Goodbye Christopher, Goodbye Walter

(I seem to be in a somewhat elegiac mood, given that most of my blog posts of late have been reflective on the previous year, but with 2020 still close in our rear-view mirror, I think it's okay.)

The Inklings: Tolkien, Lewis, and Charles Williams

2020 was so full of preoccupying dumpster-fires that I wasn't able to fully acknowledge two deaths that, I believe, need further acknowledgment. Among the many notable figures we lost in that year of year were two figures who should go down in the annals of literary history as significant contributors to literary history, even though, they themselves, were not great writers. 

I'm, of course, talking about Christopher Tolkien and Walter Hooper. 

Last January, Christopher Tolkien passed away on January 16th, 2020.

Christopher J.R. Tolkien

When the news broke of his passing at the age of 95, the world of Speculative Fiction literature (rightfully), wept. For those to whom this name is unfamiliar, Christopher Tolkien was the son of the late, great J.R.R. Tolkien, his youngest son, to be exact. When Tolkien died in 1973, Christopher became his father's "Literary Executor." To the lay people, that's the person designated with the responsibility of determining what's to be done with the remaining manuscripts left behind after an author dies. 

And poor Christopher had his work cut out for him. 

With the help of his friend, writer Guy Gavriel Kay, Christopher Tolkien's first task was to bring The Silmarillion, what you might call the "Old Testament" of the world of Middle-Earth, into publishable form. And he did so.

In subsequent years, Christopher oversaw the editing and publication of many of his father's unpublished works. A quick list of Middle-Earth related works include Unfinished Tales, the 12-Volume The History of The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin. 

Additionally, he and his wife Baillie Tolkien, edited other non-Middle-Earth works, such as The Monsters and the Critics, The Father Christmas Letters (specifically edited by Baillie), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur, and a recent translation of Beowulf. 

Tolkien's written output was very small in his lifetime, but his son, Christopher's work ensured that interest in The Lord of the Rings and all Middle-Earth related material persisted in the years following his passing. Some of the pieces, particularly Tolkien's letters, offer us great insight into the process behind the writing. Each work has given Tolkien super fans greater understanding of his work and his world, and without Christopher's effort, we wouldn't have it.

So, even now, nearly a year removed from his passing, we can be appreciative for his life. 

We must also acknowledge and remember the life of another such literary figure, who left us only this past December.

 At the age of 89, Walter Hooper left us on December 7th, 2020.

Walter Hooper

Hooper, an American scholar and admirer of C.S. Lewis (J.R.R. Tolkien's fellow Inkling and good friend), and his work, took up his role as "Literary Advisor" to the Lewis estate in 1963, a full decade before Christopher took up his work. Hooper had no familial connection to Lewis. He was merely a massive fan of his work.

Out of that admiration bloomed a friendship in the last year of Lewis' life. 

In 1963, Hooper went to Oxford, England to meet Lewis, who had been the subject of a book by Hooper previously. They'd corresponded for several years before that in the late 50s and early 60s (Lewis was a prodigious letter writer), and Hooper finally got the chance to meet the man he admired. 

Upon meeting, the two took to each other like a seed to rich soil, and their friendship grew.

For a brief period, while Hooper's visa lasted, he even served as Lewis' personal secretary, helping him answer his copious mail. When Lewis died (the same day as JFK in November 1963), Lewis' living friends asked Hooper to come back to England to act as his literary estate's advisor. 

In a famous exchange the two had just before Lewis died, Lewis believed that, 3 years after his death, his books would fade to oblivion. Hooper said they wouldn't.

"Why not?" asked Lewis.

"Because," Hooper said. "Your books are so good, and your readers are not that stupid."

When Hooper came back to England, however, it looked as though he could've been wrong. When he walked into a bookstore in Oxford, he looked at a nearby remainder table and saw piles of Lewis' books stacked on it. This sprung him into action. After hearing from a publishing insider that, "A new book helps to sell old books," he rummaged through Lewis' remaining papers to see if he could find anything to keep Lewis' legacy alive. 

And boy did he find a lot.

Beginning with a volume titled Poems, which collected a number of C.S. Lewis' lyric poems, Hooper then published a slew of other books. Among them, 4 volumes of collected Letters, covering most of Lewis' life, compendiums of literary essay, such as Of Other Worlds and God in the Dock, a volume of diary titled All My Road Before Me, and unpublished fiction such as The Dark Tower & Other Stories.

These publications kept interest in Lewis alive, and kept his old books in print. Each time a new book came out, Hooper insisted two old books that were out of print be brought back into print. In our age of eBooks, it's hard to imagine that a book could ever go out of print now, but in the 60s, once it was gone, it was gone. So, in a slightly sneaky way, Hooper's premonition did come true--but likely only because he was there to make sure it did.

History doesn't often remember the people who helped to cement the legacies of important figures. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are, whether you like their work or not, important literary figures in the 20th Century. But, we should also remember and pay homage to those who made sure their memories remain fresh in our minds.

Goodbye, Christopher. Goodbye, Walter. And thank you to you both.