What did Tolkien really mean ....

[Child of the 7th Age]

Lalwende:

He says 'consciously in the revision'. Here we're all at sea as we do not know if he sat there editing with Catholicism in mind, or if he means that he could see this after publication, or at which point in the whole process of writing. We just don't know. But he does tell us more later in the letter.

Littlemanpoet:

I agree with Fordim and Helen that Tolkien is most likely talking about the pre-publication revision process.

Lalwende and Littlemanpoet

Just a brief comment on the whole question of "when". I don't feel that these two options---pre-publication revision or identifying an additional layer of meaning after publication---are necessarily exclusive. I see this whole process as occurring very slowly over a long period of time, almost like water dripping onto a rock and gradually making an indentation. I do think it's easier to document pre-publication revision with some precision than to try and determine at which point Tolkien began seeing new meanings in already existing works.

There is, however, a very intriguing quotation in the "Religion" entry of the new Reader's Guide that does allude to the fact that Tolkien sometimes came to read in new religious meanings even after publication. This reference actually came from the January 1980 edition of the Minas Tirith Evening Star. In 1979, Professor George Sayer, Humphrey Carpenter and Clyde Kilby were pooling their remembrances of Tolkien and the question of Christian influence on Lord of the Rings arose. The meeting took place at Wheaton College where Kilby was professor and curator of the nascent Marion Wade collection. In this article Professor Sayer stated that Tolkien

very much objected to the view that he wrote his books as Christian propaganda or anything like that. He wrote them as stories. He would sometimes pull a bunch of American letters or reviews towards him and say, "You know, they're now telling me that..." and then he would say some of the things they'd told him about The Lord of the Rings He'd say, "You know, I never thought of that. I thought I was writing it as pure story." He came gradually to believe some of the things that, well, you were telling him.

The italics are mine. When I read this, I couldn't help but laugh. Sayer's reference to "you" in "you were telling him" undoubtedly refers to Clyde Kilby who was hosting their meeting at Wheaton College. Kilby was a devoted Christian (also interested in the writings of Lewis) and, as we know, had worked with Tolkien for one summer helping him with Silm. I have an image of Kilby spending long hours shmoozing with Tolkien about the "Christian" aspects of Lord of the Rings. We know, for instance, that the two men discussed the fact that Tolkien considered the "Secret Fire" to be the Holy Spirit. I can see Tolkien scratching his head a bit over some of the interpretations that Kilby put forward, and then going to pick up his mail and finding similar comments from other readers in the U.S.

Interesting that this kind of thing should be coming from readers in the U. S. There are cultural differences in play here, I think. Certainly, while there are believers and nonbeliever on both sides of the Atlantic, religion plays a different role in society as a whole in the United States than it does in most European countries.