Blurbs That Never Were (RIchard Burton on Tolkien)

So, here are a few more unexpected people writing on Tolkien for the 1966 Tolkien-themed issue of DIPLOMAT magazine:

First up, here are a few more blurbs that never were drawn from this material:

"the great mythic work of our time" (Timothy Leary)

"Tolkien is one of the great writers of our time" (Richard Burton)

"a book of great charm and poignancy" (Howard Nemerov)

"in one essential respect the work is unique as far as I know: 

a version of the Quest in which the object is not to get 

but to get rid of; not to possess, hence not to be possessed." 

(Howard Nemerov)

And then here are three more pieces to go with the alreadly-posted Leary, in their entirety:

Richard Burton

I consider, and have considered for some years, that Tolkien is one of the great writers of our time. Despite my love and loyalty to T. H. White's The Sword and the Stone, Professor Tolkien searches even deeper. In a different way my children enjoy his works just as much.

Senator Wm Proxmire

DIPLOMAT Magazine's recognition of the unique talents of Mr. Tolkien is another sign of his growing popularity with children and adults alike. Long may his literary qualities wave.

Howard Nemerov

As Mr. Auden (I think) said of The Lord of the Rings when it first came out, there's no middle way: you either love it or you somewhat coldly detest it. (Edmund Wilson, about the same time, argued the second course, though I found it hard to believe we had both read the same work.)  I've read it several times, at long intervals, and once took a closer view of it with my students: have always found it a book of great charm and poignancy in its melancholy stoicism and delicate equivocations among child, man, beast and other beings, the entrancing distance that allows it to be a political fable—the truest poetry is the most feigning!—as well as a story about growing up, or about refusing to grow up and having in consequence the best of Middle-earth, though the best be none too good. I much admire the ingenuity and consistency of the working-out, even to the historical and scholarly apparatus, and remark that in one essential respect the work is unique as far as I know: a version of the Quest in which the object is not to get but to get rid of; not to possess, hence not to be possessed.

 --of these, I'd say the Nemerov is the most thoughtful (sounds like he actually taught LotR at one point, which I hadn't known before) and Proxmire's the least (given that you can't tell if he actually read the book or not).  There are a few other pieces from misc. folk (e.g., President Johnson's older daughter), but these four are the most striking.

--JDR
recent/current reading: Pratchett's UNSEEN ACADEMICS (a dud) and RAISING STEAM (better, so far), Aaronovich's RIVERS OF LONDON, BOOK FOUR (a highly readable series; recommended), and A HISTORY OF THE VYNE by Chaloner Wm Chute (1888; facsimile reprint).

P.S.: Thanks to David Bratman for pointing out (in his comment on my previous post) that Burton was a friend of one of Tolkien's friends and fellow Inklings: Nevill Coghill.
--John R.