in honor of Bilbo's Birthday yesterday

[marta_bee]

... and the 75th anniversary of the Hobbit'spublishing, here's one of my favorite letters. German publishers asked whether he was Aryan (this was in the leadup to WWII), and here's his reply. From The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

30 To Rütten & Loening Verlag

[One of the 'two drafts' mentioned by Tolkien in the previous letter. This is the only one

Comments

[azalaisdep]

I have always loved that letter. It is such an elegant, just-about-courteous (though clearly he was finding that difficult) rebuttal of an entire racist philosophy in a couple of paragraphs. I do hope the version the publishers actually sent to Germany packed all the same punch.

[marta_bee]

I know. That man had class, no two ways about it. And wit. I think JRRT had wit to spare.

[engarian]

And here my DH and I were just discussing Tolkien's origins this afternoon. Great minds, etc...

- Erulisse (one L)

[marta_bee]

Nice how that works sometimes, isn't it?

[dreamflower02]

That one has always been among my favorites!