He was the last of the Inklings, as well as one of the few remaining combat veterans of World War II.
He will be missed -- all the more so as time passes and the magnitude of his achievements come to be fully appreciated.
I'm glad I got to meet him,
both humble and proud that he entrusted me with editing one of his father's works,
and always delighted when a letter from France would arrive at certain intervals, addressed in the most beautifully legible handwriting I've ever seen.
The world is a sadder place now that there will be no more of these.
5 comments:
A very sad day indeed.
I very much appreciate his efforts in publishing his father's works. LOTR and The Hobbit would not be such rich worlds if it would have ended with those 2 books.
He was the indispensable man, presiding over the golden age of Tolkien scholarship, which ended with his death.
Dale Nelson
"and always delighted when a letter from France would arrive at certain intervals, addressed in the most beautifully legible handwriting I've ever seen.
The world is a sadder place now that there will be no more of these."
Oh, my, indeed. Although, sadly, I never had the privilege of meeting him in person.
"one of the few remaining combat veterans of World War II."
I am certainly in awe of the man but was he a combat veteran? I've tried to figure out his service record, there is little biography on Christopher Tolkien sadly, but he seems to have completed pilot training as the war in Europe was ending. Pilot training during World War II was itself rather hazardous, the casualty rate amongst students was significant, please do not think I am questioning his bravery. But unless you are aware of information i haven't seen (which is very likely!) he wasn't a combat veteran.
Of course, many, perhaps most of the British civilians were, in a real sense, combat veterans thanks to the various bombing campaigns. :(
Regardless, his scholarship will be missed. :(
Paul: you are correct; CT returned to England in March 1945 as the war in Europe was winding down. He became one of a number of newly-minted RAF pilots who were transferred to the Navy's Fleet Air Arm, in anticipation of the invasion of Japan which never took place. But CT never advanced as far as aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings before the war ended.
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