A Tolkien Diversion
The butterfly flaps its wings and I find myself down an unexpected path. I mentioned the other day that I was going to read David Herbert Donald’s biography of Lincoln. On the way to Lincoln, however, I bumped into The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. I read the foreword, and then the introduction, and then a few letters, and before I knew it, I was hooked. Lincoln would have to wait.
With all that’s going on right now, Tolkien might be the perfect escape. His letters have vastly increased my interest in his work. I’ve read The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, but I never completed the entire LOTR. I think that is about to change. Over time, I’ve accumulated quite a few Tolkien books and related books. I’ve got the illustrated, leather-bound edition of LOTR. I’ve got the companion edition of The Silmarillion. I have a special 3-volume edition of Christopher Tolkien’s 12 books of The History of Middle-Earth. And I’ve got J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter.
I think that when I finish the Letters, I’m going to tackle the entire Tolkien oeuvre, probably beginning with The Silmarillion, then LOTR, and on from there. His letters are a fascinating and insightful look into the construction of the story, its meaning, interpretations, and its surprises. I’ve been having so much fun reading them. I believe they’ve helped me maintain some semblance of sanity this week.
Isaac Asimov loved these books. In the second volume of his autobiography, In Joy Still Felt, he wrote of The Hobbit and LOTR, “[They] had taken me by storm, too. Since it came out, I have read it, and The Hobbit, four times and liked the books better each time1.”
As always, I’ll keep you posted on progress and may write about this exploration along the way. Also, I’m happy to hear from other people on these books, particularly the histories around LOTR itself.
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