[Orofaniel]

As has been pointed out here, this foreword was written about 10 years after the appearance of LotR: what in that time has Tolkien decided his book is 'about'??

That is an interesting question. Although I've read the foreword several times, I cannot quite find an answer.

As Alatariel said, that Tolkien wanted to write a background history for his Elvish tongues is rather interesting. I think it's interesting because it shows how dedicated he was to his works. We all knew that he was dedicated, but by writing this I'm even more convinced. It's spectacular how he wanted to write a background history for the languges he created, if it really was why he wrote it.

It's written later in the foreword that Tolkien himself used a long time writing this story. He says:

In spite of the next five years I found that the story could not now be wholly abandoned, and I plodded on, mostly by night, till I stood by Balin's tomb in Moria. There I halted for a long while.

This was certainly not a book that was written in a rush, something we already know. However, I think this means that the history wasn't fully definite before actually writing it. Since there is obviously a long time by each of his "writing-periods" I see nothing but that he has been a bit influenced by his own life - for then maybe to use that in his story? I'm not quite sure. He writes this later though:

An Author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience.