Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Bêthberry · 10-10-2006, 07:29 PM

My goodness, Lal, I certainly hope the Tolkien family doesn't have something as difficult to deal with as Plath's and Hugh's children!

It's hardly a conspiracy theory to suggest a slight reservation over a selected edition of an author's letters. It's really just standard practice to be a little cautious about the criteria for the selection and to wonder what else might be out there. Oh what some of us would do for a letter on balrog wings!

The Letters as they stand don't, in my humble opinion, answer a question Squatter raised some years ago in chat: What kept him at it? Why did Tolkien devote so much of his life to the Legendarium, when he had so many other things going on in his life? davem recently repeated this question. While we can speculate--and speculation is our delight--the answer remains an interpretation. There could well be documents "out there"--deliberately playing on the alleged conspiracy theme

-- which could shed some light on this question--or rather, which could send us off on other roads not yet explored.

I rather like Child's discussion of the issue of free expression, as it pertains to CT.

Why can we not read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf? Asking such a question is not an intrusion into a family's personal life nor is it a personal attack. It's intellectual curiosity.

10-10-2006, 07:29 PM	#34
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,005	My goodness, Lal, I certainly hope the Tolkien family doesn't have something as difficult to deal with as Plath's and Hugh's children! It's hardly a conspiracy theory to suggest a slight reservation over a selected edition of an author's letters. It's really just standard practice to be a little cautious about the criteria for the selection and to wonder what else might be out there. Oh what some of us would do for a letter on balrog wings! The Letters as they stand don't, in my humble opinion, answer a question Squatter raised some years ago in chat: What kept him at it? Why did Tolkien devote so much of his life to the Legendarium, when he had so many other things going on in his life? davem recently repeated this question. While we can speculate--and speculation is our delight--the answer remains an interpretation. There could well be documents "out there"--deliberately playing on the alleged conspiracy theme -- which could shed some light on this question--or rather, which could send us off on other roads not yet explored. I rather like Child's discussion of the issue of free expression, as it pertains to CT. Why can we not read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf? Asking such a question is not an intrusion into a family's personal life nor is it a personal attack. It's intellectual curiosity. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.