“I have begun again on the sequel to the ‘Hobbit’ – The Lord of the Ring. It is now flowing along, and getting quite out of hand. It has reached about Chapter VII and progresses towards quite unforeseen goals. I must say I think it is a good deal better in places and some ways than the predecessor; but that does not say that I think it either more suitable or more adapted for its audience. For one thing it is, like my own children (who have the immediate serial rights), rather ‘older’. I can only say that Mr. [C.S.] Lewis (my stout backer of the Times and T.L.S.) professes himself more than pleased. If the weather is wet in the next fortnight we may have got still further on. But it is no bed-time story.”
–letter of JRR Tolkien to Allen & Unwin, his publisher, 31 August 1938
I love the understatement of that. “Out of hand” indeed. If he could see the LOTR mania now, he would truly understand how “out of hand” it all is.
And the last sentence kills me. “…it is no bed-time story…”
No bed-time story, indeed. I remember reading an essay somewhere about a father reading LOTR to his son, and discovering that it’s become practically a different book: for the son, it’s the adventure story the father remembered, but for the father it’s become (and this is the quote I remember), “the saddest book in the world.” And it is: it is terribly bittersweet. But therein lies much or its real beauty.
Definitely. The last time I read it, as I’ve said, was when I was a kid. And I only related to it as an adventure story, with great characters.
But this last time – it moved me to tears. It is a grand book. An ode to a dying world. A love letter to all that is good in the human race (or – in any race that lives – the elves, the dwarves) – and how it is possible to do good. To stay on the right path. It will not be easy – but that is the best that is in us. In all of us.
The ending is perfect. Because the Hobbits – who have lived in safety for ages because of the deaths of others far away – finally have to defend their own land. They have to step up to the plate.
Innocence is completely lost. Because this is, after all, a fallen world. But there is still the possibility for good, for love, for hope.
Amazingly bittersweet.