Quote:Geoffrey Blum: Letters from the Duck Man. Part Four: From Duckburg to Middle-Earth. [Excerpts from Barks' correspondence with Malcolm Willits, Don Thompson, and Barbara Anderson (1963, 1965) on J. R. R. Tolkien and other themes. Includes a reproduction of Barks' letterhead of the 1980's and a sketch of a hobbit for Barbara Boatner (1965).]

J'adore le plastron du Hobbit de Barks... le détail qui tue

Quote:...there is no doubt that both Barks and J.R.R. Tolkien commanded large and loyal followings at this time. The youth of America were turning on to Middle Earth in droves: I recall maps and posters for sale in every head shop around the university campus in Berkeley, and buttons proclaiming in Elvish: “Frodo Gave His Finger for You!”

Carl Barks à Barbara Anderson le 8 octobre 1965 Wrote:I have gotten into the first volume as far as the departure of Bilbo after the banquet at Bag End. How does an author dream up all those genealogical characters (and places), and how does he keep them all filled in their proper slots in his head unless he is a genius? And at this stage I’m prepared to call J.R.R. Tolkien a genius with no strings attached.
Seems to me I detected a little social satire in the descriptions of the various characters at the banquet—especially in the manner they showed gratitude for the free vittles. Quite a bit like the between-the-lines barbs of P.G. Wodehouse.
These books are my first sample of Fantasy Fiction. [...] And to find that Tolkien deliberately slants the stories at adult readers makes me do a double take. Yet he repeatedly stresses the point that his Hobbits are creatures of fantasy. Somehow I’d gotten the idea that Fantasy Fiction was for kids only, and that Science Fiction was the type that authors slanted at adults.

Carl Barks à Barbara Anderson le 8 octobre 1965 Wrote:“Those long one-shots about Donald and Scrooge [stir] that ‘sense of wonder’ that is missing in most fantasy fiction.”
Get that fantasy fiction. Here’s another quote:
“You created a fine world of fantasy—yet the adult humor through it made it realistic, too. And the faults of your characters made them lovably human.”
Get that fantasy ... adult humor ... lovably human. I’ve always looked upon the ducks as caricatured human beings. Perhaps I’ve been twenty-three years writing in that middle world that J.R.R. Tolkien describes, and never knew it.
Anyway, I’ll be watching author Tolkien as I read his involved stories. I suspect that somewhere he’ll let slip a line that shows he really is writing about caricatured human beings.

Carl Barks à Barbara Anderson le 28 décembre 1965 Wrote:I’ve been disturbed by the feeling that I’d entered the epic drama of hobbitry along in the second act, and had missed all the introductions. This copy of the original Hobbit story should give me the necessary background.
The author, Tolkien, continues to amaze me. How he keeps track of such things as the random thoughts of some minor character eighty or two hundred pages back is spooky. Maybe J.R.R. Tolkien is really Gandalf in a human disguise. What a world he has created, and all without the use of self-important homo sapiens.
Old Uncle Scrooge and Donald continue to bustle around in their demi-human element. I’m not about to try to get deep and complex with their stories. Tolkien’s style is far beyond my capabilities. I’m going to coast the rest of the way downhill to retirement as lazily as I can.