J. R. R. Tolkien is a man of paradox. In everything - both in life and in literature. Therefore, this book is not an “ordinary” biography, but rather a biography of creativity against the background of time, an attempt to see a person in the cross-section of his historical era. What tasks did the author of such a biographical book about Tolkien—not a philologist, not a writer, not a journalist, but just a Russian cultural historian—set himself? Firstly, to consider Tolkien’s literary work as a whole in its now accessible completeness through the prism of his worldview is a task that is not always successfully solved by authors whose worldview is very distant from Tolkien’s. Secondly, to show Tolkien as a witness and participant in the events of his extremely turbulent era is a task for which a special solution can probably be expected from a historian. Finally, thirdly, is to explore Tolkien’s place in the history of the fantasy genre. And through the prism of his creativity, look at this story itself in the early stages, still far from the current production line.