The
life, influences, and works of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien are absolutely
amazing. Of course, it only took me rereading The Hobbit and The Lord
of the Rings thrice and taking a college course dedicated to the subject,
but better late than never I suppose. Besides the massive cult following
created by the two movie series adaptions of the aforementioned books,
Tolkien’s lesser known works and essays have had a profound impact on how
certain genres and works are viewed today. Whether it his essay defending the
importance of fairy stories despite their general relegation to the children’s
section, his essay tackling his contemporaries’ opinion of Beowulf, or the many
literary aspects of his works concerning Middle Earth, Tolkien’s life and writings
would be effectively taught in classes at a variety of scholastic levels, not
just college.
Though a tad meandering in a way
that tempts you to reread the entire last page to see if you missed something,
Tolkien’s essays are fascinating, especially since many of them have left a
remarkable impact on the academic world. “On Fairy Stories” is no exception,
especially given the context for the essay. Tolkien had originally written it
to present to a lecture concerning Andrew Lang and his published collections of
fairy tales. Tolkien’s speech critiqued Lang’s inclusion of certain stories as
fairy stories, and he equally criticized the idea that fairy stories can only
be purely enjoyed by children. On the contrary, Tolkien’s analysis seems quite
right – fairy stories are a genre only a portion of the population can enjoy,
whether child or adult. In addition, the mythic portions of fairy stories, the
stuff that most modern adaptions attempt to remove for the sake of children,
are essential to the essence of the fairy story. Case in point, Tolkien’s
favorite fairy story, The Juniper Tree, is about how a boy is killed by
his stepmother and is served as food to the rest of the family. The boy is
reincarnated as a bird, and through a series of events he kills the stepmother
and transforms back into a boy. Truly, anyone who says fairy stories are purely
for children has never read the Grimm’s fairy story collection.
Another one of Tolkien’s essays, “Beowulf:
Monsters and Critics”, may perhaps be the primary reason why Beowulf is
even taught in schools at all. Before Tolkien’s influential essay of 1936, most
of the readership of Beowulf consisted of history scholars, who
critiqued the work based on its historical merit. In fact, so much criticism
had been written on how poor of a source of historical information Beowulf
was that Tolkien claimed that the story had been buried beneath it. Thus,
Tolkien expounded on the importance of the poem as a work of literature,
pointing out that the story was created on the cusp of great cultural change,
as tales associated with the old gods become mixed with the Old Testament via
the introduction of Christianity. Contrary to critics, having two monsters at
the beginning and end is not problematic for the story, as it emphasizes the
theme of man’s inevitable mortality in the struggle against chaos and its
agents, a struggle that inevitably ends in defeat. So for anyone in high school
who complains about having to read Beowulf, you have no one to blame
except Tolkien (and yourself).
Finally, besides Tolkien’s numerous
essays, one can hardly promote the study of Tolkien’s works if they do not
discuss his larger, more famous works – that is, The Silmarillion, The
Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. While teaching all three of the
aforementioned works would be nigh impossible to do in a semester or academic
year, the masterful writing of Tolkien means at least one them deserves to be
read and studied at some point in one’s academic career. For there are so many
things to glean from the books, regardless of one’s religious beliefs or prior
knowledge of history. However, given that the author of this column is both a
Catholic (who may possibly be bemoaning the fact he gave up multiple things
this Lenten season) and an avid fan of history and the life of Tolkien,
analyzing the literature from a Christian mindset and historical context is
currently a blast.
Take The Silmarillion for
example, in particular” Ainulindalë” and “Valaquenta”. The story
of the creation of Middle Earth not only shows the depth of Tolkien’s
dedication to the world-building of his story, but it also demonstrates an
appreciation for the historical religions he studied. Reading between the lines
of the story of the Valar, Maiar, and forces of Melkor, one can find numerous
influences from Greek, Roman, Germanic, and Norse mythology. Through all these
pantheons, however, one also sees a skillful entangling of Catholic tradition.
For example, the choir of Ainur, the Valar, and the Maiar almost tie in
perfectly with traditional angelology, with the aforementioned groups possibly
representing the first, second, and third spheres of angelic hosts.
In the end, one could go on for ages
– the theme of the significance of the seemingly insignificant, the effect of
friendship and tragedy during the Great War on Tolkien’s writing, how Tolkien’s
time helping compile the Oxford English Dictionary shaped his writing of Farmer
Giles of Ham – but that is quite enough. In short, even if Tolkien’s works
do not become standard public school curriculum, one should still make the
effort to read his major works at least once in their life. The road goes ever
on and on…
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