Myrdet med ord

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) var engelsk, men af tysk afstamning. Da hans bog "The Hobbit" udkom den 21. september 1937, tiltrak den sig forskellige forlags opmærksomhed verden over, og mange ønskede at udgive den på deres sprog. Et af de interesserede forlag var det tyske Rütten & Loening, der skrev til ham i 1938 - dvs. efter Hitlers magtovertagelse, men før Anden Verdenskrig - og tilbød ham en udgivelseskontrakt. Det var dog en betingelse, at han kunne stille med en attest på sin ariske oprindelse, noget, der ville have været nemt for ham, men et ønske, som han reagerede stærkt imod af ideologiske grund.

J. R. R. Tolkien engang i 1940'erne

Som altid med ordet i sin magt satte han sig ned og skrev et svar til det tyske forlag, der den dag i dag er berømt som et perfekt "myrdet med ord"-brev.

Gengivelse af brevet fra den 25. juli 1938:

"Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject - which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung."

Som en person, der selv er ret god til at være ondskabsfuld, bøjer jeg mig i støvet over denne elegance. "Tolkien rules", som de siger "over there", og man kan lære meget af hans overlegne brevstil. Ikke bare var han en god akademiker, der f.eks. lærte sig finsk for at kunne læse nationaleposet "Kalevala" på originalsproget, men også fik en forbilledlig universitetskarriere. Manden var belæst, fordi han var skruet sammen, som han var, og ikke fordi nogen holdt pisken over ham, hvilket beviser hans intellektuelle stade.

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https://theconversation.com/how-to-invent-a-tolkien-style-language-57380 

 

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_29 

 

https://www.good.is/articles/jrr-rolkien-nazi-letter 

 

https://flashbak.com/jrr-tolkien-letter-nazi-the-hobbit-1938-429966/