#45: JRR Tolkien

Once upon a time, in the twentieth century, authors weren’t just people who wrote books. They were people who served in the trenches of World War II, spent years honing their abilities, researching and teaching, and then wrote books. JRR Tolkien was a pretty fine example of this kind of author.

I suppose that’s why his literature is quite so rich and detailed. He wasn’t just writing whatever came to the top of his head but really had a deep understanding of humanity, history, philosophy, and linguistics – which he could draw upon in order to imagine vivid worlds and put them onto the page.