Much as I enjoy his writing (I read The Lord of the Rings once a year), I've always assumed Tolkien was a bit of a stuffy wanker. But if he was (and I don't think that anymore), then his letters have convinced me that he was a very likeable stuffy wanker.

As I read the letters, picking up that sort of one-sided friendship one gets as one reads another's writing, I started to feel a bit of dread, which at times approached something like real horror. You read his letters, in order, following him from 22 to 81 years old, and of course you know he's going to die, and all his complaints of pain and illness take on a grim aspect, and his wishes to publish The Silmarillion in his lifetime take on a hopeless aspect, and then the final letter — which is all too ordinary — is over, and then you feel something like the shock that comes with the unexpected news of the death of someone you know, whom you saw only just the other day, and who seemed perfectly healthy.

When I first read Lord of the Rings, I was uncomfortable with Frodo's change of heart at mount Doom. In one of the letters in this book, Tolkien explains that it was no more Frodo's moral fault than if a rock had fallen on him. It was simply too great a weight for any mortal to bear for too long.
There are lots of insights like that. How did he reconcile the gods of his mythology with his Catholicism? Where did the Ents come from? What was he trying to do with those (very different from folklore) elves? How did he feel about the various adaptations and illustrations and fan clubs? What did he talk about with his sons? What did he think of C.S. Lewis? How did he feel about World War II?
I wrote a note about his references to Samuel Butler here. Despite all that dislike of technology, I think he would have traded his car for a word processor-- he wishes for a typewriter with Sindarin script at one point!

Great insight into Tolkien's personal life. I must say, this is only enjoyable for the hardcore Tolkien fan. The letters can be quite boring and personal, so if you're really into knowing little details about his life, you'll love it. If you're just a casual Hobbit/LOTR fan, don't bother.

I'm a fan of Tolkien's legendarium (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion), so I really enjoyed this "behind-the-scenes" look at how they came together during Tolkien's life. It was interesting to hear his explanations of the themes he intended to include in his works.

I gained a much better understanding the life of the man behind the myths. I wasn't aware of his financial hardship, being overwhelmed by responsibilities (career, family, writing), and poor health (his and his family's). I laughed out loud at his humor several times. However, I had to read through much that didn't interest me to find what did interested me.

I felt sorry for publisher Allen & Unwin as Tolkien dragged on in writing LotR between 1937 and 1949, for years claiming he'd be finished soon. He later struggled for years to finish The Silmarillion, and didn't before he died.

I learned that Tolkien didn't appreciate attention from the media, but he appreciated the income that the popularity of his works brought, because he would've been of meager means without it.

I knew Tolkien wasn't a fan of machinery, but it was driven home in his letters. He uses the term "Mordor-gadgets" at one point.

Letter 131, which gives a synopsis of The Silmarillion & LotR, is a gem. So are Letters 211 and 212, which answer questions about LotR and give additional details.

In my notes below, the numbers indicate the numbers of the letters, as given in the book. Quotes are straight from the book (from Tolkien's letters).

Notes
19
"Mr. Baggins began as a comic tale among conventional and inconsistent Grimms' fairy-tale dwarves, and got drawn into the edge of it—so that even Sauron the terrible peeped over the edge."

"Tom Bombadil, the spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside …"

72
"Sam by the way is an abbreviation not of Samuel but of Samwise (the Old E. for Half-wit), as is his father's name the Gaffer (Ham) for O. E. Hamfast or Stayathome."

89
"For it I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears … because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth … the Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story … Of course I do not mean that the Gospels tell what is only a fairy-story; but I do mean very strongly that they do tell a fairy-story: the greatest."

105
"Cert. Sam is the most closely drawn character, the successor to Bilbo of the first book, the genuine hobbit. Frodo is not so interesting, because he has to be highminded, and has (as it were) a vocation."

"the great thing is that its centre is not in strife and war and heroism (though they are understood and depicted) but in freedom, peace, ordinary life and good liking."

131
"Anyway all this stuff is mainly concerned with Fall, Mortality, and the Machine. … With Mortality, especially as it affects art and the creative (or as I should say, sub-creative) desire … the Machine (or Magic). By the last I intend all use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of development of the inherent inner powers or talents - or even the use of these talents with the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world, or coercing other wills. The Machine is our more obvious modern form though more closely related to Magic than is usually recognised."

"[The Elves'] 'magic' is Art, delivered from many of its human limitations: more effortless, more quick, more complete (product, and vision in unflawed correspondence)."

"The Hobbits are, of course, really meant to be a branch of the specifically human race (not Elves or Dwarves) … They are … represented as being more in touch with 'nature' … and abnormally, for humans, free from ambition or greed of wealth. They are made small … partly to exhibit the pettiness of man … and mostly to show up, in creatures of very small physical power, the amazing and unexpected heroism of ordinary men 'at a pinch'."

"A moral of the whole [LotR] … is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless."

"I think the simple 'rustic' love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) is absolutely essential to the study of his (the chief hero's) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the 'longing for Elves', and sheer beauty."

139
"I The Return of the Shadow"
"II The Shadow Lengthens"
"III The Return of the King"

140
"The War of the Ring (or, if you still prefer that: The Return of the King)"

"The Two Towers … can be left ambiguous."

142
"'The Lord of the Rings' is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out practically all references to anything like 'religion,' to cults or practices, in the imaginary world."

143
"I am not at all happy about the title 'the Two Towers'. It must … refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol."

144
"even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."

Orc "is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability."

"Though a skin-changer and no doubt a bit of a magician, Beorn was a Man."

Tom Bombadil "represents something that I feel important … if you have, as it were, taken 'a vow of poverty', renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves … then the questions of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view."

"I think that in fact the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance."

Bombadil is "an embodying of pure (real) natural science … T.B. exhibits another point in his attitude to the Ring, and its failure to affect him."

156
Gandalf's return "is what the Authority wished, as a set-off to Saruman. The 'wizards', as such, had failed; or if you like: the crisis had become too grave and needed an enhancement of power. So Gandalf sacrificed himself, was accepted, and enhanced, and returned."

"I am under the difficulty of finding English names for mythological creatures with other names, since people would not take a string of Elvish names, and I would rather they took my legendary creatures even with the false association of the 'translation' than not at all."

163
"a man of the North-west of the Old World will set his heart and the action of his tale in an imaginary world of that air, and that situation: with the Shoreless Sea of his innumerable ancestors to the West, and the endless lands (out of which enemies mostly come) to the East."

The Ents' "part in the story is due, I think, to my bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare of the coming of 'Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill': I longed to devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war. And into this has crept a mere piece of experience, the difference of the 'male' and 'female' attitude to wild things, the difference between unpossessive love and gardening."

165
"It is a monotheistic world of 'natural theology.' The odd fact that there are no churches, temples, or religious rites and ceremonies, is simply part of the historical climate depicted … the 'Third Age' was not a Christian world."

Themes: "The inter-relations between the 'noble' and the 'simple' (or common, vulgar), for instance. The ennoblement of the ignoble I find specially moving. I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I find human maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment of animals."

168
Peregrin means "traveller in strange countries." Frodo means "wise by experience" and has "mythological connexions with legends of the Golden Age in the North."

175
Referring to BBC dramatizations: "I think the book quite unsuitable for 'dramatization.'"

180
"As far as any character is 'like me' it is Faramir - except that I lack … Courage."

181
"Elves and Men are just different aspects of the Humane, and represent the problem of Death as seen by a finite but willing and self-conscious person."

"When 'killed', [Elves] remain in the world, either discarnate, or being re-born."

"But with the downfall of 'Power' [the Elves'] little efforts at preserving the past fell to bits."

"There is no 'embodiment' of the Creator anywhere in this story or mythology."

"I regard the tale of Aragorn and Arwen as the most important of the Appendices; it is part of the essential story, and is only placed so, because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure: which is planned to be 'hobbito-centric', that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble."

186
"The real theme … Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race 'doomed' to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race 'doomed' not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete."

191
"the power of Evil in the world is not finally resistable by incarnate creatures, however 'good'; and the Writer of the Story is not one of us."

194
"Here is a book very unsuitable for dramatic or semi-dramatic representation."

198
"I should welcome the idea of an animated motion picture, with all the risk of vulgarization … I think I should find vulgarization less painful than the sillification achieved by the BBC."

201
"The Eagles are a dangerous 'machine'. I have used them sparingly, and that is the absolute limit of their credibility or usefulness."

210
"Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes."

211
"I did not intend the steed of the Witch-King to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl' … But obviously it is pterodactylic."

"I imagine the gap [between Fall of Barad-dur and 1958, when Tolkien wrote letter] to be about 6000 years."

"It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the 'escapes': serial longevity, and hoarding memory."

212
Death is called gift to Men because that's how Elves perceive it.

252
Tolkien started a story set 100 years after LotR, about revolutionary plots in Gondor, connected to a secret Satanic religion.

257
Tolkien's book on time travel was to be about Elendil in the drowning of Atlantis (Numenor), and about father-son pairs such as Amandil and Elendil throughout history.

325
Frodo and other mortals who sailed from Gray Havens could only stay in Aman for limited time of "peace and healing and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire)."

One of my favorite rereads.

Not only does one catch a glimpse of Tolkien's personality, life, and times, but deep in this book are buried letter-essays that provide the kernels of his ideas "On Fairy Stories" and the poem Mythopoeisis.

χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 1 λεπτό και 5 δευτερόλεπτα

Από τον Ιανουάριο του 2021 μέχρι τον Ιούλιο του 2023 διάβαζα σχεδόν επί
μηνιαίας βάσεως βιβλία του Τόλκιν που διαδραματίζονταν στην Μέση-γη.
Από το Χόμπιτ στον Άρχοντα, από το Σιλμαρίλλιον στις Ατέλειωτες Ιστορίες
και απ' εκεί στην Ιστορία της Μέσης-γης.
Με εξαίρεση τα Γράμματα από τον Άγιο Βασίλη και τον Κύριο Μπλις,
ό,τι άλλο διάβασα του Τόλκιν μες σε αυτό το διάστημα ήταν η Μέση-γη,
 και κυρίως η πρώτη εποχή με την οποία έπαθα κορεσμό.


Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο όμως αποτελεί το Καθαρτήριο, μετά την
επαναλαμβανόμενη Κόλαση της Μέσης-γης.
Εδώ μέσα βλέπουμε διά στόματος του Τόλκιν και από απόσταση ασφαλείας
το πώς δημιουργήθηκαν οι μύθοι της Μέσης-γης,
το Χόμπιτ, ο Άρχοντας, και το Σιλμαρίλλιον, καθώς και τα άλλα
λιγότερο γνωστά έργα του.

Εδώ μέσα περιέχονται 354 γράμματα του Τόλκιν που έστειλε από το 1914
μέχρι τον Αύγουστο του 1973, 4 μόλις μέρες πριν πεθάνει.
Μέσα σε αυτά τα γράμματα εκτός από το προαναφερθέν θέμα
(δημιουργία της Μέσης-γης) ο Τόλκιν μιλά για τη ζωή του
επαγγελματική και μη, την καθημερινότητά του, τα γεγονότα
που συμβαίνουν γύρω του (Α'ΠΠ, Β'ΠΠ, εκμοντερνισμός)
και τον επηρεάζουν, λύνει απορίες σε θαυμαστές, εκδότες, και φίλους,
θυμώνει με θαυμαστές, εκδότες, και φίλους, μιλάει για την παρέα του
τους Ινκλινγκς (C.S. Lewis) και πολλά άλλα.

Άκρως συγκινητικό το γράμμα που έστειλε αφού πέθανε η γυναίκα του
(Νοέμβριος 1971), και το γράμμα που έστειλε στην κόρη του
4 μέρες πριν πεθάνει (Σεπτέμβριος 1973)
Εκεί μέσα βλέπεις ότι αυτός ο άνθρωπος είχε ακόμη σχέδια και πράγματα
να κάνει, σε αυτή την τόσο σύντομη ζωή.

Και λίγο πριν τελειώσω το βιβλίο μαθαίνω ότι φέτος τον Νοέμβριο
επανεκδίδεται αναθεωρημένη και επαυξημένη με επιπλέον 150 γράμματα
που δίνουν κι άλλο φως σχετικά με το έργο του Τόλκιν.
Ε αυτό θα το πάρω αργότερα ως συμπλήρωμα, όχι στο εγγύς μέλλον.
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

A fascinating insight into Tolkien, spanning decades. Reading his thoughts on the script of the proposed animated Lord of the Rings movie, I can’t help but feel he would’ve disapproved of Jackson’s adaptation.

I have about seventy-five pages that I need to go back and copy out quotes. Not only are there some amazing insights into Middle Earth and Tolkien himself here, but there is a treasure-trove of wisdom to be had from his many letters.

As a Tolkien lover, I've read this before, I think all the way back in college or high school. This time through, there were higher highs and lower lows.

Being farther along in life, I understood so much more of his philosophy and theology. Parts of these letters were incredibly profound, some deep theological arguments that I had never seen in that way before. Many of the themes of sacrifice and humility and goodness that I love in his books come through in beautifully articulated ways in his letters.

On the harder side, as much as I have loved Tolkien's work, I don't think we would have got along well. His antagonism toward feminism, the hints of intellectual elitism, the belief that we are all better off if certain "good men" decide for us...those were all things where I would have struggled.

A great book for understand much of what drive Tolkien to write, especially Middle Earth stories. He was a great correspondent and was warmly welcoming to so many ordinary people who wrote to him.

A really insightful view into the author behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Anybody interested in the world of Middle Earth should read this collection of Tolkien’s letters. Questions relating to the stories are answered. And Tolkien’s personal thoughts are revealed.

I just read, like, 300 letters.
Should I be concerned?