Yes, Tolkien's letters are published by Houghton-Mifflin, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien,edited by Humphrey Carpenter (with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien) latest edition 2000. I bought them at Barnes & Noble, but I don't often see them there.
There is an onslaught of all kinds of material, but I loved every bit. Generally, the beginning deals with Tolkien's worries about the war and his son, with a lovely letter imagining Christopher's guarian angel, (Letters # 89) then the back and forth of trying to get LotR published-- which almost didn't happen. Perish the thought.
From about the second third of the book onward the letters deal more and more with Tolkien's explanations about LotR and plans for the Silmarillion-- this is where people go for many of the Letters quotes used to answer questions.
Towards the end there are some hilarious rants about a horrible animation movie (I wonder if it was ever done? That wasn't the Bakshi, was it? They had Lorien as a Disney castle and everyone in the fellowship flying about on eagles, and I'm pretty sure I'd remember that if it was in the Bakshi version. I remember the Balrog all right!) (sorry, I can't find the letter #) There are also some very funny rants about interviews, horrid allegorical interpretations of LotR, horrid translations, and so forth. This is where Tolkien says no to LotR names for cats, but helpfully makes up some elvish names for a reader's herd of cows, after kindly giving her permission to name it the Rivendell Herd, though he doubted Rivendell would have been suitable for pasture. I love those letters. (Letters #342,345)
If you want to read writing at all reminiscent of Gandalf, with his cranky wit and underlying kindness, this is your best hope.
|