Are you Satisfied?

[davem]

There are still some unpublished stories/poems by Tolkien. We haven't yet seen The Fall of Arthur, The New Volsungasaga, or his translation of Beowulf. The recently published Smith Essay contains a wonderful backstory about Smith's grandfather, Rider.

His name was Rider, indicating that he was not a member or practiser of one of the chief'crafts'. The Riders were interested in horses and their livelihood was obtained, in addition to the training of horses and horse-doctoring, by acting as the equivalents of a local post and carrier service. They would take messages or letters of urgency and sometimes convey packages to other villages and homesteads, especially those at a distance, often returning with similar errands. This part of their work especially suited Rob, his father's youngest son. He took largely after his mother, a Piper of Wootton Minor, and was restless and adventurous. He began errand-riding when he was little more than fifteen. He soon became known for the speed and accuracy with which he would take messages or perform errands, and for his reluctance to return and report. After a time he ceased to live in Wootton Major, and only returned there at irregular intervals as suited him; he became a 'traveller', a man of no fixed abode or livelihood. During this time though there were many rumours current nothing was really known about his journeys and adventures, until one day he came back, apparently provided with money and certainly with a wife. She was a young and beautiful woman called Rose, one of the Sangsters of Walton a distant village beyond Wootton Minor. She was much his junior, for by that time he must have been at least thirty-five....

And if you want to know what happened next you'll have to buy the book...

[Lush]

There is a great longing to see some form of continuation of the main plot lines in LotR that comes over me on a regular basis. Some of these characters seem like good friends after all this time. And who could resist another adventure with friends?

These feelings are not born of any rational assessment of Tolkien's works, however, which makes me think that what I'm really longing for is that time I first sat down and read the book; how overwhelmed and excited I was, both by the events in the narrative and events going on around me, what a happy and confusing time it was for me, what great fun I had along the way.

Perhaps satisfaction is the wrong word for what I'm seeking. It's something more along the lines of reassurance; the idea that all things I love will continue to live on in one form or another.

[The 1,000 Reader]

I'm perfectly satisfied. In fact, I'm happy that Tolkien stopped writing the New Shadow.

[yavanna II]

hehe...

I've reread the Sil, and I just saw something like the Great End wherein Melkor would be released and Turin would sorta avenge himself... ooh, I'd give a lot to have a dose of that one....

i dunno, whatever story I read, I just can't seem to get enough!

[Folwren]

Well, Boromir, this is something of a tough question, you know?

Am I satisfied? No. . .but I never am at the end of a good book. However, should he have written more? I don't think so. If he had, wouldn't we have run up into the same problems? Eventually, we'd have read everything that he wrote, and then, once again, we wouldn't be satisfied. A chap can only write so much in his life time and no more. Middle-Earth has enough history in it to take up the writing of two lifetimes.

We should take what the master writer wrote as a gift and cherrish what it is - not what it is not.

-- Folwren

[Gurthang]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Am I satisfied? No. . .but I never am at the end of a good book. However, should he have written more? I don't think so.

I pretty much echo Folwren's thoughts here, but let me expand a little.

As you read the book(especially for the first time) you have a very good feeling. You're excited about it, you're into it, you can't wait to get to the next part. But at the end, when it's all over, you feel almost empty(or at least I did).

No, I'm not saying I felt like the end wasn't enough. The end was thouroghly complete and I did like the end. But that doesn't make any difference to the way I felt. It's hard to put into words, but it was almost like 'what do I do now'. I was on the Quest with them, I did an amazing thing, but now that it's over, how can you ever go back to normal? I guess I felt almost like Frodo did. There just seems to be this void that the book left in me, kind of like the Ring left in him.

I have an analogy for this; the books are like addictive drugs. When you're reading them, you're on a high. It's like you're in another world. But when it's over, you feel like you want more. Going back and reading them again will still get you that high, but not nearly as much. You feel like you need something newer to satisfy your 'fix'. And since there is nothing new, it's almost like a withdrawl. (I guess I'm addicted to LotR! )

But really, it was a bitter-sweet ending for me. I was happy with the ending, but sad that it was the end.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

I have an analogy for this; the books are like addictive drugs. When you're reading them, you're on a high. It's like you're in another world. But when it's over, you feel like you want more. Going back and reading them again will still get you that high, but not nearly as much. You feel like you need something newer to satisfy your 'fix'. And since there is nothing new, it's almost like a withdrawl. (I guess I'm addicted to LotR! )

In his introduction to 'The Road Goes Ever On' (the book he 'co-wrote' with Tolkien) Donald Swann wrote:

...I used to feel that the Tolkien dimension was almost a danger. I then went against this, & decided I would enter it at any time I chose, but with this golden rule (with this phial glowing on my desk?) that I must be able to emerge, to shut the book, & get up from my chair. If I can't. I will earn the disapproval of the author. He was an upright man in the real world, & had no intention of casting a spell on anyone. I told him once of a young man who thought he was Frodo. 'I've ruined their lives,' he said disconsolately.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Lush

These feelings are not born of any rational assessment of Tolkien's works, however, which makes me think that what I'm really longing for is that time I first sat down and read the book; how overwhelmed and excited I was, both by the events in the narrative and events going on around me, what a happy and confusing time it was for me, what great fun I had along the way.

Perhaps satisfaction is the wrong word for what I'm seeking. It's something more along the lines of reassurance; the idea that all things I love will continue to live on in one form or another.

I think Lush, as so often, is on to something important here, that Tolkien has tapped into an essential element of the reading experience. Reading helps children, teens, adults, experience things which need to be experienced, but often cannot in our world. We need for our psychic development/health situations of abandonment, solitude, fear, to negotiate our way. We need the forest, the Tardis, the Quest, something bigger on the inside than the outside.

Tolkien gives us preeminently the experience of story and it is that experience which is essential to the human condition.