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New essay on MERP.COM - Hobbitry-in-Armchairs: Philandering Tolkien's Philology

April 25, 2005 at 18:39:46

An armchair investigation of tongue-in-cheek or pen-in-hand Biblical passages which might have, could have, would have, never did, and may still be influencing Tolkien preternaturally, posthumorously, or sincerely. In plain English, "As Coroner I must aver I've thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely dead, she's truly most sincerely dead." Your mileage may vary. Tax, tags, and title are not included. Real Hobbits don't eat cram. This cliched space for rent.

In Letter 165, written for the Houghton Mifflin Company (J.R.R. Tolkien's American publisher) on 5 June 1955, Tolkien explained himself for the sake of future "enquirers" who would need reference to material about Tolkien's background and to elaborate on some points he had made in a letter written to Harvey Breit of the New York Times, because Breit's article had left Tolkien feeling defensive and misrepresented. Breit had quoted Tolkien at one point as saying, "I am a philologist, and all my work is philological. I avoid hobbies because I am a very serious person and cannot distinguish between private amusement and duty." Concerning this point, Tolkien wrote in Letter 165:

If I might elucidate what H. Breit has made of my letter: the remark about 'philology' was intended to allude to what is I think a primary 'fact' about my work [The Lord of the Rings], that it is all of a piece, and fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. The authorities of the university might well consider it an aberration of an elderly professor of philology to write and publish fairy stories and romances, and call it a 'hobby', pardonable because it has been (suprisingly to me as much as to anyone) successful. But it is not a 'hobby', in the sense of something quite different from one's work, taken up as a relief-outlet. The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the language than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. I should have preferred to write in 'Elvish'. But, of course, such a work as The Lord of the Rings has been edited and only as much 'language' has been left in as I thought would be stomached by readers. (I now find that many would have liked more.) But there is a great deal of linguistic matter (other than actually 'elvish' names and words) included or mythologically expressed in the book. It is to me, anyway, largely an essay in 'linguistic aesthetic', as I sometimes say to people who ask me 'what is it all about?'

It is not 'about' anything but itself. Certainly it has no allegorical intentions, general, particular, topical, moral, religious, or political. The only criticism that annoyed me was one that it 'contained no religion' (and 'no Women', but that does not matter and is not true anyway). It is a monotheistic world of 'natural theology'. The odd fact that there are no churches, temples, or religious rites and ceremonies, is simply part of the historical climate depicted. It will be sufficiently explained, if (as now seems likely) the Silmarillion and other legends of the First and Second Ages are published. I am in any case myself a Christian: but the 'Third Age' was not a Christian world.

While Tolkien's stress on the lack of allegorical intentions in his story has merited much hemming and hawing among commentators, his allegory-like elements are usually held to be applicable to allegorical interpretation by reverent scholars and as conspicuous examples of Tolkien's double-dealing by less respectful writers. Nonetheless, even the most deferential observers cannot help but notice parallels between Tolkien's stories and numerous sources such as The Bible. For though the world of Third Age Middle-earth is clearly not Christian in detail, it is nonetheless proto-Judaic and pre-Christian in design. The "good guys" know there is a God and they generally abide by the guidance of his emissaries, the Valar (and their representatives, including the Istari).

Read the full essay here: http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/copy_of_hobbitryinarmchairs