could have read it, as far as I know),
  • supported by speculation about a single serif in some versions of his monogram
is enough to to mention in this article, let alone change Tolkien's name in the lede paragraph. There is no evidence he wished to be known by the name, nor did he use it in his publications or letters.
If someone were to write an article about Tolkien's Catholicism (and I think there's plenty of material to support that) then 'Philip' would be worth mentioning. -- Verbarson  talkedits 09:33, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Popular Resurgence[edit]

The lead section of the article claims that: "the great success of The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre", and links to Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien in support of this claim. The "popular resurgence" claim is problematic. Yes, there were earlier fantasy writers like Morris, Dunsany, Cabell, Eddison, etc., but at the time LOTR was published, there was not yet a cohesive fantasy tradition from which to "resurge".

I find nothing in the Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien article or indeed, in the History of fantasy article to support this "popular resurgence" claim.

I would suggest instead something along the lines of: the tremendous success of The Lord of the Rings ignited a profound interest in the fantasy genre and ultimately precipitated an avalanche of new fantasy books and authors. BehemothCat (talk) 09:11, 29 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]