Letter to the editor of Triode
In April 1960, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to the editor of Triode, a fanzine.[1]
- Subject: The letter concerns the article "No Monroe in Lothlorien!" by Arthur R. Weir, published in issue 17 of Triode. Weir's article had discussed the possibility of making a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.[1]
- Publication: Extracts from the letter appeared in Triode 18 and I, Palantir (April 1964).[2][3]
Extracts
Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, Oxford.
Thank you very much for the two copies of TRIODE. I was very pleased to hear of the pleasure my book has given you. I think I agree with you in the matter of making a film out of the story. There have been some serious negotiations with regard to this, but my experience with scripts and “story-line” has warned me that only an overwhelming financial reward could possibly compensate an author for the horrors of the conversion of such a tale into film. Even when the pictorial part is very good.
Fortunately, my publishers and I retain a legal hold in this matter and nothing can be done without our approval in detail. I am myself a member of the amorphous body of “fandom”: but I am afraid I do not often come across anything nowadays that seems very readable.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 557
- ↑ "Triode. May 1960", TolkienBooks.net (accessed 18 March 2014)
- ↑ "I, Palantir. April 1964", TolkienBooks.net (accessed 1 April 2014)
