Comments Elsewhere

Here’s the quotation, as promised. It’s from letter # 294, on 8 February 1967 to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, who had interviewed Tolkien for the Daily Telegraph Magazine and sent him a draft of their article in advance of publication. He commented on their quotation of him as saying, “I don’t read much now, except for fairy-stories,” by saying:

“For ‘except,’ read ‘not even.’ I read quite a lot–or more truly, try to read many books (notably so-called Science Fiction and Fantasy). But I seldom find any modern books that hold my attention.”

Tolkien adds a footnote to this:

“There are exceptions. I have read all that E. R. Eddison wrote, in spite of his peculiarly bad nomenclature and personal philosophy. I was greatly taken by the book that was (I believe) the runner-up when The L.R. was given the Fantasy Award: Death of Grass [by John Christopher]. I enjoy the S.F. of Isaac Azimov [sic]. Above these, I was recently deeply engaged in the books of Mary Renault; especially the two about Theseus, The King Must Die, and The Bull from the Sea. A few days ago I actually received a card of appreciation from her; perhaps the piece of ‘Fan-mail’ that gives me the most pleasure.”

As far as the Letters go, unfortunately I can’t find any reference in the index to Verne. The index entry for H.G. Wells turns up only a passing reference to Eloi and Morlocks (#109, 31 July 1947) in a letter about the prospects for publishing The Lord of the Rings.