The Man Who Understands Hobbits
The Man Who Understands Hobbits is the title of an interview with J.R.R. Tolkien by Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, published in The Daily Telegraph Magazine, on 22 March 1968. The interview was conducted on 30 November 1966.[1]
In Letter 294, Tolkien replies to a draft of the article, writing about suggestions for changes.[2]
The article was reprinted in the The Daily Times-Journal of Fort William, Ontario and Moose Jaw Times-Herald.[3]
Extracts[edit]
"Spiders," observed Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, cradling the word with the same affection that he cradled the pipe in his hand, "are the particular terror of northern imaginations."
Discussing one of his own monsters, a man-devouring, spider-like female, he said, "The female monster is certainly no deadlier than the male, but she is different. She is a sucking, strangling, trapping creature."
"I never expected a money success," said Tolkien, pacing the room, as he does constantly when he speaks "in fact, I never even thought of commercial publication when I wrote THE HOBBIT back in the Thirties."
When we asked Tolkien how Elvish should be sung, he replied, "Like Gregorian chants." The he intoned the first lines of the farewell song of Galadriel, the Elf Queen ...
External links[edit]
References
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: I. Chronology, p. 681
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 294, (dated 8 February 1967)
- ↑ "Daily Telegraph Magazine. 1968", TolkienBooks.net (accessed 17 March 2014)
