XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien   
   From: ojevind.lang@bredband.net   
      
   "Steve Hayes"  skrev i meddelandet   
   news:ikqm5696gn18br1apd16a8coqnlpt4gufp@4ax.com...   
      
   [snip]   
      
   > Please remind me -- what did letter 183 say?   
      
   It's a long, rambling item from 1956 called "Notes on W. H. Auden's Review   
   of *The Return of the King*." According to the editorial  information, it   
   was "apparently written for Tolkien's own satisfaction and not sent or shown   
   to anyone else." It expresses his gratitude for the (very positive) review;   
   notes that Middle-earth is not a name invented by Tolkien but an adaption of   
   the Old Germanic *midden-erd* (Middangeard or the like in Old English,   
   Midgård in Scandinavian - I forget the German and Dutch forms); muses on how   
   travel changes a person's perceptions (for example those of Sam); declares   
   that it is impossible to predict how somebody's personality will evolve over   
   time since a human being is like a "seed" whose development may partly be   
   inherent but is partly dependent on what happens to it; says that "Frodo's   
   duty was 'humane' not political" but that "Denethor was tainted with mere   
   politics: hence his failure, and his mistrust of Faramir"; discourses on   
   various usages of the word "political", for example in Auerbach and in the   
   Arthurian romances (I did say it's a rambling piece of writing); reflects on   
   the Beowulf epic; muses on the fact that in "real life" (Tolkien's quotation   
   marks), the border between good and evil is less clear-cut than in   
   literature such as "Beowulf" or LotR; in this context touches upon the   
   relativity of "right" and "wrong" in judicial trials; says that "good   
   actions by those on the wrong side will not justify their cause"; says that   
   "In my story I do not deal with Absolute Evil". I do not think there is such   
   a thing, since that is Zero"*; expounds on the moral theme in LotR and says   
   that in it "the conflict is not basically about freedom, though that is   
   naturally involved. It is about God, and His sole right to divine honour";   
   clarifies the difference between the beliefe of the Eldar and the   
   Númenoreans in the One, the true God, as opposed to Sauron's desire to be a   
   God-King; then declares that today, those who are on the right side (by   
   which he means anti-Communists) still are on the right side "even if it is   
   true (as unfortunately it is) that many of their deeds are wrong"; from this   
   concludes that "I feel that the fiddle-faddle in reviews, and correspondence   
   about them, as to whether my 'good people' were kind and merciful and gave   
   quarter (in fact they do)**, is quite beside the point"; states that what he   
   perceives as a determination in some critics to depict him as imbued with "a   
   flag-to-Pretoria spirit"*** is disproved by his creation of the figure of   
   Denethor; says that "I have not made any of the peoples on the 'right' side,   
   Hobbits. Rohirrim, Men of Dale or of Gondor, any better than men have been   
   or are, or can be"; and ends with the words: "Mine is not an 'imaginary'   
   world, but an imaginary historical moment on 'Middle-earth' - which is our   
   habitation."   
      
   *C. S. Lewis said the same thing: that if one removed everything good, such   
   as strength, intelligence, courage, life itself, then nothing whatever was   
   left.   
   **I find his claim here doubtful. We never hear of pardon being given to an   
   orc. But then, orcs were absolutely evil, a circumstance which troubled   
   Tolkien later on in life since the idea of irredeemably evil beings   
   contradicts the concept of free will.   
   ***I'm not sure what this means.   
      
   Öjevind   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)