Has it all been said?

[drigel]

drigel: About our biographical sources: Carpenter's book is a marvellous read, but as readers of biographies know, there can be many versions of biographies...... Sussing out a writer's character is about as definitive a project as determining canonicity.

, and it is very highly possible that letters remain in the hands of heirs of recipients, or trapped in pages of books sold second hand, stashed away in back files of libraries in England, that kind of thing. I also read somewhere--and can't recall now where--that Tolkien left a diary, which is unpublished by will of the Tolkien Estate.

I agree on points, but - again barring something extraordinary coming to the surface (and I did enjoy Carter's biography), additional biographies, especially lately are only putting a different spin to already known information. Interesting for some I suppose, but IMO the impact in terms of my own opinion about the character of Tolkien as a writer are ... eh, negligible. Bringing up the Letters was my attempt to show the comprehensive evidence a reader has had for decades in forming their own ideas. I suppose, other than what I referenced in my 1st post and what you had alluded to - additional material, letters or diary - (and what a gem that would be!! talk about the Tolkien Rosetta stone wowsa) thats all I need as an informed reader. Anything else for me tends to devolve into minutia or bald profiteering. And, as for a peice of work that does have a unique point that gets across cogently, well, it seems to me that they are few and far between these days.

Except that the signs are already there in terms of the waning of Western culture as opposed to African or Asian ones.

I'm not sure its possible to define 'western culture' precisely enough to be able to say its waning.

ebbs and tides. It sure looked a lot more bleak when Rome fell, but we did OK, didnt we? I dont see any mass migrations to Africa or Asia by Europeans. Rather the opposite...