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... and I had little hope that other people would be interestied in my work, especially since it was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary background of 'history' for Elvish tongues.
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So, I s'pose he is saying that his reasoning for writing Lord of the Rings was to give a world for the Elven language to exist. In the Introduction of Quenya (Which can be found at
Ardalambion Thank'ee Lindolirian, for the link
) it gives the following quote:
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...what I think is a primary 'fact' about my work, that it is all of a piece, and fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. [...] It is not a 'hobby', in the sense of something quite different from one's work, taken up as a relief-outlet. The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. I should have preferred to write in 'Elvish'. But, of course, such a work as The Lord of the Rings has been edited and only as much 'language' has been left in as I thought would be stomached by readers. (I now find that many would have liked more.) [...] It is to me, anyway, largely an essay in 'linguistic aesthetic', as I sometimes say to people who ask me 'what is it all about'. (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 219-220)
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The bolded section focuses more on what I am trying to get across. There he is also saying that the Lord of the Rings was written, not for the story of it, but for his languages to have a place to exist. What do the rest of you think?
Dispite the fact he wrote such a beautiful story, just amazing, it was all just so his language could have an existance. When I first read this, I was amazed. It took me awhile for it to sink in.