Tolkien and the Great War Paperback – September 3, 2004

If I could say anything to this author, I would say, "Thank you!." I now feel that I am closer to understanding Tolkien by knowing as much as can be learnt from the available information regarding his wartime experiences. (I now even think of him as "former-Lieutenant [or "Left-tenant"] Tolkien".)It would also be interesting to know more about Tolkien's feelings regarding his medevac and recuperation. Was he simply relieved, or - after he recovered from the inevitable exhaustion and sickness - did he feel guilt toward those who stayed behind in the combat zone? He didn't attend reunions of his unit. Why? How was he remembered by the surviving officers?I am a wounded combat veteran myself, and I understand - because I share this experience - that it is often haunting, and memories of it are unhappy and unsettling, not something that one welcomes, but one cannot choose one's dreams. THINGS DON'T GO WELL IN COMBAT, and honest, objective memories of it are difficult. All pre-mission planning is optimistic and inadequate, and the consequences are always frustrating (weather, the enemy, unforeseen circumstances, and coordination w/ other units). Memories of the myriad mistakes can only conjure up regrets! The emotions of an officer who has been medevac'd out of combat are difficult to describe to civilians. I share this experience w/ Lieutenant Tolkien. Objectively, he and I each "did our bit", and yet combat is never ideal, and officers will continually reassess performance, always far more critically than anyone else would, and the inevitable result is guilt.There is this feeling: "I clearly couldn't take it (I was medevac'd out, after all!), and the others could, and did withstand combat; therefore, they MUST feel that I am of lesser caliber than they. I should now avoid attempting to contact them to avoid being shamed."A nuance worth considering is that he may have dwelt upon the distinction between more and less credible or worthy categories of "casualty." To an officer from this time period on, the word "casualty" has five aspects: killed (KIA), wounded (WIA), injured, missing (MIA), and captured (POW). Notice that there is no established abbreviation for the injured. Memorials dwell upon the KIA. The WIA are immediately seen by civilians: hospitalized, bandaged, or limping. The injured can be mistaken for the WIA, and are often embarrassed by the Pubic's assumption. The British Army instituted a "wound stripe" on field uniforms in 1916, at the time of the Somme, hence it was effective at the time of LT Tolkien's medevac. Absence of this sewn-on ribbon may have implied, at least to the guilt-sensitized mind, that a medevaced soldier w/o the ribbon was somehow less creditable, less justified. Tolkien was medevaced for sickness, not a wound. He was not eligible for the "wound stripe." Did he feel additional guilt as a result? We don't know, but he most likely did.Is this why he did not attend reunions of his unit? If so, then I can share, from my own experience as a wounded combat officer, that it is actually a quite common decision by medevac'd officers to become "shy" of reunions. I've done the same. I was wounded, and received the Purple Heart (the American equivalent of the British "wound stripe"). I've frequently discussed this guilt of having been wounded and medevac'd out of combat w/ other wounded officers and enlisted, leaving our buddies behind in the fight, and many of us feel this way. You see, you don't volunteer to be medevac'd out; you are ORDERED out, and are most likely "out of it" (in pain and on medications) at the time. Even though you didn't choose to leave your buddies still in the fight, you (unreasonably) suspect that they may think you a "shirker." And NOTHING is worse than being considered a "shirker."Clearly, the greatest contribution of this author's work is the invitation to Tolkien's fan-base for a new-found interest in the impact of the loss of half of the TCBS upon Tolkien - and the fact that these were the other two land-serving WWI officers (LTs Smith and Gilson) of the small group, besides Tolkien himself (the fourth was Royal Navy). It's worth noting that Tolkien had surprisingly little to do w/ the RN-veteran former TCBS member (LT Wiseman) after the Great War. Why? We can speculate.Firstly, the land and sea wars were worlds different. RN officers lived a much cleaner, healthier existence. In combat, a Jutland-era ship largely either detonated w/ no survivors, or survived, w/ no or little damage; few took substantial damage, and even these did not tend to suffer proportional casualties (at least among RN officers). But the land war was very, very different: it was a filthy, degrading existence. This vast distinction was quite well known by land-serving officers; certainly Lieutenant Tolkien was well aware, and may have shared the common resentment?Secondly, to a very large extent the RN fought only one large engagement in the North Sea: Jutland, in latest May-earliest June 1916. Otherwise, large surface combatants rode at anchor or cruised, and assigned Lieutenants suffered relatively little risk. In contrast, land-serving officers faced almost continual risk, and this circumstance (I speak from experience) is itself conducive to debilitating stress, then and thereafter. Tolkien's only RN-serving former TCBS comrade thus faced neither the privation nor the continual risk that he and his other two land-serving former TCBS comrades (LTs Smith and Gilson) did, and Lieutenant Tolkien was the only survivor of these three. It is only reasonable that he would have later felt distant from his RN-serving former TCBS comrade (Lt Wiseman). Likely, though, he never expressed any such resentment; it was "not done" in the unspoken code of officer veterans.Tolkien was a member of several well-knit academic/social all-male groups, including the aforementioned TCBS and much later the Inklings and Coalbiters. When he entered such groupings after WWI, he did so after this poignant TCBS experience. That had to have affected his Inklings, Coalbiters, and any other all-male friend-group, experiences. After the dissolution of the TCBS, he may have felt that he carried w/ him an obligation to literarily produce not for one only, but for the absent two TCBS members as well. And it may have also made him more reserved and hesitant in his friendships. I understand! You "invest" in such friendships, and when such friends are suddenly ripped away and obliterated in war, your subconscious adapts to this by causing hesitancy in establishing later close friendships. This can cause combat veterans to seem "distant" and either cold or unapproachable.I feel far closer emotionally to Tolkien now; he was a fellow medevac'ed combat officer.This author did all of us a great service, didn't he?

This one definitely checked all the boxes, for a very researched biography. This answers a lot of questions about the forming of the Ring series and middle Earth. From beginning to end this was a very well-researched and detailed novel. It keeps the reader's interest all the way thru, with some very anecdotes and side stories. The author had a very concise pattern to the writing and format of this narrative.

John Garth’s account of Tolkien’s wartime experiences makes for one of the best books about Tolkien, and the Inklings in general, yet written.The book brought me closer to Tolkien than any I have previously read. One reason is that the book tackles a relatively short period of time in close up – the period between Tolkien’s final years as a schoolboy in Birmingham and his miraculous escape, just a few short years later, from almost certain death in the horror of the trenches. Yet these are years packed with incident and filled with tragedy, and John Garth amasses a huge amount of detail – from letters and records from fellow T.C.B.S. members and other soldiers where Tolkien himself is silent – to offer a narrative that allows us to follow Tolkien and his closest friends, virtually every step of the way, as they arrive in France and take part in some of the most devastating battles in modern history, battles that clearly left an indelible impression on Tolkien’s imagination. It is a gripping and very moving story, and Garth puts you at ground level. I couldn’t put the book down.This is a book that will appeal to several different kinds of reader. First of all, anyone who is interested in the First World War will find it worth their while, even if they have no particular interest in Tolkien, because it gives an account not just of Tolkien’s war time experiences but also that of his friends (this is the story not of Tolkien alone but of his fellowship from Birmingham, the Tea Club Barrovian Society of G.B. Smith, Robert Gilson and Christopher Wiseman). Also, anyone interested in writing and the development of a great writer’s imagination will get something out of this – it is in the Somme, Garth demonstrates, that Tolkien begins to find his voice as a writer and where the seeds of his mythology are sown, even if he will not actually write much of it down until he is convalescent in Britain. Finally, of course, it will be of interest to the Tolkien fan interested in how Middle-earth began to take shape and how the trauma of the war impacted his writing.I was a little apprehensive that I’d get bogged down in the details of either the war or Tolkien’s legendarium (I am a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but have only read The Silmarillion once, several years ago). Thankfully John Garth does a superb job of explaining what everything means, or how things fit in the wider picture, right down to the meaning and relevance of particular poems and mythic materials, and the geography, strategy (if any such can be discerned in the pointless slaughter of the Somme) and outcome of particular battles. No doubt if you know about World War I or know Middle-earth inside out you will get even more out of the book but it is not necessary as Garth makes everything accessible.This is certainly a scholarly book in the sense that it is extremely well-researched and includes a large amount of contextual detail. But it is definitely for the serious general reader as well - it is a gripping and extremely moving account told with great skill and clarity. A great book – so good, in fact, that it would seem to be the last word on this aspect of Tolkien’s life; I can’t imagine anyone even trying to tackle the same subject again. I read it in two days straight and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

This is very likely my favourite biography of Tolkien. As the title suggests it primarily focuses on Tolkien's experiences during WW1, the loss of his closest friends and the impact of that on his writing.In places this book moved me to tears. We know from the Preface to LOTR that by the end of the war all but one of Tolkien's closest friends were dead. As the Great War grinds inexorably on, we know that the deaths of these friends are approaching. But to read about each one, to see the final words that they wrote to Tolkien and his reaction is truly heartbreaking. I feel that not only is this a biography of Tolkien but is also a memorial to the friends that Tolkien lost.“My chief consolation is that if I am scuppered tonight there will still be left a member [of our School group] to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. For the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve [the group]. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four! May God bless you my dear John Ronald and may you say things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them if such be my lot." - Geoffrey Bache Smith

Delivery was prompt and the book in very good condition. The book is an excellent and detailed insight into the early years of Tolkien and the exploration into the origins of his most famous and wonderful works. Highly recommended for all Tolkien lovers. Thank you!

Bought after I watched the film that came out recently! An easy read and it filled in some gaps for me well’ Recommended.

Great book really interested in his three friends and how they fought and unfortunately died and how it effected Tolkien and his writing.

I bought this wehn researching a talk on WW1 and literature. It was a great find. I recommend it.