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A REMARKABLY REVEALING LETTER: TOLKIEN DISCUSSES HIS SPECIFIC FEARS ABOUT THE TWO TOWERS AND DEFINES "THE FOUNDATION" OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND CONNECTS IT TO HIS LIFE'S WORK. The Fellowship of the Ring (the first volume of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) was published on July 29, 1954. There were a number of rave reviews (mostly notably from Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis) but there were also enough harsh or critical assessments (particularly the reviews in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times) to concern Tolkien and make him anxious about the reception of the second volume, The Two Towers. Professional reviews were one worry, but Tolkien always seemed even more eager to discover if his works connected with "regular" readers as well. One such reader whose opinion he held in high regards, was one of his early supporters, Miss F.L. Perry, whom he had corresponded with earlier about The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The present letter was written on November 22, 1954 -only eleven days after the publication of The Two Towers - but the opening of the letter implies that Tolkien has already written her for her thoughts on his new book ("I did not mean to put you to any trouble") and has been eagerly awaiting her reply. Then, in a revealing passage that gives insight into Tolkien's thinking on potential failures of The Two Towers, he confesses that he worried about how his readers would accept the return of Gandalf (who was presumed dead at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring), and more generally, "would feel a falling off on a failure of their expectations," or "feel they had had enough after the novelty had worn off, and perhaps regret the decrease of hobbitry and elfishness as the darkness increases and war and terror come out of the East." With relief - and evidently pleased with Miss Perry's previous response - he writes that "All this is answered! Though by no means all are so satisfied by Gandalf." It's clear that Miss Perry was curious to learn more about Tolkien's writing and the history of Middle-earth, for Tolkien then goes on a wonderful digression first focusing on The Lord of the Rings before shifting to a discussion of his previously published work grounded in Anglo-Saxon history (noting, interestingly, that he is at his best when he is writing "verses arising from the emotions of a story, and written to represent the feelings of other 'characters' than myself"). He concludes with an important statement identifying the theme that unites all his work, both reality-based and fantasy-based. The historical work, he writes, "is really on the theme which has always engrossed me and is the foundation of 'The Lord of the Rings': the noble and the ignoble. For hobbitry you have the plain farmer-soldier; for the chivalry, a young minstrel or poet." He concludes his letter with the hope that Miss Perry will stay with him through volume III, "when all the complicated plot, and many characters, must be drawn together." The text reads in full: Nov. 22nd 1954 Dear Miss Perry It was very nice indeed of you to write; but I did not mean to put you to any trouble, specially not when unwell. Still, I was anxious about one or two points: specially about the return of Gandalf; and generally whether my friends would feel a falling off on a failure of their expectations; or feel they had had enough after the novelty had worn off, and perhaps regret the decrease of hobbitry and elfishness as the darkness increases and war and terror come out of the East. All this is answered! Though by no means all are so satisfied by Gandalf. However, all the reviews of the T.T. so far have been good, and Edwin Muir (Observer) is much less patronizing. As for the Chronicles: it has been impossible to include all that I have written or sketched out in this book. But there is really quite a lot of stray information about Arwen scattered about. It was the northern Númenórean realm of Isildur with its capitals at Annúminas and Fornost of which a good d.
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