The Letters of J. R. R.Tolkien by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2012-01-29T23:00:00+00:00

183 Notes on W. H. Auden's review of The Return of the King

[A comment, apparently written for Tolkien's own satisfaction and not sent or shown to anyone else, on 'At the End of the Quest, Victory', a review of The Return of the King by W. H. Auden in the New York Times Book Review, 22 January 1956. The text given here is a rewriting at some later date of an earlier version, now lost, which was in all probability written in 1956. In the review, Auden wrote: 'Life, as I experience it in my own person, is primarily a continuous succession of choices between alternatives. .... For objectifying this experience, the natural image is that of a journey with a purpose, beset by dangerous hazards and obstacles. .... But when I observe my fellow-men, such an image seems false. I can see, for example, that only the rich and those on vacation can take journeys; most men, most of the time, must work in one place. I cannot observe them making choices, only the actions they take and, if I know someone well, I can usually predict how he will act in a given situation. . . . . If, then, I try to describe what I see as if I were an impersonal camera, I shall produce, not a Quest, but a "naturalistic" document. .... Both extremes, of course, falsify life. There are medieval Quests which justify the criticism made by Erich Auerbach in his book Mimesis: "The world of knightly proving is a world of adventure. .... [The knight's] exploits . . . . are feats accomplished at random which do not fit into any politically purposive pattern." . . . . Mr Tolkien has succeeded more completely than any previous writer in this genre in using the traditional properties of the Quest.']

I am very grateful for this review. Most encouraging, as coming from a man who is both a poet and a critic of distinction. Yet not (I think) one who has much practised the telling of tales. In any case I am a little surprised by it, for in spite of its praise it seems to me a critic's way of talking rather than an author's. It is not, to my feeling, the right way of considering either Quests in general or my story in particular. I believe that it is precisely because I did not try, and have never thought of trying to 'objectify' my personal experience of life that the account of the Quest of the Ring is successful in giving pleasure to Auden (and others). Probably it is also the reason, in many cases, why it has failed to please some readers and critics. The story is not about JRRT at all, and is at no point an attempt to allegorize his experience of life – for that is what the objectifying of his subjective experience in a tale must mean, if anything.

I am historically minded. Middle-earth is not an imaginary world.

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