Letters to the Editor
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RE: Qs for Tolkien Fans -- Q1
>> 1. How do you feel about Christopher's stewardship of his father's work [licensing,works, etc]:
Well, the movie licensing of LOTR actually took place when JRR was alive, so it was a done deal by the time CJRT (aka Christopher Tolkien) was given control of the literary estate.
As to CJRT's publication of Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and the later History of Middle Earth (HoME) series, he himself was both reticent to publish the works, yet felt compelled by his father's explicit directions to him (while JRRT was still alive) that he should "finish" [at least the Silmarillion] and get it published; and also later believed that his initial editing of Silmarillion (for example) was perhaps inappropriate, and that it should have been done more in the fashion of his later HoME series. Regardless of any misgivings or regrets, I think JRRT would be very pleased at how the thoughtful stewardship son has given his works.
As a fan (though sans the "hobbit" costumes or any of the more prosaic "fanaticism") I do own, and am grateful for all of the works that Christopher published:
"Silmarillion", far from being eye-straining, I found to be a wonderful, delightful and very interesting work. Far from being too long or complex, I felt it was too brief, found many of the stories fascinating, and could only have wished for a fuller portrayal of the stories.
"Unfinished Tales" was equally pleasurable, albeit in a far different manner. Rather than complete stories, many chapters are "passages" of stories that were present in Silmarillion, but here are more "fleshed out" and much of this writing is poetical, lyrical, pictureqsue, and quite enthralling. (I cannot fathom NOT having been able to read the passage about Ulmo and his appearance before Tuor by the shores of Vinyamar!) Other chapters are either incomplete stories that we published nowhere else, or background information that is fascinating to the Tolkien fan. (Certain passages in "The Mariner's Wife", most especially the King's reading of GilGalad's letter and his thoughts thereafter are perhaps some of the most poignant sentences on "Military Preparedness" and how it affects a nation and civilization -- perhaps topped only by Tolkien's own LoTR short sentence in Samwise Gamgee's reflections on seeing the dead Haradrim. And as JRRT was a first-hand veteran of the horrible trench warfare of WWI, he KNEW the consequences of what he wrote.) Other passages in this latter work are perhaps less sanguine, but it is simply fun to learn a bit more about Queen Berúthiel and her cats; nor any less about the [previously unknown] Druedain; and about Alatar and Pallando, one can only wish for more, yet be grateful that Christopher deigned to publish these "bits and pieces" Is it for everyone? No. But much literature has limited audiences.
I care NOT one whit for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and or "Lolita" and consider them worth less than the paper they are written on; but if others want to read them, then so be it.
RE: Author's Intent -- as I stated above, it specifically WAS the intent of JRRT to his son Christopher (CJRT, his youngest son, BTW) in particular that he should act as his literary estate executor, and that CJRT should exercise his own judgement as to how and what to publish.
As too licensing for movies, etc. I am not certain if you are complaining that CJRT refuses to license more material for movies, or somehow believe him to be at fault for the recent LoTR movie licensing?
If the former, then as a fan of the author, in the main I am in agreement with CJRT's dislike of this. While I have some appreciation to Peter Jackson for having given me some "moving life-like illustrations" in his LoTR series of movies, I really wish that he had not massacred the material even to the extent that he did (albeit it could have been FAR WORSE in others hands, I shudder at what a "Disney" would do with the material.) Yet, I would love nothing more than to see the "Aldarian & Erendis" story made into a full-blown epic movie or mini-series -- the story certainly has the potential for wonderful scenery and powerful character interaction. But whether anyone could be trusted to make such a movie without turning it into a fiasco or adulteration is questionable (witness the adulteration of a movie that was "Earthsea" licensed from U.K. LeGuin's wonderful series -- so bad I couldn't bring myself to view past the first 5 minutes. Do the screenwriters even bother READING the source materials... egads!) So I can praise CJRT's refusal to license anything further -- indeed his father really only licensed Hobbit and LoTR because he needed the cash for tax purposes -- and instead can live with the movie version of "The Mariner's Wife" that lives in my mind.