The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (25 page)

24 February 1950

Merton College, Oxford

Dear Unwin,

I am, I fear, a most unsatisfactory person. I am at present ‘on leave', and away off and on; though the effort to cope with a mass of literary and ‘learned' debts, that my leave was supposed to assist, has proved too much for me, especially as I have been troubled with my throat and have felt often far from well.

But at any rate I should long ago have answered your query, handed on from Mr Selby. Though dated Jan. 31st, it was in fact addressed to me on Dec. 31st.

I cannot imagine and have not discovered what Mr Selby was referring to. I have, of course, not written an ‘Authentic history of Faery' (and
should not in any case have chosen such a title); nor have I caused any prophecy or rumour of any such work to be circulated. I must suppose that Mr Selby associates me with ‘Faery', and has attached my name to someone else's work It seems hardly likely that he can have come across some literary chat (of which in any case I am ignorant) in which somebody has referred to my
Silmarillion
(long ago rejected, and shelved). The title is not particularly fitting, and the work has been read in MS. only by about five persons, counting two of my children and your reader.

That, however, brings me to a more important topic (to me at any rate). In one of your more recent letters you expressed a desire still to see the MS. of my proposed work,
The Lord of the Rings,
originally expected to be a sequel to
The Hobbit.
For eighteen months now I have been hoping for the day when I could call it finished. But it was not until after Christmas that this goal was reached at last. It is finished, if still partly unrevised, and is, I suppose, in a condition which a reader could read, if he did not wilt at the sight of it.

As the estimate for typing a fair copy was in the neighbourhood of £100 (which I have not to spare), I was obliged to do nearly all myself. And now I look at it, the magnitude of the disaster is apparent to me. My work has escaped from my control, and I have produced a monster: an immensely long, complex, rather bitter, and very terrifying romance, quite unfit for children (if fit for anybody); and it is not really a sequel to
The Hobbit
, but to
The Silmarillion.
My estimate is that it contains, even without certain necessary adjuncts, about 600,000 words. One typist put it higher. I can see only too clearly how impracticable this is. But I am tired. It is off my chest, and I do not feel that I can do anything more about it, beyond a little revision of inaccuracies. Worse still: I feel that it is tied to the
Silmarillion
.

You may, perhaps, remember about that work, a long legendary of imaginary times in a ‘high style', and full of Elves (of a sort). It was rejected on the advice of your reader many years ago. As far as my nemory goes he allowed to it a kind of Celtic beauty intolerable to Anglo-Saxons in large doses. He was probably perfectly right and just. And you commented that it was a work to be drawn upon rather than published.

Unfortunately I am not an Anglo-Saxon and though shelved (until a year ago), the
Silmarillion
and all that has refused to be suppressed. It has bubbled up, infiltrated, and probably spoiled everything (that even remotely approached ‘Faery') which I have tried to write since. It was kept out of
Farmer Giles
with an effort, but stopped the continuation. Its shadow was deep on the later parts of
The Hobbit.
It has captured
The Lord of the Rings,
so that that has become simply its continuation
and completion, requiring the
Silmarillion
to be fully intelligible – without a lot of references and explanations that clutter it in one or two places.

Ridiculous and tiresome as you may think me, I want to publish them both –
The Silmarillion
and
The Lord of the Rings
– in conjunction or in connexion. ‘I want to' – it would be wiser to say ‘I should like to', since a little packet of, say, a million words,
¹
of matter set out in extenso that Anglo-Saxons (or the English-speaking public) can only endure in moderation, is not very likely to see the light, even if paper were available at will.

All the same that is what I should like. Or I will let it all be. I cannot contemplate any drastic re-writing or compression. Of course being a writer I should like to see my words printed; but there they are. For me the chief thing is that I feel that the whole matter is now ‘exorcized', and rides me no more. I can turn now to other things, such as perhaps the Little Kingdom of the Wormings,
²
or to quite other matters and stories.

I am sorry that this letter is so long, and so full of myself. I am not really filled with any overweening conceit of my absurd private hobbies. But you have been very patient – expecting during the long years a sequel to
The Hobbit
, to fit a similar audience; though I know that you are aware that I have been going off the rails. I owe you some kind of explanation.

You will let me know what you think. You can have all this mountain of stuff, if you wish. It will take a reader who really reads a long time, I fear; though he may make up his mind with a sample. But I shall not have any just grievance (nor shall I be dreadfully surprised) if you decline so obviously unprofitable a proposition; and ask me to hurry up and submit some more reasonable book as soon as I can.

Yours sincerely

J. R. R. Tolkien.

P.S. Rayner, poor man, has of course read a large part of
The Lord of the Rings
, though not to the bitter end: I only finished the last ‘book' quite recently. I hope he is prospering. How is little
Farmer Giles
doing, I wonder?

JRRT.

10 March 1950

3 Manor Road, Oxford

Dear Unwin,

Thank you for your letter of March 6th. I see in it your good will; but also, I fear, your opinion that this mass of stuff is not really a publisher's affair at all, but requires an endowment. I am not surprised.

With regard to your enquiry about its divisibility. A work of great length can, of course, be divided up artificially into more handy bulks: the sort of process that produced sections of the big Oxford Dictionary labelled ‘
ONOMASTICAL – OUTING
' and ‘
SIMPLE
to
SLEEP
'. But the whole Saga of the Three Jewels and the Rings of Power has only one natural division into two parts (each of about 600,000 words):
The Silmarillion
and other legends; and
The Lord of the Rings.
The latter is as indivisible and unified as I could make it.

It is, of course, divided into sections for narrative purposes (six of them), and two or three of these, which are of more or less equal length, could be bound separately, but they are not in any sense self-contained.

I now wonder (I must confess, though as a ‘seller' I suppose I should show more confidence) whether many beyond my friends, not all of whom have endured to the end, would read anything so long, even if they liked that kind of thing in moderation. I wonder still more if they would read, not to mention purchase, it serially, and if the pot, as it were, went off the boil. You must know much more about that than I do.

I realise the financial difficulties, and the remote chance of recovering the great cost. I have no money to sink in the bog, and I can hardly expect you to sink it. Please do not think that I shall feel that I have a just grievance if you decline to become involved, without much hesitation. After all the understanding was that you would welcome a sequel to
The Hobbit
, and this work can not be regarded as such in any practical sense, or in the matter of atmosphere, tone, or audience addressed.

I am sorry that I presented such a problem. Wilfully, it may seem, since I knew long ago that I was courting trouble and producing the unprintable and unsaleable, most likely. I have not at the moment anything else completed to submit; but I am quite prepared to make something simpler and shorter soon. I feel, at the end of my leave of absence, a return of energy, and when the present time of trial is over (the process of removing all my teeth began yesterday, and that of removing my household goods begins shortly) I hope to feel still more. I think I shall soon put in hand other things long
in petto
.

All the same it would have been more encouraging if
Farmer Giles
could report better of his luck. Rather a donnish little squib after all? I
cannot discover that he has been widely heard of. He does not seem to have been very forcibly brought to notice.

I always thought, that in so far as he has virtue, it would have been improved by other stories of the same kingdom and style; but the domination of the remoter world was so great that I could not make them. It may now prove different.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

J. R. R. Tolkien.

10 March 1950

3 Manor Road, Oxford

Dear Waldman,

Sir Stanley Unwin has at length replied personally. The pertinent paragraph is:

I have replied to the effect that I see in his letter his good will, but also perceive his opinion that this mass of stuff is not suitable for ordinary publication and requires endowment. (I had in my letter made a strong point that the
Silmarillion
etc. and
The Lord of the Rings
went together, as one long Saga of the Jewels and the Rings, and that I was resolved to treat them as one thing, however they might formally be issued.) I noted that the mass naturally divides only between
The Silmarillion
and
The Lord
(each about 600,000 words), but that the latter is not divisible except into artificial fragments. I added that I shall not be surprised if he declines to become involved in this monstrous Saga; and that now it is off my chest, I am very willing to turn out something simpler and shorter (and even actually ‘juvenile') for him, soon.

There at the moment the matter waits. I profoundly hope that he will let go without demanding the MS. and two months for ‘reading'. But I
am not sanguine. But time runs short. I shall soon be plunged back into business – I already am involved, as I find things getting very out of hand during my absence; and I shall not be free again for writing until I return from Ireland at the beginning of July.

Unwin tells me that
Farmer Giles
has only sold 2000 copies. I have replied that I have observed no advertisements. . . .

With best wishes.

Yours sincerely

J. R. R. Tolkien.

I move to 99 Holywell,
¹
but the date is uncertain, as the house needs a lot of repair. I hope but hardly expect to be settled before St George's Day. Merton will always find me. JRRT.

14 April 1950

3 Manor Road, Oxford

Dear Unwin,

It was odd that our letters crossed. I might have waited a day longer; but the matter is for me becoming urgent. Weeks have become precious. I want a decision yes, or no: to the proposal I made, and not to any imagined possibilities.

Your letters
¹
were, as always, very kind; though I was puzzled by the first, and its enclosure of an extract from a letter of Rayner's. This was not, as you remarked, intended for me; which made it all the more interesting to me (and I do not refer to the compliment that it contained). The puzzling thing was that it seemed unsuitable for my eye (from your point of view); and I wonder precisely why you sent it to me.

My present conclusion is that you are in general agreement with Rayner, and thought that letting me see his advice was a good way of telling me what is the most I can hope for – since he is about as favourable a critic as I am likely to get. But I should like to be sure.

The kick is plainly in the last sentence of the excerpt (before the remembrance to me): ‘If this is not workable, etc.' This is surely to reveal policy a little nakedly. Also it shows a surprising failure to understand the situation, or my letter. But I will say no more until I hear from you. . . . .
²