[CLUE-Talk] Tolkien and allegory

[Dennis J Perkins]

I remember reading Tolkien's assertion that he strongly disliked 
allegory.  The fact that some people think they see allegory in Lord Of 
The Rings doesn't mean that he used it.  He was an expert on Anglo-Saxon 
literature and also knew Celtic, Finnish and Germanic myths.  He had 
plenty of material to work with in creating Middle Earth, so it is 
natural that sometimes there are similarities.

While it is true that he was a devout Catholic, he also did not like 
people trying to read Christianity into Lord Of The Rings.  Calling LOTR 
a profoundly Christian myth is absurd.

Tolkien created languages and crafted peoples and stories around those 
languages.  He started doing this when he was still a student.  He 
incorporated some of that into The Hobbit, and even more into LOTR.  If 
you want to see this in great detail, read Silmarrilion and the set of 
Book of Lost Tales.  You might want to read other books as well, such as 
Leaf By Niggle.  And read his scholarly writings as well.

Sean LeBlanc wrote:

>Last week at the pre-study group dinner, someone mentioned that Tolkien
>didn't like allegory. I just remember being stunned to hear that. In
>retrospect, I shouldn't have been - I do remember that he denied some of the
>symbolism that people have since attributed to his work. Even Hemingway has
>done similar stuff, though, IIRC: saying his stuff had no symbolism in it.
>If Hemingway's stuff was "just" about, for example, an old man fishing, it
>wouldn't be revered all that much. (I'm sure old Ernie isn't revered all
>that much anymore as it is due to his macho persona...I could see some of
>the feminists sharpening the knives when I was in uni back in 1991 - but
>that's another story). But I think I'm garbling up the terms "symbolism" and
>"allegory".
>
>Anyway, I thought I'd go googling for this since I had never heard that
>Tolkien hated allegory. It seems an odd position for him to take since he
>was supposedly a devout Christian. Anyway, found this:
>
>http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/zenit-tolkien.html
>Should probably take this with a grain of salt given the source, though. 
>
>Note this part especially:
>
> Q: Do you think this was Tolkien's intention?
>
> Pearce: There is no doubt that "The Lord of the Rings" is a profoundly
> Christian myth, but that is not the same as saying that it is an allegory.
>
> Tolkien disliked allegory because he saw it as a rather crude literary form.
> In an allegory, the writer begins with the point he wishes to make and then
> makes up a story to make his point. The story is really little more than a
> means of illustrating the moral.
>
> Tolkien believed that a myth should not be allegorical but that it should be
> "applicable." In other words, the truth that emerges in the story can be
> applied to the truth that emerges in life.
>
> There is, therefore, a good deal of truth in "The Lord of the Rings" even
> though its author never set out intentionally to introduce it allegorically.
> This is, perhaps, a subtle distinction but one which Tolkien believed was
> important. 
>
>
>I found the opening question amusing:
>
> Q: There have been criticisms of some fantasy stories because of their
> allegedly pagan orientation. Do you see Tolkien's works as being part of
> this genre or is it different? 
>
>Huh? Doesn't Christianity itself have some conspicuously placed holidays and
>traditions that derive from "paganism"? Anyway.... 
>
>
>Hope everyone had a Happy Festivus.
>
>  
>