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A Real World, a Pseudo-History

© Douglas Charles Rapier

When asked the query, which ever-niggles at the grey-matter of scholars of literature and scribblers of literary criticism, "What is the 'Lord of the Rings' about?", JRR Tolkien answered that its real theme was 'Death and Immortality'.

This declamation would be difficult to reconcile as the theme of trivial, fantasy literature by most readers of 'serious' prose. 'The Lord of the Rings' is not about the 'real' world, they might say (and have said), it is about elves and dwarves (sic) and little half-people, magic rings, dragons and comic-book bad-guys: fairy stories all dressed up in archaic lexicon and antiquated syntax and set in an imaginary world. They might further contend (and have), that JRR Tolkien's body of work, while well-intentioned, is no more suitable for the discussion of the philosophical and spiritual themes of death and immortality than are the tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

On that second point, they are spot on - but for the inverse reason: fairy stories most assuredly are suited for the examination of these themes. Therefore, the tales of Andersen are precisely as befitting as Tolkien's to pursue the philosophic and spiritual themes. (I would humbly ask the indulgence of the reader to allow the writer to forego presenting further arguments and citing additional references here in support of this idea. You might refer to the article posted for this topic in September, 2003. Thank you. Most kind of you.)

That the works of Tolkien are about elves and dwarves, et. al. is also true. The personages through which Tolkien tells his tales are not ordinary blokes looking for romance or career advancement as one would find populating most books by modern writers. However, just as the characters of mainstream literature serve to exemplify aspects of human nature and qualities of the human condition, so too do the orcs, wizards, men and hobbits of Middle-earth.

The widely held notion that Middle-earth is not a 'real' world, was refuted by no greater an authority on the matter than Tolkien himself. In response to W.H. Auden's review of 'The Lord of the Rings'(written for his own satisfaction apparently as they were never published before his death nor sent to Auden), he wrote:

"Middle-earth is not an imaginary world. The name is the modern form (appearing in the 13th century and still in use) of midden-erd > middle-erd, an ancient name for the 'oikoumene', the abiding place of Men , the objectively real world, in use specifically opposed to imaginary worlds (as Fairyland) or unseen worlds (as Heaven or Hell). The theatre of my tale is this earth, the one in which we now live, but the historical period is imaginary." ('The Letters of JRR Tolkien'; entry #183)