Write a note to the person above you II

Madam Freckles,

*Pats Madam Freckles on the shoulder*

Most sincerely,

The girl who has no idea why she's patting Freckles on the shoulder when Freckles specifically requested Glen
 
Dear Rainshadow,

I'll pat you for patting Freckles. Double pat if Freckles read Tolkien's translation.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Freckles,

I actually want to ask Glen about Tolkien's translation, but you're above me, so I suppose I ought to write you a note instead. Here's a note. Be nice to it.

Sincerely,
Lossy.
 
Dear Lossy,

I'm sorry I came between you and Glen. You have my permission to address the next note to Glen.

Also, I don't like notes to be too self-referential, so I should add some content to it. Hmmm... Whatever happened to the ship in your avvy, Lossy?

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

She ditched it a long time ago. She always did lack enthusiasm for sailing to Valinor....

You're not reading Gawain in translation? Good night. *indistinguishable muttering about English majors*

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glen,

My lack of enthusiasm is none of your business! If I like to spend my life blowing sparkly things at things instead of sailing some ship for who knows how long to some magical land, that's my decision. I like blowing sparkly things.

How was Tolkien's translation?

Lossy.
 
Dear Lossy,

I don't know how his translation was; I haven't got it yet.

The only good reason I can see for you not wanting to sail to Valinor is the concern that you aren't allowed there and would be struck dead. But at this point, thanks to the roundness of the current world, if you got to Valinor at all, it would only be because you were accepted. "Blowing sparkly things at things"? What are these things?

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glen,

It's a well-known characteristic of people who like sparkly things that it doesn't matter what exactly is sparkly. The main point is that it's sparkly. I pity those people exceedingly, though I admit that Lossy's avvy is very tastefully sparkly.

Too many ys.

By the way, I read Tolkien's lecture about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on the train. I hope that in this way I can regain some of your esteem.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

You never lost esteem, actually, you just got a sort of injured awe. But you also get extra points for reading that lecture, which I also haven't read yet....

Your psychology of sparkle-love is piercingly accurate. Perhaps you should start a psychology class for four-year-olds? Call it Sparkles and the Modern Mind.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

You're all in favor of corrupting people early in life, aren't you?

I would have thought you'd read that collection of Tolkien's essays (The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays), because you know all about Welsh and Bewoulf etc. I don't think I would have liked Tolkien as a lecturer, though - his lectures are too jumbled, and he keeps apologizing for not being a good lecturer or not being proficient on the subject. I enjoyed his inaugural lecture though or whatever you call it. You need to read it. But I probably don't have to tell you that.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

I've read his Beowulf essay because it was available online, but I haven't gotten that book yet. I think I tried to order it once, but something happened...I need to try again. Yeah, I've heard that he wasn't a very good lecturer. Poor man. My mother, who hates fantasy, thinks that Tolkien looks like he would have been a nice sort of person.

Yes. I am completely in favor of corrupting people early in life. I am planning on reading Beowulf to my 11-year-old brother in the near future.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

Actually, the only alternative to corrupting people is to keep them in ignorance, so I'm not completely against corruption. It just needs to be the right sort of corruption, and I don't think Beowulf will hurt your brother's innocence. I crinkle my nose at people who say they're against children being indoctrinated by fill in the blank-ists. It just means they want them indoctrinated with the doctrine which they prefer themselves.

Actually, Tolkien was a rather crabby old man, judging from his letters. He was nicer when he was younger. Conversely, I prefer C. S. Lewis's later works and imagine I would have liked the older Lewis better than the younger.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

I am sympathetic to some of Tolkien's crabbiness, so I find it sort of endearing. Though it may come across better in written form than it would in real life. I agree about the older Lewis, however. I don't have his younger letters, but his older letters are nice. Reams of insight. They're way better than the last volume of T.S. Eliot's letters that came out. I asked for it by mistake--the critics and I are in unison agreeing that most of the letters in the collection could have been left out.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

I haven't read Lewis's letters yet, unfortunately. Actually, my conscience is a bit uneasy about reading collections of letters whose publication wasn't explicitly approved by the authors. Have you considered the question?

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

I've only thought about that in regard to my letters. I'm a very selfish person. In general, however, I'm more inclined to think about the loss to mankind if really good letters aren't published. And Lewis's letters are really good. (So are Flannery O'Connor's.)

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

I am currently reading a copy of C.S. Lewis's Letters to Children. They are truly wonderful letters, and I am reminded yet again of why I like him so much. He did not speak to or interact with children as if they were inferior, and was always very respectful. The book has been great so far, and I'm glad I have the chance to read it, since it's the only copy in the library system. It was added to the collection in 1980, to a branch that either got renamed or no longer exists, and is so old that it has a card slip in the back. I'm impressed that it has survived thirty-five years, even though it's terrifying to face the fact that 1980 was really that distant.

- D
 
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