Letter 290

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 290
Recipient	Michael George Tolkien
Date	October 28, 1966
Subject(s)	Research, Smith of Wootton Major

Letter 290 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

Michael George, Tolkien's grandson, was a graduate student in English literature at the University of Oxford, and had apparently written to his grandfather to discuss his work. The young Tolkien had shown a growing view of "research" as applied to modern literature. The elder Tolkien states that he dislikes the growing influence of Science on Literature, or Arts in general, just to make it look better.

J.R.R. Tolkien then tells of a talk he was supposed to give the preceding wednesday. It was not much of a talk, instead, Tolkien read Smith of Wootton Major to a crowd of about 800 people.