Quote:
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[A] young man who, on finishing reading LotR, simply began reading it again. Tolkien's response was 'I've ruined their lives'. Did he want to try & prevent that kind of reaction - tell people, 'Look, its entertainment, it has no 'meaning', don't look to it to sustain you in these 'darkling & ominous times'. Its just a 'story' I made up, its only there to entertain you.'
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I rather suspect,
davem, this could possibly be another example of Tolkien's self-deprecatory wit. He loves poking fun at himself, as do, actually, many academics, but of course I shall have to find this in the Letters and spend many hours pondering the nuances and the particular correspondent to whom he was writing, and possibly consider the various definitions of 'ruined' in the OED before I offer a fully reasoned argument. Who knows, maybe he meant "runes their lives" as in planning out a secret code for them.
