Talking Tolkien

So, over the last few months I’ve been looking at what SF&F books we suggest new users; who got us into fantasy and which books they got us to read. Unsurprisingly JRR Tolkien got mentioned a lot. A few people grumbled that I’ve a lack of respect for the classics. Personally, as a blogger I’ve largely focused on new books – for me its far more interesting to see what the genre has to say about today than seventy years ago; books that reflect the much more diverse world. This doesn’t mean I’m quite adverse to what Tolkien created and his impact on the genre but I’m probably not an uncritical bystander thinking his way is the only way. As is often the case I asked the twitters for their views on him and it’s a fascinating mix and thought it would be useful to use some views to tackle my own.

But first my story as to how old JRR got me

It was a summer TV showing of the animated Lord of the Rings movie that first got him on my radar. This is a weird sumptuous treat of a film with some lovely voice action and some really cool use of rotoscope to produce strange imagery. Tiny problem…it ends midway just after Helm’s Deep which does unfortunately leave a few questions. The helpful TV announcer did do a few minutes of explaining what would happen next but it’s not quiet the same! My childhood memory is fuzzy as to the order of events that led me to then trying to find out more of the story. I think I read the Hobbit once – it was OK but no real strong memories either way. I do recall Sunday afternoons listening to the BBC radio drama - it’s quite effective and I think I have the CD version somewhere which is worth a look (but not sure I finished it). This leads nicely to my ten year plus quest to read the book. I think I definitely started to try to read this before I’m ten – my library had some lovely hardbacks with a glorious pull-out map – I remember loving the map. But I never cracked it. I would find the chapters explaining Hobbits a tad dull; I may get to the birthday party, but the slow pacing got me. I never got through page 80…. but it nagged me. Being more an SF fan at the time who loved tv shows of magic and adventure I felt I was missing out. I wasn’t led to this by family it was just something we were sort of expected to read. Years passed and in uni I saw a lovely paperback version (with the great David Howe pic of Gandalf striding the hill) and I’m finally able to have a long break and I tried to read a hundred pages a day. I was committed!

Firstly, I skipped any section that was academic prologue; I skipped songs, Tom Bomdabil and if a paragraph seemed to be just boring me with landscape description, I read it super quick. But I finished it and I was so so glad to go on that journey. It’s a really interesting book – one I have not read at all since circa twenty years later. I loved the movies by the way - they felt to me to capture the bits of the story I loved.

So, based on that what does Tolkien mean to people?

What did the Twitters say? The whole thread is here https://twitter.com/runalongwomble/status/1236656269655773186?s=21

A common view was that this was an important element of fantasy but not always an enjoyable one to read. Others like me not found it a book they bounced off hard to read as teen but returned to and enjoyed later reading. We recall being frustrated but gradually seeing it as its own thing and very different to what fantasy now is. Some praised his use of what we now see as PTSD the fact that the author fought in WW! Others noted it’s dated roles for women and people of colour. Many disputed he was a good gateway for new readers

Several noted him as a historical academic work and for some it’s been the source of their thesis, degree and career! Tolkien’s worldbuilding was often felt without equal while others noted its still got traces of the British empire running through it and some coded racism and colonial thinking. For me I have to say my trip into Middle Earth a book I’ve not read for years still haunts me from Weathertop to the Shire to the dark places in Mordor – these places stay in your mind many years later – always a mark of good writing.

Many people got in touch to say how work saw them through illness and many other issues becoming a a personal totem to carry. I agree it’s a fantastic way to see hope out of dark places and it was interesting to see that his work is even now used to help war veterans with PTSD. Gandalf’s quotes on mercy and seeing dark times are words that will always mean something to me

Others noted fondly that he was effectively a generational book passed from parents to kids. I think less so in my case, but I was aware that fantasy fans were expected to read him while others note how he perhaps is used to eclipse many peers of the time who happened to be women. For me my biggest issue with those calling him the father of fantasy is the genre is more than the subgenre of epic and he is an academic elderly British white guy giving his us his view of what a fantasy tale needs to be - other views are always available and often more interesting.

Some notable responses were from authors - Matthew Ward sees it as a classic but notes that we need to accept that it has aged and not always aged well. The writer Ruth de Haas described Tolkien as a timeless fable and praised the complexity of characters and storytelling. Tolkien is clearly still influencing authors today. Some felt without Tolkien you’d have no Pratchett, martin etc although I would say neither to me quite feels like Tolkien in approach or worldview

My favourite comparison is Isaac Newton from @joan_of_arc who wisely notes that if you study physics and some other subjects that Newton is a core study text but notes that for many people you don’t read Newton’s Principia to get the best understanding of modern. That to me really works. I would struggle to say Tolkien is no longer relevant that his approach to worldbuilding and the emotional trauma of characters I think is a huge part of epic fantasy, but I think subsequent writers have used and improved the concepts. I doubt any time soon I shall pick the book up but I can see the movies and one day those CDs played again and again – its hard to imagine fantasy without him but I’m way more interested what he build on the shoulders of the giant.