Years before I had rejected as disgusting cynicism by an old vulgarian the words of warning given me by old Joseph Wright.

“What do you take Oxford for, lad?”

“A university, a place of learning.”

“Nay, lad, it’s a factory! And what’s it making? I’ll tell you.  It’s making fees. Get that in your head, and you’ll begin to understand what goes on.”

Alas, by 1935 I now knew that was perfectly true.  At any rate as a key to dons’ behavior.  Quite true, but not the whole truth. –Letter to son Michael Tolkien on November 1, 1963.

But I fear that an Air Force is fundamentally irrational thing, per se.  I could wish dearly that you could have nothing to do with anything so monstrous.  It is in fact a sore trial to me that any son of mine should serve this modern Moloch…  In any case, it is only a kind of squeamishness, perhaps, like a man who enjoys steak and kidney (or did), but would not be connected with the butchery business.  As long as war is fought with such weapons, and one accepts any profits that may accrue (such as preservation of one’s skin and even “victory”) it is merely shirking the issue to hold war-aircraft in special horror.  I do so all the same… –Writing to Christopher Tolkien on December 18, 1944

Tolkien objected to defining fairies as “diminutive” and re-invented (recovered?) elves as heroes of great stature.  He then authored heroic men who were much the same.

But then he invented out of thin air a diminutive creature and had them save the world.

And they did it with some help from the giant heroes because they treated these “halflings” with respect.

“Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certification of ‘arisch’ origin from all persons of all countries?” –Tolkien to his publishers writing about a letter from a German publisher inquiring if he was of aryan origins.

“I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.” –Tolkien to the German publishing company (though Stanley and Unwin may have sent a letter without this comment).

YouTube – John Tolkien on “The Hobbit”.

Transcript:

The actual beginning, though it was not really the beginning, but the actual flash point was – I remember very clearly I ?? I took umm I still see the corner in my house in 22 Northmoor Road ??. I got an enormous pile of exam papers there, and uhh markings.. examinations.. summertime?.. it was enormous… very laborious. And unfortunately it was boring. And I remember picking up a paper and actually throwing.. I nearly gave an extra mark for it, an extra five marks actually – there was one page on this particular paper left blank – glorious – nothing to read. So I scribbled on it – I can’t think why: “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit.