An Experiment with Dreams

 I believe that considering J.R.R. Tolkien as a reader of An Experiment with Time can help us understand why Tolkien’s world felt for him—and countless readers—real. 

Traditionally, one could understand this “reality” of the story due to its basis on semi-historical events. “The Lost Road” is based on the legend of the Lombards, and the characters of the story existed at some point; this is described in great length as a commentary by Christopher Tolkien (The Lost Road and Other Writings, “The Lost Road: Commentary on Chapters I and II). Similarly, Tolkien describes the “beginning of the legendarium” as “an attempt to reorganize some of the Kalevala” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 163). One could say that basing his own legends on existing legends and basing his own language on multiple existing languages makes Tolkien’s world feel more real. Even though modern understandings of legends tend to refute their accuracy, many agree that the bases of these stories are real, which makes legends at least partially real. 

But this isn’t what Tolkien seems to think, because Tolkien does not see himself as a creator of this world, but instead as a finder of it, as someone who brings his findings to light. One could call Tolkien an archeologist, who finds a deep, hidden truth and makes it public for all to see. 

In The Notion Club Papers, we are introduced to a group that creates stories, presumably fiction, but we are told by one of the characters, Ramer, that his seemingly fictitious stories are, in fact, real. As Ramer says, “I’ve never gone anywhere…But I suppose I could say that I’ve been in places…Yes, I’ve been to several strange places” (Sauron Defeated: The End of the Third Age, The Notion Club Papers, Part One). Tolkien himself is able to make at least part of the The Notion Club Papers real, since the end of the novel predicts the “Great Storm” of 1987, although the date of the storm is off by a few months. So, one could say Tolkien’s dream of the storm was largely accurate—that it was a vision or a prediction. Dunne’s work in An Experiment with Time is described as an account of precognitive dreams, or dreams which predict the future—the end of the The Notion Club Papers could be considered a precognitive dream.

And these types of dreams are present in much of Tolkien lore. For instance, take Boromir’s inspiration to head to Rivendell, a dream in which he hears a voice saying, 

Seek for the Sword that was broken: 

In Imladris it dwells; 

There shall be counsels taken

Stronger than Morgul-spells.

There shall be shown a token

That Doom is near at hand,

For Isildur’s Bane shall waken,

And the Halfling forth shall stand. (The Lord of the Rings, Book II, Chapter 2)

It is Boromir’s belief in this dream that forces him to search for said sword, upon his father’s counsel going to meet Elrond at Rivendell. It is indeed true that the Sword that was broken is in Rivendell (Imladris); it is accurate, as well, to say that Isildur’s bane (the One Ring) wakens again, i.e. is exerting its power, on Sauron, Gollum, and Frodo alike. Now, take instead Frodo’s dream in Tom Bombadil’s house, where he dreams of Gandalf’s rescue (LotR, Book I, Chapter 7; Book II, Chapter 2); Frodo’s dream is one of the past—a past whose memory he doesn’t have. Tolkien’s account of dreams can appear to be visions, showing fractions of the past or future, in the case of Boromir even becoming a prophecy. In a way, Tolkien’s distinction of dreams or visions is blurred, since visions are shown to sometimes be inaccurate and dreams are shown to be sometimes extremely accurate. As Galadriel Notes, “Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them” (LotR, Book II, Chapter 7). 

I believe that Tolkien’s explanation of dreams in his works, as well as his following of An Experiment with Time, can help explain why Tolkien believes that his stories were “given” to him, that he simply recording something that “was already 'there', somewhere: not of 'inventing’” (Letters, 131). Tolkien has a dream (which he includes in his writings) which is also dreamt by his son (Letters, 180); it would make sense then to think of the dream as containing some innate truth, of seeing or accessing another world through these dreams, such as it is described in The Notion Club Papers. But why is it that only this dream should be true? If this one dream is shared by others, it is possible that some of his other dreams are as well. And, if Tolkien believes dreams are real in this instance and that these are real also for hobbits, then is it possible they are real also for his own dreams of the Middle-earth? That is, it is possible that, since Tolkien considers his “creation” to really be findings, that he then believes these findings are real and that he has some sort of special access to these findings, since he has access to the Middle-earth and its languages. 

It may be that only Tolkien had the original access to this world, that no one else had a dream quite like his before his writings were released into the world. But, while we might have been once shut off from this world, Tolkien has given us a portal to access the Middle-earth through his books, a sort of palantíri that shows us a world far away, but in the past, or a Mirror that shows us a vision of what has already passed.

- CB