Periantari Andruil
July 14th,2005, 06:49 AM
Can't believe there's no thread of this wonderful book in here...
:trout: :trout: myself :trout:
I've been reading The Letters of JRR Tolkien these days...(after a lil break ;) ) and many things strike me. These letters were compiled by the ever present literary executor and Tolkien's son Christopher Tolkien and it's quite a compilation of his father's letters spanning from his personal beliefs to many thoughts about his writing of LotR, Sil, The Hobbit and other Middle-Earth related things.
The summary of the letters state that
"JRR Tolkien was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter writers. Over the years he wrote a mass fo corrsepondence to his publishers, to his family, to friends, and to fans of his books--which records the history and composition of his works and his reaction to subsequent events."
I love especially letter #246 in which he mentions whether Frodo is a failure or not.
One of my favorite quotes that i'm posting everywhere online:
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task. His real contract was only to do what he could, to try to find a way, and to go as far on the road as his strength of mind and body allowed. He did that." I do not myself see that the breaking of his mind and will under demonic pressure under torment was any more a moral failure than the breaking of his body would have been - say, by being strangled by Gollum, or crushed by a falling rock.
That appears to have been the judgement of Gandalf and Aragorn and of all who learned the full story of his journey. Certainly nothing would have been concealed by Frodo! But what Frodo himself felt about the events is quite another matter."
~The Letters of JRR Tolkien; letter #246, Sept. 1963
I mean, this is such a misunderstood concept whenever the casual LotR reader comes across this topic and i'm glad that Tolkien mentioned what he thought about Frodo's aim to rid Middle-Earth of evil.
ANd of course, there's talk about his elves, and war and family and even what heh thought about women as well. ;)
So if you haven't read, please read his letters, and if you've read some or all, please share your thoughts. ;) :thumbs:
:trout: :trout: myself :trout:
I've been reading The Letters of JRR Tolkien these days...(after a lil break ;) ) and many things strike me. These letters were compiled by the ever present literary executor and Tolkien's son Christopher Tolkien and it's quite a compilation of his father's letters spanning from his personal beliefs to many thoughts about his writing of LotR, Sil, The Hobbit and other Middle-Earth related things.
The summary of the letters state that
"JRR Tolkien was one of the twentieth century's most prolific letter writers. Over the years he wrote a mass fo corrsepondence to his publishers, to his family, to friends, and to fans of his books--which records the history and composition of his works and his reaction to subsequent events."
I love especially letter #246 in which he mentions whether Frodo is a failure or not.
One of my favorite quotes that i'm posting everywhere online:
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task. His real contract was only to do what he could, to try to find a way, and to go as far on the road as his strength of mind and body allowed. He did that." I do not myself see that the breaking of his mind and will under demonic pressure under torment was any more a moral failure than the breaking of his body would have been - say, by being strangled by Gollum, or crushed by a falling rock.
That appears to have been the judgement of Gandalf and Aragorn and of all who learned the full story of his journey. Certainly nothing would have been concealed by Frodo! But what Frodo himself felt about the events is quite another matter."
~The Letters of JRR Tolkien; letter #246, Sept. 1963
I mean, this is such a misunderstood concept whenever the casual LotR reader comes across this topic and i'm glad that Tolkien mentioned what he thought about Frodo's aim to rid Middle-Earth of evil.
ANd of course, there's talk about his elves, and war and family and even what heh thought about women as well. ;)
So if you haven't read, please read his letters, and if you've read some or all, please share your thoughts. ;) :thumbs: