More! More! More!

[Boromir88]

I can never figure out how to open a thread, so I think I'm just going to delve right into this. Basically I want to ask is it better for you to only read about 'glimpses' of stories (The Lord of the Rings) or are you driven by a curiosity for 'more?'

In the late 1930's Tolkien had wanted to publish The Silmarillion along with the Lord of the Rings. But, as his publisher Rayner Unwin later explained The Silmarillion was not in a 'presentable publishing format.' And only the Lord of the Ring's was published. And after the Lord of the Rings gets out to the public, there is an outcry for more. They want to hear more...because the Lord of the Rings is filled with 'glimpses,' glimpses of past stories, we get brief looks of the past. So, with the outcry Tolkien starts to revise, revise, and more revising, on the Silmarillion, trying to get it all inmeshed and tied into the Lord of the Rings. A big intricate web, making sure everything fits into the story and there's no big glaring contradictions. However, around in the 1960's he just abandons it. He just stops and leaves The Silmarillion to rest. I've always found this curious, as he had pushed to get it published with the Lord of the Ring's, than spent years and years trying to get it to all fit together, but then he just stops and abandons it.

Tolkien began to doubt this undertaking of revising the Silmarillion, and it seemed he started to grow weary of 'getting it ready.' In a letter dated September 20, 1963:

I am doubtful myself about the undertaking [to write The Silmarillion]...'

And earlier in this same letter:

I am afraid all the same that the presentation will need a lot of work, and I work so slowly. The legends have to be worked over (thy were written at different times, some many years ago) and made consistentl and they have to be integrated with the L.R.; and they have to be given some progressive shape. No simple device, like a journey and a quest, is available.

Lay all of that on top of the unceasing amount of Letters he got of all kinds of people wanting 'more, more, more'...in a letter to H. Cotton Minchin:

... while many like you demand maps, others wish for geological indications rather than places; many want Elvish grammars, phonologies, and specimens; some want metrics and prosodies.... Musicians want tunes, and musical notation; archaeologists want ceramics and metallurgy; botanists want a more accurate description of the mallorn, of elanor, niphredil, alfirin, mallos, and symbelmynë, historians want more details about the social and political structure of Gondor; general enquirers want information about the Wainriders, the Harad, Dwarvish origins, the Dead Men, the Beornings, and the missing two wizards (out of five).

Compounding everyone's desires for 'more, more, more' it appears Tolkien came to the realization that this would actually 'destroy the magic' of the stories. And is remarked by Tom Shippey:

'One quality which [The Lord of the Rings] has in abundance is the Beowulfian 'impression of depth', created just as in the old epic by songs and digressions like Aragorn's lay of Tinuviel, Sam Gamgee's allusions to the Silmaril and the Iron Crown, Elrond's account of Celebrimbor, and dozens more. This, however, is a quality of The Lord of the Rings, not of the inset stories. To tell these in their own right and expect them to retain the charm they got from their larger setting would be a terrible error, an error to which Tolkien would be more sensitive than any man alive.'

And following along Shippey's thoughts, going back to the September 20th Letter:

'Part of the attraction to The L.R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city glaming in the sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new attainable vistas are revealed.'

Lord of the Ring's is filled with glimpses of the past, and that drove a desire for readers of 'more, more, more.' But, I think Tolkien felt like the 'unknown' is the greatest magic. We have these brief looks into the past, through songs, poems, accounts, and that right there is the attraction. And to actually go there, and explore those stories further, would 'destroy the magic.' This is exactly what he was doing with the Silmarillion, it was to explain more, and give more, to his readers of LOTR, wanting to hear more about the stories of Beren and Luthien...etc.

So, are you somebody who likes the 'glimpses' we get in LOTR? Is that what makes the story 'magical.' Or are you driven to wanting 'more, more, more' , because of these 'glimpses?' And after reading the Silmarillion, 'going to the untold places, people...etc' did it destroy that magic (for you) that is established in The Lord of the Rings?