The T.C.B.S
But much happened before the ever-after. Tolkien, after one failed attempt, was admitted to Oxford university. Here he received further education, connection with important people of his future – and his calling. Indeed, this is where all of Tolkien’s works of Arda were born and inspired. These works began with four letters and four faces.
The four letters were “T.C.B.S.” This stood for “Tea Club, Barrovian Society”, and was a club of which Tolkien was a key member in his time at Oxford. Beginning in a cubby in the library, where the members drank tea and discussed literature, it soon entered a cubby in a tearoom in a shop called Barrow’s Stores. Meeting at a secluded table (which was called the Railway Carriage), they, again, drank tea and discussed literature. The T.C.B.S. was Tolkien’s predecessor of the famous Inklings of C.S. Lewis.
The four faces were three of his friends’ and his own. Christopher Wiseman, whom Tolkien had befriended in the Fifth Class at King Edwards, was a member of the T.C.B.S. from the beginning, as was Robert Quilter “R. Q.” Gilson. The fourth face, that of Geoffrey Bache Smith (or “G. B. S.”), was not a founding member, but became a regular one. These four became close friends. Christopher would become the namesake of Tolkien’s eldest son.
R. Q. Gilson had inherited from his father, the headmaster, a mind inclined toward invention, and spent his creativity upon drawing and design. Unlike the others, R. Q. was an admirer of the art of the Renaissance and of the 18th Century. G. B. Smith was uniquely a fan of modern literature. Accepted also because of his wit, his apparent luster may have come from the fact that he was very well versed in English literature, especially poetry. This was an attribute that few in the school (and none in the T.C.B.S.) possessed.
G. B. Smith also was a practicing poet, and this was influential to Tolkien’s growth as a writer. The T.C.B.S. in general was strikingly influential in his life. He wrote about it, “I have always laid that to the credit of the inspiration that even a few hours with the four brought to us."
Tolkien's Calling
But there is one way in which this group immensely influenced Tolkien. World War 1 took the four to the frontlines – and took two of them to the grave. R. Q. Gilson died leading his men into action at La Boisselle, and G. B. Smith followed him through shell injuries and gas-gangrene. But Smith was given time to write Tolkien and Christopher Wiseman before he died. Tolkien felt that the T.C.B.S had ended, but Smith disagreed. He said when R. Q. died that “the T.C.B.S is not finished and never will be." And, when he felt it was his turn to surrender, he wrote, in a letter to Tolkien:
"My chief consolation is that if I am scuppered tonight – I am off on duty in a few minutes – there will still be left a member of the great T.C.B.S. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four! A discovery I am going to communicate to Rob before I go off to-night. And do you write it also to Christopher. May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them, if such be my lot."
“May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them.” Both God and John Ronald answered Geoffrey Bache Smith in the affirmative.
England's Mythology
Tolkien and others of the T.C.B.S had dreamed of the creation of a mythology for England, which, they argued, had none. G. B. Smith had not had time to do so – but this time, to Tolkien, was given. Tolkien began work on what he felt was his calling when trench fever brought him home from the front lines (Tolkien had received the sickness in France after fighting in the Somme). While he began to convalesce, he took to the pen and began writing what would become The Silmarillion. It sprung from the story of a mortal man, Beren, and an immortal elf-maiden, Lúthien. Together, they go on a quest to recover the invaluable Silmarils from the servants of Melkor, the enemy of Iluvatar and the source of evil in Arda. But this would become but one of many tales of Arda. And the creation of these tales is perhaps the most extraordinary tale in Tolkien’s life. Let us dive in.
Middle Earth was born on the 24th of September in a dark room in Oxford, where Tolkien drafted a poem called The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star to satisfy his languages’ needs. He felt that his created languages required a history to accompany them, and this poem gave context to Quenya, a language largely based on Finnish, that became the language of the High Elves, creatures whom Earendel, a “star-mariner,” discovers as he travels the world. Although little of this idea was used in his later mythology, Tolkien had begun. And never would he quit.
Throughout 1914 he wrote several pieces, including The Story of Kullervo and The Horns of Ylmir. 1915 brought A Song of Aryador, Kôr, You and Me and the Cottage of the Lost Play, Kortirion among the Trees, and Goblin Feet. Among these, only Goblin Feet is remembered, although Tolkien himself later despised it and its gnomish fairytale elements. Many writings would follow these in the following years, but none are more notable than the few which made him famous.
The Hobbit
Perhaps the reader’s mind is screaming “The Lord of the Rings!” or “The Trilogy!” However, we must begin with the novel The Hobbit. Maybe the reader has also heard it said that The Hobbit was written after The Lord of the Rings. That is Star Wars, not The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was written first and The Lord of the Rings as a sequel.
Tolkien began work on The Hobbit in the summer of 1930, when the line “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit” appeared on the back of an exam paper; but the story itself began as an oral narrative for Tolkien’s children. The narrative was scattered, but it amused those whom it was meant to amuse and thus served its purposes. But perhaps Tolkien felt it deserved a larger audience. Certainly when friends read it they felt the same way. On September 21, 1937, Allen and Unwin published The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. It had taken Tolkien seven years to complete it for publication, but it had been done, and the result was widely accepted and praised.
C.S. Lewis, whom Tolkien had befriended, was among the many who enthusiastically made known their admiration for it. He said of it, “All who love that kind of children’s book which can be read and re-read by adults should take note that a new star has appeared in this constellation. To the trained eye some characters will seem almost mythopoeic.”
The first edition was sold out before Christmas. The Hobbit was indeed a bestseller. And naturally it would begin to travel overseas. Before 1984 it had been translated into Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Brazil, Spanish (Argentina), Japanese, Danish, French, Czech, Finnish, Italian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Serbo-Croat, Hungarian, Hebrew, Russian, Estonian, Indonesian, Greek, Icelandic, and Spanish. But the first country outside of Great Britain to receive the novel was America.
The process was, however, messy. In America, there was the threat of an unauthorized publication. When this was sorted out and an authorized paperback was published by Ballantine Books, the cover it was given did not even reminisce of the book. It pictured a hill, two emus, and a treeish design with pink bulbs. The artist had not had the time to read the book. When Tolkien exploded with questions, the publishers responded that the bulbs were meant to imply a Christmas tree. Tolkien replied, “I begin to feel that I am shut up in a madhouse." Despite the various issues, The Hobbit was able to prosper in the United States as well.
The New Hobbit
After the cry of joy had left their lips, people began to shout for more, like hatchlings in a nest. Tolkien did not enjoy being the parent “required” to feed, but would not shy away from the task now appointed him. Publishers and public wanted “the new Hobbit”. And so Tolkien began.
But much happened before the ever-after. Tolkien, after one failed attempt, was admitted to Oxford university. Here he received further education, connection with important people of his future – and his calling. Indeed, this is where all of Tolkien’s works of Arda were born and inspired. These works began with four letters and four faces.
The four letters were “T.C.B.S.” This stood for “Tea Club, Barrovian Society”, and was a club of which Tolkien was a key member in his time at Oxford. Beginning in a cubby in the library, where the members drank tea and discussed literature, it soon entered a cubby in a tearoom in a shop called Barrow’s Stores. Meeting at a secluded table (which was called the Railway Carriage), they, again, drank tea and discussed literature. The T.C.B.S. was Tolkien’s predecessor of the famous Inklings of C.S. Lewis.
The four faces were three of his friends’ and his own. Christopher Wiseman, whom Tolkien had befriended in the Fifth Class at King Edwards, was a member of the T.C.B.S. from the beginning, as was Robert Quilter “R. Q.” Gilson. The fourth face, that of Geoffrey Bache Smith (or “G. B. S.”), was not a founding member, but became a regular one. These four became close friends. Christopher would become the namesake of Tolkien’s eldest son.
R. Q. Gilson had inherited from his father, the headmaster, a mind inclined toward invention, and spent his creativity upon drawing and design. Unlike the others, R. Q. was an admirer of the art of the Renaissance and of the 18th Century. G. B. Smith was uniquely a fan of modern literature. Accepted also because of his wit, his apparent luster may have come from the fact that he was very well versed in English literature, especially poetry. This was an attribute that few in the school (and none in the T.C.B.S.) possessed.
G. B. Smith also was a practicing poet, and this was influential to Tolkien’s growth as a writer. The T.C.B.S. in general was strikingly influential in his life. He wrote about it, “I have always laid that to the credit of the inspiration that even a few hours with the four brought to us."
Tolkien's Calling
But there is one way in which this group immensely influenced Tolkien. World War 1 took the four to the frontlines – and took two of them to the grave. R. Q. Gilson died leading his men into action at La Boisselle, and G. B. Smith followed him through shell injuries and gas-gangrene. But Smith was given time to write Tolkien and Christopher Wiseman before he died. Tolkien felt that the T.C.B.S had ended, but Smith disagreed. He said when R. Q. died that “the T.C.B.S is not finished and never will be." And, when he felt it was his turn to surrender, he wrote, in a letter to Tolkien:
"My chief consolation is that if I am scuppered tonight – I am off on duty in a few minutes – there will still be left a member of the great T.C.B.S. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four! A discovery I am going to communicate to Rob before I go off to-night. And do you write it also to Christopher. May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them, if such be my lot."
“May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them.” Both God and John Ronald answered Geoffrey Bache Smith in the affirmative.
England's Mythology
Tolkien and others of the T.C.B.S had dreamed of the creation of a mythology for England, which, they argued, had none. G. B. Smith had not had time to do so – but this time, to Tolkien, was given. Tolkien began work on what he felt was his calling when trench fever brought him home from the front lines (Tolkien had received the sickness in France after fighting in the Somme). While he began to convalesce, he took to the pen and began writing what would become The Silmarillion. It sprung from the story of a mortal man, Beren, and an immortal elf-maiden, Lúthien. Together, they go on a quest to recover the invaluable Silmarils from the servants of Melkor, the enemy of Iluvatar and the source of evil in Arda. But this would become but one of many tales of Arda. And the creation of these tales is perhaps the most extraordinary tale in Tolkien’s life. Let us dive in.
Middle Earth was born on the 24th of September in a dark room in Oxford, where Tolkien drafted a poem called The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star to satisfy his languages’ needs. He felt that his created languages required a history to accompany them, and this poem gave context to Quenya, a language largely based on Finnish, that became the language of the High Elves, creatures whom Earendel, a “star-mariner,” discovers as he travels the world. Although little of this idea was used in his later mythology, Tolkien had begun. And never would he quit.
Throughout 1914 he wrote several pieces, including The Story of Kullervo and The Horns of Ylmir. 1915 brought A Song of Aryador, Kôr, You and Me and the Cottage of the Lost Play, Kortirion among the Trees, and Goblin Feet. Among these, only Goblin Feet is remembered, although Tolkien himself later despised it and its gnomish fairytale elements. Many writings would follow these in the following years, but none are more notable than the few which made him famous.
The Hobbit
Perhaps the reader’s mind is screaming “The Lord of the Rings!” or “The Trilogy!” However, we must begin with the novel The Hobbit. Maybe the reader has also heard it said that The Hobbit was written after The Lord of the Rings. That is Star Wars, not The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was written first and The Lord of the Rings as a sequel.
Tolkien began work on The Hobbit in the summer of 1930, when the line “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit” appeared on the back of an exam paper; but the story itself began as an oral narrative for Tolkien’s children. The narrative was scattered, but it amused those whom it was meant to amuse and thus served its purposes. But perhaps Tolkien felt it deserved a larger audience. Certainly when friends read it they felt the same way. On September 21, 1937, Allen and Unwin published The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. It had taken Tolkien seven years to complete it for publication, but it had been done, and the result was widely accepted and praised.
C.S. Lewis, whom Tolkien had befriended, was among the many who enthusiastically made known their admiration for it. He said of it, “All who love that kind of children’s book which can be read and re-read by adults should take note that a new star has appeared in this constellation. To the trained eye some characters will seem almost mythopoeic.”
The first edition was sold out before Christmas. The Hobbit was indeed a bestseller. And naturally it would begin to travel overseas. Before 1984 it had been translated into Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Brazil, Spanish (Argentina), Japanese, Danish, French, Czech, Finnish, Italian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Serbo-Croat, Hungarian, Hebrew, Russian, Estonian, Indonesian, Greek, Icelandic, and Spanish. But the first country outside of Great Britain to receive the novel was America.
The process was, however, messy. In America, there was the threat of an unauthorized publication. When this was sorted out and an authorized paperback was published by Ballantine Books, the cover it was given did not even reminisce of the book. It pictured a hill, two emus, and a treeish design with pink bulbs. The artist had not had the time to read the book. When Tolkien exploded with questions, the publishers responded that the bulbs were meant to imply a Christmas tree. Tolkien replied, “I begin to feel that I am shut up in a madhouse." Despite the various issues, The Hobbit was able to prosper in the United States as well.
The New Hobbit
After the cry of joy had left their lips, people began to shout for more, like hatchlings in a nest. Tolkien did not enjoy being the parent “required” to feed, but would not shy away from the task now appointed him. Publishers and public wanted “the new Hobbit”. And so Tolkien began.