John 3:16 – Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America; protect our president and Military!
Tow authors came to mind almost as quick on reading today’s prompt. So, I will expound on both and let you decide between the two. Then you could share one or two of your own and why?
First and foremost, Charles Dickens. As a self-published author of two Christmas works, (Chance Encounter with a most unusual acquaintance and A Glimpse from Christmas Past) his stories especially, A Christmas Carol had and still has a great influence on everything I love about the Holiday Season and Christmas Spirit or should I say spirits!
Secondly and almost on an equal plane would be, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (a.k.a. J. R.R. Tolkien). His life and literary works inspire everything I love about Sci-Fi Fantasy and character development. However, and more importantly his life in developing that story and host of characters in works such as the, Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Those of you who may not know that he was an officer in the British Army during WWI ( a.k.a “The Great War”) as it was known then as nobody thought the world would ever be crazy enough to do it again, especially with the Germans. Well history would prove a generation later that they were all mistaken!
He fought in the trenches of France where flame throwers, and mustard gas besides the norm in the horrors of war were used. It was why in 1925 The Geneva Protocol was signed on June 17, 1928. The rule banned the use of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases and bacteriological methods in war. Though to this day it did not stop countries from making, storing or testing chemical weapons. Pretty scary historical knowledge if you ask me.
J.R.R. Tolkien famously suffered from trench fever, a painful, lice-borne bacterial infection that he contracted while fighting in the trenches of France during WWI. The debilitating illness caused severe fevers, Headaches, and leg pains leading to recurring relapses that required long periods of hospitalization. It was due to this warfare that Tolkien developed the idea of orcs, goblins, dwarfs, elves, and men fighting in a battle to save Middle-earth
Academic Career:
University of Leeds – English Reader from (1920-1925) and attained Professor in 1924
University of Oxford -Anglo-Saxon (1925-1945): Served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College.
University of Oxford – English Literature (1945-1959): He served as the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature and a Fellow of Meron College until his retirement.
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