I got this in the mail from Amazon this week, and I have only just started reading it. (I still haven't finished The Lord of the Rings from winter break...) It looks like it's going to have some great insight into his writing as he had many exchanges with friends and fans about his writings. For instance, I already got this little tidbit from a letter from 1916, "I have done some touches to my nonsense fairy language - to its improvement." An interesting perspective to say the least. I'll be curious to see what he may write about it as he gets closer to its more complete realization.
Also, this is from the back of the book, and was especially shocking to me, anyway. This is from a letter to W.H. Auden in 1955 concerning the writing of LOTR.
I had always assumed that he at least had the general plot points sketched out as he wrote LOTR. And that he didn't even know who Strider was baffles me. I've often considered Aragorn's character development to be the most interesting (though I still thing that Samwise is my favoriate character overall), so this seems really remarkable. I can't wait to read more of these letters."I met a lot of things along the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than Frodo did. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there."
(I'll try to make my next post a little less nerdy. I make no promises, however.)
Leave a comment