J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of the beloved Lord of The Rings series, was in the habit of responding personally to many fan letters—no matter how trivial the query. Eventually, the encroaching presence of Tolkien’s followers would affect his lifestyle: he and his wife Edith were forced to change addresses and phone numbers to avoid his fans. Here, a mere two years after the trilogy’s publication, Tolkien answers a typical inquiry.
J.R.R. Tolkien to an Inquiring Fan (Mr. Britten)
5 November 1956 [76 Sandfield Road, Headington, Oxford]
It is plainly suggested that Elves do ‘sleep’, but not in our mode, having a different relation to what we call ‘dreaming’. Nothing very definite is said about it (a) because except at a length destructive of narrative it would be difficult to describe a different mode of consciousness, and (b) for reasons that you so rightly observe: something must be left not fully explained, and only suggested.
From The Almost Unpublished Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Natalia Prokhorova.
Available online at http://tolkienguide.narod.ru/promet/A_U_Letters.pdf.
FURTHER READING
Find here a BBC Interview with Tolkien, speaking from his home in 1968.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/writers/12237.shtml.
For some a curveball, find here “The Ten Most Unlikely Things Influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien.”
http://io9.com/5966492/10-most-unlikely-things-that-were-shaped-by-jrr-tolkien