Details
TOLKIEN, John Ronald Reuel (1892-1973). Typed letter signed ('J.R.R. Tolkien') to Roger Verhulst, Headington, 9 March 1966, a three-line footnote in autograph, 2½ pages, 4to, envelope.
Tolkien writes to express his opposition to the publication of a proposed book about him by W.H. Auden, and quotes his letter to Auden on the subject, 'I regard such things as premature impertinences ... I cannot believe that they have a usefulness to justify the distaste and irritation given to the victim', though he concedes 'I owe Mr. Auden a debt of gratitude for the generosity with which he has supported and encouraged me since the first appearance of The Lord of the Rings'; also discussing his acquaintance with the author Charles Williams, and the broader membership of the 'Inklings', concluding with a firm distinction between a proposed volume of essays on Williams and one about himself, 'a living author whose much more limited work is of quite a different sort, and who is struggling to complete his work, while time is steadily running short, without the distraction of comment or analysis which cannot in the nature of the case be well-informed'.
The letter is cited by Clyde S. Kilby in his Tolkien and The Silmarillion (1971, pp.21-2, 71) and Rod Jellema's study of the proposed Auden booklet ('Auden on Tolkien: The Book that Isn't, and the House that Brought it Down' in W.H. Auden: A Legacy, 2002, pp.39-45), amongst others.
Tolkien writes to express his opposition to the publication of a proposed book about him by W.H. Auden, and quotes his letter to Auden on the subject, 'I regard such things as premature impertinences ... I cannot believe that they have a usefulness to justify the distaste and irritation given to the victim', though he concedes 'I owe Mr. Auden a debt of gratitude for the generosity with which he has supported and encouraged me since the first appearance of The Lord of the Rings'; also discussing his acquaintance with the author Charles Williams, and the broader membership of the 'Inklings', concluding with a firm distinction between a proposed volume of essays on Williams and one about himself, 'a living author whose much more limited work is of quite a different sort, and who is struggling to complete his work, while time is steadily running short, without the distraction of comment or analysis which cannot in the nature of the case be well-informed'.
The letter is cited by Clyde S. Kilby in his Tolkien and The Silmarillion (1971, pp.21-2, 71) and Rod Jellema's study of the proposed Auden booklet ('Auden on Tolkien: The Book that Isn't, and the House that Brought it Down' in W.H. Auden: A Legacy, 2002, pp.39-45), amongst others.
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