The Single Greatest (Publishing) Tragedy in Tolkien's Life (yet another rant)

[Lalwendë]

I get the sense from reading Tolkien's Letters that he never really considered any of his Middle Earth work to be truly finished. In Letter 109, written in 1947 to his publisher, he says of LotR:

The thing is to finish the thing as devised and then let it be judged. But forgive me! It is written in my life blood, such as that is thick or thin; and I can no other. I fear it must stand or fall as it substantially is. It would be idle to pretend that I do not greatly desire publication, since a solitary art is no art; nor that I have not a pleasure in praise, with as little vanity as fallen man can manage (he has not much more share in his writings than in his children of the body, but it is something to have a function); yet the chief thing is to complete one's work, as far as completion has any real sense.

He makes a postscript:

Talking about revising The Hobbit. Any alteration of any radical kind is of course impossible, and unnecessary. But there are still quite a number of misprints in it. I have twice, I think, sent in lists of these, and I hope they have been corrected this time. Also there are minor errors, which the researches of fans have revealed, and some closer attention of my own has discovered. I wish there could be a chance of putting them right. I enclose a list again.

He also makes similar statements in Letter 271, talking of the revisions for the American edition (1965).

Bearing in mind that Tolkien was not a career writer such as we have today, he was in fact holding down a demanding academic job, and despite his capacious intellect he did not also have the luxury of modern computer systems which could cross-reference his works, it is not at all surprising that in work of such complexity some errors or inconsistencies might occur. Tolkien was clearly also a perfectionist, even something of a pedant, and coupling this with the fact that creating Middle Earth was his lifetime's work and as such must have held deep emotional significance to him, the actual 'letting go' of any work to be published must have been difficult.

I am not at all surprised that so much of his work went unfinished in the sense that he never deemed it ready for publishing and wished to revise it. It makes me wonder if he had the immortality of an Elf would he ever have got anything published or would still have been perfecting it!

Tolkien however was a mortal like the rest of us, and his life experience would be different as he aged, so it does not surprise me that his later work is more contemplative, even slightly esoteric, as he faced up to life's biggest question when he entered old age. For myself, I like this later work as it raises more questions than answers.

There is one statement he made in the letter mentioned above which stood out for me as a member of the Downs:

Also there are minor errors, which the researches of fans have revealed

If the internet had been around when Tolkien was alive, would he have ever reached the sense of semi-satisfaction which enabled him to 'let go' of his work? Would we have had multiple versions of the books? Looking at the way we examine the detail of the films, and thinking about how much more we examine the books, Peter Jackson actually got off lightly.