Kevin's Watch

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p021jx7j

I have to admit that I've never heard any Tolkien audio before.

I wanted to punch the interviewer several times though.
Nothing like arguing with the author about the meanings of his work.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I have to admit that I've never heard any Tolkien audio before.

I did get the chance to see him just the once, when I was at college learning to write. He was part of a BBC documentary (video) with lots of other writers talking about writing.
When Tolkien was on the interviewer asked him about Lord of the Rings, and he answered by saying he had received a letter from a woman who had TB. He then proceeded to fumble through his pockets to see if he could find it.

Have you any idea how many pockets there are in a tweed suit. There must be at least half a dozen in his trousers, the same again in his waistcoat, and twice that many in his jacket. He spent the whole interview going through his pockets.

And that was that. He never did find it, and we never got to know what it was. I must say, I was left with the impression he had either drank one too many mushroom tea, or else he had a very dry sense of humour. Take your pick!

I watched the interview recently and had more the impression that the interviewer was trying to draw him out rather than to contradict him.

Tolkien gave the impression very much that his approach to writing the LOTR was entirely pragmatic; a case in point was his explanation of how the ring served as a connection point between the earlier work (The Hobbit) and the 'sequel' that he was encouraged to write by his publishers. It was, it seemed to him, the natural point of connection that could be made between the two. As regards any kind of allegorical interpretation of the work, he was scathing. He didn't like allegory, he said, and was simply in the business of telling a story. Yes,he had used his knowledge of earlier human sagas and the like to furnish him with some models to work with, but this was natural for any writer of stories, to use the tools at his disposal to form the framework around which to build his narrative.

Of the criticism in respect of the minor role that women play in the work, he was dismissive; it was a story of war and conflict, he said. He felt that the women that were featured were of sufficient 'presence' to be apposite to the story and there was no requirement to extend the presence of the female gender beyond those who do feature in it. In respect of the apparent absence of sexual activity/needs in the main protagonists, he pointed to Galadriel as being a being capable of arousing such feelings (certainly Gimli became besotted with her) and was clearly happy with the level of such involvement as he had achieved on this front.

He was clearly a man happy with the 'feudal arrangement' of society (in the broader sense of having a monarch, aristocracy and descending order of hierarchical privilege) and he confirmed that the work was reflective of this.

All in all he comes across very much as a product of the times and social milieu that he was part of; a practical man who for fun had played around with the workings of language, and had almost accidentally found himself drawn in a direction that he could not have foreseen at the time of his starting. He was philosophical about the fact that in all likelihood it would be for his works of fiction that he would be remembered rather than for his not insignificant contributions to the field of his academic study - this was just the way things were, he said, and all in all did not seem dissatisfied with his lot.

He has given a great deal of pleasure to a great many people, and not many of us can claim that. More power to his elbow!