J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth [Hardcover]

Daniel Grotta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 1996

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of this century's most beloved and enigmatic writers, yet surprisingly little is known about the personal life of the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. After a traumatic childhood, Tolkien experienced the bloody trenches of World War I, then lived most of his life as an Oxford scholar in a cloistered academic community. Grotta examines how much of Tolkien's personal experience fired his incredible imagination and led to the creation of Middle Earth and its inhabitants.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Grotta is a journalist and critic living in Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Courage Books (August 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561386367
• ISBN-13: 978-1561386369
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,832,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Grotta is a writer, author, and journalist who has written literally thousands of articles, columns and reviews for a wide variety of prominent magazines and newspapers, as well as authored numerous books, including the first biography of J.R.R. Tolkien. Grotta has been a photojournalist, war correspondent, relief worker, investigative reporter, features writer, book critic, book editor, classical music reviewer, travel journalist, and technology writer. He has lived in, been on assignment or traveled through over 100 countries and islands. Grotta's varied life experiences and the many different kinds of people he has known along the way flavor and energize both his fiction and non-fiction. When he was a Contributing Editor at Philadelphia Magazine, he was told by a manager at Reading for the Blind that his articles were the most requested, because of the aural quality of his narrative prose. Grotta is a member of The Overseas Press Club, The Authors Guild, and the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Much of Grotta's non-fiction is co-authored with his wife Sally Wiener Grotta. Though their fiction is authored separately, they have created the village of Black Bear, Pennsylvania as a literary folie à deux. Both Daniel and Sally are dipping into the same pool of invented locale and characters to write a series of separate stories and novels that will, eventually, paint a full picture of the diversity of life and relationships in a small mountain village.

Daniel Grotta may be reached via the email link at www.Grotta.net, or at www.Facebook.com/DanielGrotta and www.Facebook.com/PixelHallPress.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No stars would have been more appropriate. . ., November 1, 2000

By 

David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth (Hardcover)

This is a work of minimal value, written by someone who seems to have an axe to grind.

The book left me with two impressions. The first impression is that the author did not really have anything new to contribute to an understanding of the life of Tolkien, instead relying on humorous anecdotes, rehashing of Tolkien's relationship with CS Lewis, and materials found elsewhere. The second impression is that the author bears a serious grudge against the Tolkien family for not permitting the access to family papers that was accorded to the authorized biographer, Humphrey Carpenter. This grudge is manifested in snide asides about Tolkien's literary executors. Finally, I must criticize the author for his excursus into the politics surrounding the Nigerian civil war. What this has to do with Tolkien is unclear at best.

Money is far better spent on Humphrey Carpenter's biography, and his edition of letters (especially the letters). It is in the letters where the spirit and genius of Tolkien best comes through.

Give this volume a miss.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Grotta should have read Tolkien on Tolkien., January 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth (Hardcover)

I must say that as a college student I would like to have my 15 dollars returned to me from the purchase of this book. Although there are some interesting "facts" in this book, it is largely not credible. I believe Grotta used questionable resources in compiling this biography which Tolkien himself refutes in many of his letters. i.e. Grotta writes of Tolkien's garage work shop on Sandfield Rd., which in "The Letters of..." Tolkien himself states that he "...had never written any literary matter in it..." and that the room was only used by his secretary. Grotta was clearly perturbed at his lack of "access" and seemed to want to portray one of the most prolific writers in history as a "lazy" individual. Obviously Grotta has never balanced a teaching post at Oxford, an ill wife, several children, along with creating one of the most fully imagined "secondary worlds" ever created. Hats of to all things Middle Earth and Grotta back to the drawing board.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A nominal effort by someone with an axe to grind., September 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth (Hardcover)

This book left me with two impressions. The first impression is that the author did not really have anything new to contribute to an understanding of the life of Tolkien, instead relying on humorous anecdotes, rehashing of Tolkien's relationship with CS Lewis, and materials found elsewhere. The second impression is that the author bears a serious grudge against the Tolkien family for not permitting the access to family papers that was accorded to the authorized biographer, Humphrey Carpenter. This grudge is manifested in snide asides about Tolkien's literary executors. Finally, I must criticize the author for his excursus into the politics surrounding the Nigerian civil war. What this has to do with Tolkien is unclear at best.

Money is far better spent on Humphrey Carpenter's biography, and his edition of letters (especially the letters). It is in the letters where the spirit and genius of Tolkien best comes through.