“I regard him as one of my great friends”: on the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and W.H. Auden

The article makes the first attempt in Russian literary studies to present a holistic picture of the long-term relationship between two prominent English-speaking authors of the 20th century, J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). The article consistently examines the main stages of these relationship: Auden’s studies at Oxford University, where Tolkien was one of the lecturers and examiners of the poet, and the friendship that arose several decades later on the basis of a common interest of the former student and the professor in Old English poetry, as well as Auden’s deep interest in the epic novel “The Lord of the Rings” and Tolkien’s works in general. A particular attention is paid to the analysis of Tolkien’s letters to Auden, which are characterized by a confidential, friendly intonation. It is noted that these letters are an important source of information about the reasons, history and ways of writing of Tolkien’s works. The situations behind specific letters are revealed with the engagement of additional sources. The article also examines the mutual odes of W.H. Auden and J.R.R. Tolkien, which are vivid evidence of the friendly relations that existed between them. It is stated that this specific, at times uneasy friendship played a specific - for Auden, undoubtedly more, for Tolkien less - role in the biographies of these two brilliant English authors of the twentieth century. Based on the similarity of literary interests and preferences, this friendship was finally formed around such a large-scale phenomenon of world culture as Tolkien’s Legendarium.