Tolkien family Tolkien family The Tolkien family is an English family whose best-known member is J. R. R. Tolkien, Oxford academic and author of the fantasy books "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion". According to J. R. R. Tolkien, the family emigrated from Lower Saxony in Germany to England in the 18th century. The Tolkien name, with different spellings, is also still found in Germany. The name was possibly derived from the village of Tolkynen near Rastenburg, East Prussia (now in Poland and known as Tołkiny). John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973)
Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien was still a subject of debate in 2015. Richard C. West compiled "Tolkien Criticism: An Annotated Checklist" in 1981. The pace of scholarly publications on Tolkien increased dramatically in the early 2000s. The dedicated journal "Tolkien Studies" has been appearing since 2004. The open-access "Journal of Tolkien Research" has been published since 2014. A bibliographic database of Tolkien criticism is maintained at Wheaton College. Earlier reactions could be very negative. The editor and publisher Edmund Wilson made harsh comments about Tolkien's work, which he referred to as "juvenile trash", saying "Dr. Tolkien has little skill at narrative and no instinct