Letter 79

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 79
Recipient	Christopher Tolkien
Date	22 August 1944
Subject(s)	Thoughts on Kroonstad, Johannesburg, the future

Letter 79 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

Kroonstad, said Tolkien, was a real product of current English culture. Johannesburg is what it would like to be. Tolkien predicted that in twenty years England would have many Kroonstads, architecturally, morally, and mentally, a landscape blistered with rotting tin mushrooms with nothing else forthcoming. As before, the Christian Church would have to carry alone the tradition of higher mental civilization, if not driven into new catacombs. Gloomy thoughts, mused Tolkien, when actually the future was impenetrable, especially to the wise. The really important was always hidden from contemporaries. The seeds of what is to be germinated quietly in the dark while everyone was looking at Stalin or Hitler.

After morning lecture Tolkien had found the local pub closed, but hailed by the two Lewises and C. Williams, they found satisfaction at the King’s Arms. Tolkien closed the letter by describing the most marvelous sunset he had seen in years.