John Ronald TOLKIEN. 1892-1973. Author

John Ronald TOLKIEN. 1892-1973. Author
Typescripted letter, signed with 2 autographed words to “Mrs Jeronémides”. Oxford (Merton College), June 14th, 1973. 2 ff. in-4.
Correspondance with his Italian translator about his work, The Hobbit
John Ronald TOLKIEN. 1892-1973. Ecrivain.
Lettre tapuscrite signée avec 2 mots autographes à « Mrs Jeronémides ». Oxford (Merton College), 14 juin 1973. 2 ff. in-4.
Correspondance avec son traducteur italien à propos de son œuvre The Hobbit. Il ne connait pas assez bien l’italien pour pouvoir l’aider dans la traduction du chapitre 10 de son livre. Il lui donne plusieurs conseils qui pourraient l’aider dans son travail ; il lui suggère notamment de ne pas traduire les mots étrangers et de les garder dans leur sens original. (…) Your translation seems to me as you say fluent, and close enough to the original. As for the geography, it is odd but perfectly possible. I actually drew a picture of it which shows precisely the location I imagined. This is not in the paperback edition (…). With regard to the names of mythological creatures, Elves, Gnomes, Trolls, etc., I think is is useless trying to search for words in another language to translate them. I should have thought it would be best to do what the English (for example) has done: simply borrow the words with a slight adaptation to the language of translation. The actual story must then reveal to the readers what kind of creatures they are. I have in fact myself used the name “Elf” for creatures that have very little in common with the prevailing tradition of Elves in English. “Troll” is not an English word (…). I suggest you should follow the English example of borrowing the word “Troll” and making it into either “Trolle” or “Trollo”. “Gnomo” should be avoided because it is not originally a mythological word at all but derived from Paracelsus (…). Etc.