I assumed Tolkein died a couple years after finishing LOTR. Instead he lived another 25 years. Why didn't he write other actual books if he had all this lore to draw from?
>>25558355He spent them writing said lore and trying and failing to get something decent out of itHe truly was the first ad ultimate /sffg/ fag pioneering all the most frustrating failings of the genre despite his lofty ambition of writing a modern English epic
>>25558355He tried to publish his lore, but publishers at the time didn't consider it interesting enough. He would write to fans saying he was trying to get the Silmarillion published and was going to diffrent companies asking. It ended up not coming out until 4 years after his death and then his son published the rest. Why no one would publish his lore, I don't know it's pretty retarded on the part of publishers seeing as to how well it ended up doing.
>>25558355There were attempts. He had ideas for a LOTR sequel but never liked it and he had a challenge with CS Lewis to write a time travel story that he never got around to. The fact of the matter is Tolkien was just a very slow writer. Even LOTR took him AGES to get out. And honestly how are you gonna follow that up anyways.
Is there anything from the History, Unfinished Tales etc. that is worth reading? I've only read the main trilogy and the Silmarillion.
>>25558355tolkien was an ideas guy. his only good book, the hobbit, was ghost written by his editors 8 year old son
>>25558507Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales 1 and 2
Well he translated Beowulf, at least.
>>25558507Everything.
>>25558355I thought his Christian apologetic stuff came from the later years. Also simularion series.
>>25558355He wasn't a full time writer and did it as a hobby
>>25558355He retired from writing and academic life a few years after he published it, though he did continue to work on translations of obscure middle english manuscripts and did some collaborative work on a major new bible translation project in the mid '60s.
