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Fantastical Fictions

Thank you for this. I just re-read (for the "nth" time since I was 17) the Lord of the Rings. The narratives from your stories reminded me of the scene toward the end of the "Fellowship of the Ring" when Frodo has put on the ring and sits on the "Seat of Seeing." What he sees, though, causes "all hope" to leave him. But he hears a voice, another thought "Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!" Frodo too saw everything and it was very dark. And the light did shine in the darkness. Wonderful, really, how all these stories meld together.

Christine Gilson
Trinity
Kansas, USA
20 June 2015

 

Thank you for this most excellent letter on finding new messages and personal lessons in fiction. I always like to reread The Phantom Tollbooth—a children's fairy tale by Norton Juster. The book is not only full of clever wordplay (everything is a pun or a play on words or ideas) but, as became more evident on further readthroughs, emphasizes how you can't just let life happen around you and hope something will happen, you have to make your own adventures and take control of your life. Like you said 'We Are Here' and we need to work to 'fight the dark thing'. And we can. But its up to us to decide to get off the hamster wheel and do it.

Thanks your reminding me of some favorite books and deeper meaning within them!

Claire Stanton
Birmingham, AL, USA
21 June 2015

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.