Letter 24

Letter 24 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

This letter dated 18 February 1938 was sent to Stanley Unwin. Tolkien thanks Unwin's son Rayner for his positive criticism of A Long-expected Party, but regrets that he has still not progressed past this first chapter of a sequel to The Hobbit.

Tolkien brings up C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, which Allen & Unwin are considering for publication, and gives it his approval. He briefly mentions its common origin with his own unfinished story The Lost Road and the fact that the protagonist of Out of the Silent Planet shares his name with Unwin and is a philologist like Tolkien.^{[note 1][note 2]}

Notes

1. ↑ In the published work the name is 'Elwin Ransom', but the character still bears a similarity to Tolkien.
2. ↑ Tolkien gives a fuller review of Out of the Silent Planet in Letter 26.