The University of Notre Dame
Tolkien's Catholic Imagination: Mediation and Tradition
Author(s): Thomas W. Smith
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Religion & Literature, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Summer, 2006), pp. 73-100
Published by: The University of Notre Dame
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TOLKIEN'S CATHOLIC IMAGINATION:
MEDIATION AND TRADITION
Thomas W. Smith
1. Introduction1
In a letter written in 1958, Tolkien says, "there are a few basic facts
[aboutmyself]which . . . are reallysignificant.I am a Christian(whichcan
be deduced from my stories)and in fact a Roman Catholic,"(L 288). Yet
how are we to understandTolkien'sclaim that TheLordof theRingsis "a
fundamentallyreligiousand Catholicwork"?(L 172).Whereis the religious
sensibilityin the book?Afterall, thereare no religioussanctionsforbehavior
in any of the culturesTolkiencreates.There are no culticpractices,except
perhapsfor a brief moment of silence before meals in Gondor.The story
happensbeforeChrist'sbirth,and has nothing to do with historicalChristianity.None of Tolkien'scharactersanticipateChristexplicitly.2
One intuitiveapproachis to read the story allegorically.A second is to
arguethat Tolkien'sunderlyingCatholicsensibilityinfluencedthe ways he
employedsymbolism,theme, or narrativestructurein his fiction, and go
on to mine the books to find examples.3Yet Tolkiendiscouragedboth. In
the Forewordto Lordof theRings,he writes,
I cordiallydislikeallegoryin all its manifestations,and have alwaysdone so since
I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history,true or
feigned,with itsvariedapplicabilityto the thoughtand experienceof readers.I think
R&L 38.2 (Summer2006)
73
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that many confuse"applicability"
with "allegory";but one residesin the freedomof
the reader,and the other in the purposeddominationof the author(LoR 7).
So Tolkien'sreligiousimaginationdoes not workby settingup a one to one
relationshipbetweenhis characters,events,or plot devices,on the one hand,
and hisbeliefson the other.In addition,Tolkiendislikedthe notionof seeking
to understandthe meaning of a workprimarilythroughits influences.4
CertainlyCatholicslikeTolkienbelievein sacraments,priesthood,tradition, apostolicsuccessionand the like.The questionis not merelywhether
those things are thematizedor symbolizedin his fiction. In some sense, of
course,they are. Rather,the questionsI am concernedwith are, "Whydo
people like Tolkienbelieve in these thingsin the firstplace?Is there something behind or underlyingthose particularbeliefsthat can illuminatehis
fiction?"It seems that such particularbeliefs point to deeper convictions
about reality.That is, theseparticularbeliefsbespeakan existentialorientation towardsGod and the worldthatilluminateseveryaspectof experience.
Religiousbelief is not merelya matterof holdingcertainpropositions.More
deeply,it is a way of standingin and walkingthroughthe world.Moreover,
it is a way of allowingoneself to be transformedby thatseeingand standing.
Theologian RobertBarronremarks,
Christianityis, above all, a way of seeing. Everythingelse in Christianlife flows
fromand circlesaroundthe transformationof vision. Christianssee differently,and
that is why their prayer,theirworship,their action, theirwhole way of being in the
world have a distinctiveaccent and flavor.What unites figuresas diverseasJames
Joyce, Caravaggio,John Milton, the architectof Chartres,Dorothy Day, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer,and the later Bob Dylan is a particularand distinctivetake on things,a
style, a way,which flowsfinallyfromJesus of Nazareth.(1)
So belief is not only a matterof assentingto particulardoctrines.That is
a dimension of religiousbelief, but it is probablynot the most important
one. Peopleassentto particulardoctrinesbecausethey see realitythrougha
specificlens. They believe in these realitiesbecause they believesomething
aboutreality.5In this vein Tolkiensays, "I have not put in, or have cut out,
practicallyall referencesto anythinglike "religion,"to cults,or practices,in
the imaginaryworld.Forthe religiouselementis absorbedinto the storyand
the symbolism"(L 172). That is, he refusesto place any particularreligious
practicesor doctrinesinto his storiesbecause they would only obscurethe
vision as a whole. So when we ask, "Whatis Tolkien'sCatholic Imagination?"we are asking,"Howdo CatholicartistslikeTolkiensee the worldand
how is that vision incarnatein their art?"6As FlanneryO'Connor wrote,
a Catholicworkof fiction is "one in which the truthas Christiansknow it
has been used as a light to see the worldby" (Fitzgerald173).
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THOMAS W. SMITH
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Perhapsthe most intuitiveapproachesto the issue of Tolkien'sCatholic
imaginationfail because they are not ambitiousenough. Even as Tolkien
denies that his story is allegorical,he emphasizesthat it is applicablebecauseof its historicalform.The historicityof Tolkien'sworkresistsboth the
typicalmoralismof allegoryas well as the impositionof the author'sviews
on the reader.Tolkien'sobjectionsto allegory have to do with its limited
capaciousness.Allegorylimitsthe scopeof the reader'simagination,placing
restrictionson how to apply the stories.Tolkien'spoint is partlythat if the
authoruses allegory,he or she is limitingthe readers'freedomto allow the
author'svision to transformtheir experience.Yet Tolkienalso invitesus to
think broadlyabout the applicabilityof his storiesto that experience.In
a work suffusedwith a religiousvision of the world, the artistilluminates
and informsevery dimensionof his or her experiencethroughthe lens of
belief.7Put anotherway,Tolkien'sstoriesimparta vision of human life and
the world;readingthem places a responsibilityon us that goes beyond the
uncoveringof the originsof symbolsand themes to a ruminationon the
visionthatthe artdiscloses.Understandinghis Catholicimaginationrequires
a kind of lectiodivina.
Let me suggestthatone of the thingsthat definesa Catholicimagination
is a senseof mediation.If we want to understandthe way Tolkien'sreligious
visionsuffuseshis writings,we have to understandthe way mediationworks
in a Catholiccast of mind. To see realitythroughthe lens of mediationis
to assentto the notion that God is manifesteverywhereand in everything.
It is to believethat God'screativeactivityis not somethingthat happeneda
long time ago and then ceased.Further,a Christianbelief in creationis not
a belief in a scientificdoctrineor in a particularhistoricalevent. Rather,it
is to hold that thereis an ongoingrelationshipbetween God and the world,
wherein the divine abundanceat the heart of the Trinity sustainsand is
manifestin the orderand beauty and goodnessof the cosmos aroundus.8
To look at the worldthroughthis lens entailsbelievingthat everythingand
everyonewe encounteris a vehicle or a go-betweenfor divine presence.If
everythingand everyonein Creationbespeaka Creator,then everythingis
a kindof sacramentof divinepresence.ForCatholics,as for all Christians,
Christis the ultimatemediator,and in a sense nothing else compareswith
Him. YetpreciselybecauseCatholicshold that God-in-Christredeemedall
aspectsof creation,everythingelse can be seen as an analogousmediator
as well, includingthe writer'sart.9At least, this is Tolkien'sconviction.10
One way of understandingthe place of Catholicismin Tolkien'sfictionis
to explorethe meaningof mediationin his work.Perhapsthe mainproblem
with this strategyis a surfeitof materialto choose from.All sortsof things
mediate meaning in Tolkien'sart: certain characters,11nature, sacrifice,
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wisdom, stewardship,suffering,weakness,contingency,hierarchy,mercy,
failure,justice, death, and pilgrimage,to name but a few. To shortenthe
argument,I will focusmy attentionon the mediatingrole of tradition.This
providesan opportunityto examine some of the most seriouscriticismsof
Tolkien'swork. Further,some of his centralthemes are cast in a different
light when consideredthroughthe lens of tradition.
2. Traditionand EurocentricImperialism?
One explanationfor the appealof Tolkien'sfictioncan be foundin contemporaryreaders'identificationwith the experienceof losing a tradition
that providesan overarchingsense of meaning.The Hobbitand the Lordof
theRingsdrawthe readerin by elicitinga sense thateven theirrichalternate
realityis reallyjust a smallwindow onto a largerstoryfrom a golden past.
As the hobbits engage their quests, they meet ancient tales, poems, creatures, architectureand traditionsthat bespeaka lost culturegreaterthan
anythingin theirpresent.Most read Silmarillion
preciselybecausetheywant
more informationabout all this. Yet the Silmarillion
evokes the sense of a
fragmentarywhole, compiled by a redactorat the end of the Third Age
who is strugglingto get the bits and pieces of the storystraightbeforeelves
departforever,leavingthe worldpermanentlydiminished.Nicholas Boyle
writes,
The Lordof the Rings.. . has been able to provide symbols of some of the decisive
public experiences of the twentieth century as many, indeed most, of that century's
narratives have not. The alliance of its dark forces with the powers of mechanization,
authoritarian discipline, mass society, and environmental desolation has provided an
imaginative vocabulary, however schematic, for generations of dissenters... More
subde is its portrayal of the experience of coming after a period in which a unified
system of life and belief held sway, of stumbling across survivals of memories or
past meanings. Most significant of all, because it is deeply felt, is its depiction of the
experience of historical change of the transition from one age to another and of
the cost to those who are called on to live through such a crisis. That experience has
been virtually universal in the twentieth century (265). 12
Does all thisregrethelp explainthe creativeforcebehindthe storyas well
as its appeal?Does it point to a sublimateddesireto returnto the safetyof
a wombliketradition,born from an inabilityto deal with the pain of real
life?As one Freudianreviewof Lordof theRingsputs it,
Occult systems always look impressively difficult from the outside... This is one
reason people find them so attractive. Something different, some special form of
knowledge, just for me. But the system turns out to be tremendously easy to get
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THOMAS W. SMITH
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grips with. Every bit joins up with every other bit, which is of course not surprising, given that these are artificial creations, and this is exactly what they were
designed to do. This is why occult systems appeal to vulnerable people. You can
feel secure inside them, no matter what is going on in the nasty world outside. The
mere weakling can be master of this cosy little universe. Even a silly little furry
hobbit can see his dreams come true. . .
Was Tolkien. . . trying to recover his lost parents, his lost childhood, an impossibly prelapsarian sense of peace? When he discovered he could not have it in
this world, did he turn his energy to building a new universe in which he might?
(Turner 12)
Tolkienhimselfidentifiesescapeas one of the main attractionsof fantasy
(FS 147fi).Suchescapemightbe consideredrelativelyharmlessif pursuedin
private.Yetin some readings,Tolkien'sdramatizationof his regretexhibits
a will to power that exacts revengeon those who threatenhim. Moreover,
his flightfrom the pain of his youth feeds a longing for the securityof imperial Christendom,with its overarchingsense of meaning and purpose.
Afterall, in Tolkien'smap of Middle Earth,Mordorand its alliesmore or
lessline up geographicallywith Islamicand northAfricannations;while the
Shire correspondsroughlywith England,Gondor with Rome (or perhaps
Vienna, one bulwarkof western Europe in its strugglewith Islam).Does
Tolkien'sfiction appeal to those whose disillusionmentwith globalization
and multiculturalismfinds revenge in a tale of western Europeanheroes
slaughteringdehumanizedores and dark-skinnedpeople fromthe south?13
Is Tolkien'sregretover a loss of the Christiannarrativein WesternEurope
and Americarelatedto a Eurocentricimperialismencoded in his fiction?
Does Tolkien'scelebrationof the western traditionimplicitlyadvocate a
resurgentwesterncolonialismagainstIslamand Africain particular?Does
his workfostera resentmentthat westerncultureis under attack?
How we answerthesequestionsdependson how we look at the evidence.
It seemsto me thatwhatevermightbe encoded subconsciouslyin Tolkien's
fiction,he was not a racistextollingan Aryan ideal.14The more plausible
chargestemsfromTolkien'ssense of Europeanhistoryand geography.Yet
whattime framearewe bringingto bearwhen we makethesecomparisons?
Do we presumethatTolkien'shistoricalperspectiveis limitedto his present?
A twentieth-centurylens might lead us to thinkthat Gondor,for example,
must stand for the western powers in WorldWars I and II. Yet perhaps
Tolkien'sgeographyis more medievalor Renaissancethan contemporary.
Afterall,the WorldWarsin Europewerefoughtprimarilyby westernpowers
againsteach other.Tolkien'sgeographymay reflectthe mindsetof a scholar
of ancient and medievallanguageswho would have been deeply affected
by the pervasivesense in the middleages that Rome and its glory had been
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lost. Further,it may reflectthe medieval and Renaissancesense of being
under siege from powers outside the west. We rightlylook with horroron
the Crusadesand part of the blame must be laid on notions of Christendom which fed expansionistdesires.Yet another precipitatingcause was
the rapid extensionof Islam, which conqueredpreviouslyChristianlands
like North Africa,and partsof the Iberianand Balkanpeninsulas.Poland,
which has alwaysconsidereditself more part of WesternEurope,bore the
brunt of invasionsfrom the East duringthis period as well. Takingup another historicallens, practicallynone of Europe'sboundarieswere stable
or uncontestedaround 1500. In the northwest,the Scandinaviancolonies
in Greenlandhad died out. In the Southeast,the Islandof Cypruswas one
of the only survivorsof the westerncrusadesof the twelfthand thirteenth
centuries,and was being threatenedby Orthodoxforces.The largestproblem for WesternEurope in 1500, however,were the Ottoman Turks,the
dominant power in the area at the time. Around this time, Suleymanthe
Magnificentconqueredterritoriesin Egypt and Syria as well. Eventually,
the Ottoman EmpirecapturedConstantinopleand subsequentlydestroyed
the Hungarianempire. It was only turned back in 1529 sifterlaying siege
to Vienna. If we expand our time frame, Tolkien'sfictional history and
geographymay provokeless an imperialistfear of diversityamong readers
than the realizationthatWesternEuropewas not alwaysin the secureposition it enjoystoday.At the veryleast, suchbrief sketchesargueagainsteasy
attemptsto chargeTolkienwith promotingmodernwesterncolonialism.In
any case, as Tolkieninsists,"itwould be difficultto fit the lands and events
(or 'cultures')into such evidence as we possess.. . concerningthe neareror
remoterpart of what is now called Europe;though the Shire,for instance,
is expresslystatedto have been in this region"(L 283).
Yet what positive things can we say about the mediating characterof
traditionin Tolkien'sart? I will first explore the way Tolkien'snotion of
traditioninfluencedhis approachto his fiction.Second, I will examine the
way stewardshipof a traditionfor Tolkienis a bridge to our humanity.In
that part of the argumentI will say somethingmore about how tradition
can go wrong,and how Tolkiendramatizesand respondsto that problem.
This may put us in a betterpositionto see how Tolkien'sunderstandingof
the mediatingpower of traditionis one of the thingsthat unsettlesthe attractionto the kind of imperialpower projecthe is accusedof promoting.
3. Traditionand Recovery
How did Tolkien'slove of traditionshape his art?Partof the answerlies
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THOMAS W. SMITH
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both in Tolkien'sbiographyand the eventsthat shook his culturewhen he
was young.Tolkienwas born in South Africa,and his mother moved him
away from there when he was about three. His father remained behind
and died about a year later.Tolkien'smother passed away when he was
twelve.He was raisedby a Catholicpriestwho was a friendof the family,
and once he went to school he made some unusuallyclose friendshipswith
a group of five boys. Each was a budding artist,and part of their fellowfeeling stemmedfrom a sense that they had a special responsibilityto put
their markon the world in a way that would remakeit throughart.15It is
easy to see how Tolkien'saffectionfor his friendswould be especiallyacute
insofaras the intimacyhe experiencedwith them may have compensated
in some smallmeasurefor the intimacyhe lost with his parents.Tolkienfell
in love with a young woman named Edith Bratt.But his guardianrefused
to allow them to see each other until they were of age. WorldWarI broke
out. Tolkien enlisted and sufferedthrough the Battle of the Somme for
four months until he was shipped home with trench fever.By the time he
recovered,fourof his fivebest friendshad been killed.In short,untilhe was
twentyyearsold, Tolkienled a life of unrelentingloss, grief and suffering.
As Tolkien'sbiographercomments, Tolkien'searly experiencesgave him
"a deep senseof impendingloss.Nothing was safe.Nothing would last. No
battlewould be won forever"(Carpenter39). It is crucialto read Tolkien's
workin light of these experiences.It rendersthe melancholyart of Lordof
all the more poignant.However,it is also important
theRingsand Silmarillion
to note thatpart of Tolkien'spersonalgrief had its originsin the historyof
his time. The storyof his personalgrief must be told alongsidethat of his
culture's.
We know that those who lived throughit experiencedWorldWar I as a
watershedmoment. In particular,there is a clearconnectionbetweenliterary Modernismand the experienceof the Great War.16As Robert Pippin
has argued,Enlightenmentmodernityhas alwayshad a debate with itself
over the meaning and scope of reason. A faith in Enlightenmentnotions
of rationalinquiry and naturalscience coincided with the inclinationto
question those ideals. In Nietzsche, there is the presentimentthat "some
massive,traumaticevent, the 'greatevent' of modern times, has occurred.
Somepossibilityof goingon as beforehas come to some sortof end"(Pippin
78). Tolkien'sfiction is born from the same soil that gave birth to literary
Modernism.It is strikinglysimilarthematicallyin its concernwith exploring
or in its depiction
the natureof evil,17the particularismof its imagination,18
with
a passing age
break
a
decisive
demands
that
crisis
a
civilizational
of
and the adventof a new one. However,"in form in content, in everything
about it, TheLordof theRingsis the most anti-Modernistof novels"(Turner
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2). How do we account for this similarityand difference?
WorldWar I began a processthat might be called the unveilingof the
implicationsof the modern project.This projectwas begun to relieveour
estate- to dignifyour lives, to ease our sufferingand liberateus from the
supposedhostilityand povertyof nature.The promisewas that this could
be accomplishedthroughthe harnessingand applicationof variouskinds
of power. Scientificpower would make us healthierand allow us to harness the power of nature for a multitude of uses. Technologicalpower
would make our lives easierand more convenient.Economicpowerwould
make us richer.Militarypower would make us more secure.Politicaland
bureaucraticpowerwould make our societiesmore rationaland stable.Yet
in WorldWarI the paradoxicalfruitsof this projectbegan to be revealed.
The powers that were supposed to dignify life often became vehicles for
degradationand suffering.A projectthat sought to improveon the stinginess and indifferenceof nature, ruined nature.A project that claimed it
would create rational,stable, secure political organization,created states
that were criminallystupid, murderous,insecure and unstable.In short,
peoplebegan to suspectthatthe projectthataimedto liberate,alsoenslaved.
Many experiencedthis senseless,violent mechanizedwar betweenmodern
nation statesnot as a deviationfrommodernization,but as its culmination.
If a vision of life that promisesto make life more human, makeslife more
inhuman,disillusionmentwill result.
This had massivepolitical and culturedconsequences.The Great War
causeda breakdownin the establishedlanguageof liberalmodernity- the
culturalnorms of public reasonand civic rationality.19
In art, the lost generationexploresthemes of shattering,of remaking,of disorientation,and
loss of perspective.Philosophically,the point was to find the originsof the
modern project and take it apart so that it could be transcended.Some
arguedthat the problemsof modernitycould be explainedby lookingback
to the very originsof westerncivilization,and consequentlywe needed to
clear the ground from the beginning so as to create fundamentallynew
and different.Heidegger,for one, called for a returnto thinkingso that we
could uncoverthe will to power at the heart of westernrationalityfromits
very origins,and which is supposedlythe origin of the modern problem.
Perhapsin their differentways these movementsare manifestationsof the
same impulse:to overturnthe modern;to get behindit to discoverthe cause
of what ails us; and so to constructan alternativefuture.In short,the point
is to rejectwhat came before,perhapsespeciallyto rejectthe westerntradition that seemed to have caused the crisisin the firstplace.
Tolkienshareswith these movementsthe belief that some fundamental
breakwith what came beforeis necessary.TheLordof theRingsis nothingif
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THOMAS W. SMITH
81
it is not a book about the ending of one age and the beginningof another.
The differencefor Tolkien can be put this way: while many literaryand
philosophicalmovementsin the wake of WorldWar I sought relief from
the sense of crisisby turningtheir backson the westerntradition,Tolkien
sought it in the imaginativereconception of tradition through fantasy.
While these earlypost-modernmovementssought to undo western tradition thatwas thoughtto be at the heartof the contemporarycrisis,Tolkien
sought to reaffirmat least the Catholic elements of the western tradition,
the abandonmentof which he believedprecipitatedthe crisis.
As we have seen, one way of lookingat Tolkien'sworkis to say that his
turn to fantasyis an escape. In this view,Tolkien'sresponseto the crisisof
post-WarEuropeis an immaturereaction,with potentiallydisastrouspersonal and social consequences.His fiction runs away from the horrorsof
his own life and the eventsof the time, and this escapismmay have sinister
implications,as we have seen. Yetis this the most convincingaccount?One
way of gettingat these questionsis to askwhy Tolkienwrote fantasyin the
wake of his experiencesof biographyand history.Tom Shippey argues
that "The dominantliterarymode of the twentiethcenturyhas been the
fantastic."20
Fantasywritersas differentas Tolkien,UrsulaLeGuin,William
Golding, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley,J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, Kurt
Vonnegut,or Philip Pullmanunderstandtheir work as a kind of recovery
fromdisillusionmentand disenchantment.ForShippey,
If one considersthe whole historyof Tolkien'syouth and middle age, from 1892 to
1954, a period markednot only by two worldwars and the rise of Fascism,Nazism,
and Stalinism,but also by- I give them more or less in chronologicalorder- the
routinebombardmentof civilianpopulations,the use of famine as a politicalmeasure, the revivalof judicial torture,the 'liquidation'of whole classes of political
opponents,exterminationcamps, deliberategenocide and the continuingdevelopment of 'weaponsof mass destruction'fromchlorinegas to the hydrogenbomb, all
of these absolutelyunthinkablein the Victorianworldof Tolkien'schildhood,then
it would be a strangemind which did not reflect,as so many did, that something
had gone wrong,somethingfurthermorewhich could not be safelypushed off and
blamedon other people {Road,324-5).
LikeTolkien,severalof these fantasywriterslived throughvarioushorrors
of the twentiethcentury,and
were bone-deep convincedthat they had come into contact with somethingirrevocably evil. They also... felt that the explanationsfor this which they were given by
the officialorgans of their culturewere hopelesslyinadequate,out of date, at best
xxx).
irrelevant,at worstpart of the evil itself (Shippey,Author
Yet these authors went beyond disillusionment.They found that they
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needed to create an alternativerealityin which questionscould be asked
with a freshvoice, and new answersto those questionscould be explored.
They createdfantasyin orderto get a new purchaseon reality.ForTolkien,
a survivorof the Somme,the "realism"thatthe officialorgansof his culture
promoted was revealedas at best unrealisticabout the human condition
and at worstdisastrous.21
Tolkieninsiststhat his storiesare primarilyabout
are
about
an escape from a falseview of human life and
recovery.Or, they
the world, to a more real view of human life and the world,which can be
achieved by creating alternativerealitiesin which traditionsand virtues
can be rediscoveredbecause they are being portrayedin a freshlight. For
Tolkien,fantasyseeksan escape,but everythingdependson whatwe mean
by escape. He asks,"Whyshould a man be scorned, if, findinghimself in
prison, he tries to get out and go home?"(FS 149).
Tolkien'sdesire for recoveryfrom the horrorsof the twentiethcentury
leads him to reject the conventionsof the modern novel. Since its inception, the characteristicsof the modern novel dictate that its readerswill
encounteronly reality.That is, we will read about people more or less like
us, and situationsthat we would expect to encounterin everydaylife. Supernaturalbeings will not enter the story,nor will it suspendthe physical
laws that govern the naturalworld. In this sense, the birth of the modern
novel signalsthe death of the ancient and medievalworldview.It expresses
disenchantmentwith the notion thatthe fantasticcan intrudeinto everyday
life.
Don Quixoteis considered... the first- and probably the greatest- novel in the
Europeantraditionin part because it makesthis claim to represent"ordinarylife"
a central and profoundaspect of the plot. Cervantes'fiction is a sort of birth announcement-droll and yet decisive- for realismitself. It betokensa new human
attitude.By showingQuixote drivenmad by the involuted,highlystylized,comically
implausibleheroic romances of the later Middle Ages,... Cervanteswas not just
spoofingan out-of-dateliterarymode; he was also markingthe obsolescenceof the
philosophicalworld-viewit embodied. Don Quixote is far more, one soon realizes,
than just a comic assaulton some fancifulold stories;in its deepest aspect it is a
metaphysicalstatement- a revolutionaryaffirmationof thatsecularand humanistic
point of view we associatewith modernityitself.(Castle 186-87)
Tolkien'sfantasyis an attemptto "re-enchant"a world that, in Weber's
phrase, had been "disenchanted"throughthe powers of modern science
and technology.Tolkien'sCatholic sense of the sacramental,mediating
characterof the createdorderis clearlyin line with such an understanding
of the tasksof fantasy.Moreover,while a lot of fantasywas being writtenin
responseto the horrorsof the twentiethcentury,Tolkien'sis unique:he calls
it history.It is made-uphistoryto be sure,but it is stilla form of history.His
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THOMAS W. SMITH
83
fiction is suffusedwith the sense that one can glimpse meaning in history,
and that one way to do so is to reflecton the way traditionis sustainedand
handeddown.22The storyof the Ring, it turnsout, is partof a much larger
and longer story,as Sam and Frodorealizeas they engage their quest.23If
the readerbecomes enchantedby the Lordof theRingsand reads some of
or the Bookof LostTales,he or she
Tolkien'searlierworklike the Silmarillion
finds that central elements of these storiesare about the way traditionis
handeddown,fromthe Valarto the elves,to the Niimenoreans,to ourselves,
the raceof ordinaryhumans.ForTolkien,recoveryof the sacramentalcharacterof the cosmosand historyis possiblein partby rediscoveringtradition
throughhis "historicalfantasy."In Tolkien'sart, recoveryhappensthrough
an imaginativerecreationof the past, in orderto see the ways in which the
past can be a help in shoringup the presentto care for the future.I suggest
Tolkienturnedtowardfantasyas a way of recoveringtradition- in contrast
to the rejectionof tradition- because his Catholicimaginationled him to
thinkabout traditionin a mediatingway.24
This is not simplythe recapitulationof old forms.If Tolkien'stragicfiction
tells us anything,it tells us that there is no going back to a golden age; the
Scouringof the Shireinsistson this point. Rather,Tolkienis imaginatively
impartinga visionof renewalthroughthe creationof an alternativereality
thatfunctionsto giveus a new view now thatmodernconstructionsof reality
His fantasyseeksan escape from a diminishedview
have been shattered.25
of realitythat believescontroland efficiencyare the only ways of relating
to the world.
The things that are trite or (in a bad sense) familiar, are the things that we have
appropriated... We say we know them. They have become like the things which
once attracted us by their glitter, or their color, or their shape, and we laid hands on
them, and then locked them in our hoard, acquired them, and acquiring, ceased to
look at them (FS 147).
If the modern temptationis to ensure various types of convenience and
securityin life throughthe acquisitionof power,Tolkienarguesthatit fosters
in certainways a diminishedlife, asleep to the wonder of being. He thinks
that we lose our capacityto be astonishedby what is around us when we
seek to masterit or cling to it possessively.Thus linkingmechanizationand
the exaltation of technology generally with environmentaldegradation
and political tyrannyis one of the hallmarksof his fiction. For Tolkien,
the desire to possessrendersthe other less interesting,less awesome. The
desire to possess is also a desire to control throughpower.This desire to
exercisepowerstandsin the way of our fascination- our wonderment- at
the world around us. For Tolkien, when we start to manipulatethrough
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power in orderto securelypossessanotherperson or good, we startto lose
the capacity to be astonishedand fascinated.Paradoxically,in Tolkien's
fiction the desire to possessthings securelyleads to their exploitationand
degradation.Such clingingpossessivenesscausesus to lose the capacityto
wonder,the beginning of wisdom, in part because it is the beginning of
respectfor the integrityof things.26ForTolkienone responseto our disillusionmentwith contemporaryprojectsof controland manipulationis to
escape the rejectionof a traditionthat might providethe kind of spiritual
resourceswe need in order to understandand cope with our temptations
to possess.One could put the matterbluntlyin this way: Tolkienthought
that the problemwith the modern age was not that it followedtoo closely
the Westerntradition.It was that it rejectedthat tradition,especiallyin its
Catholicform.Consequently,forhim, recoveryfrommoderndisillusionment
meant going behind that rejectionto a recoveryof a Catholicway of viewing the world, and therefore,of receivingtradition.Forhim, the problem
was that the modern west did not borrowenough from an older view that
was wise enough to insist on the limits and proper containmentof various kindsof power.ForTolkien,the way throughthe crisisof the modern
worldwas not to rejectthe past and breakit apartto make somethingnew.
Indeed,thatresponsewas insufficientpreciselybecauseit partooktoo much
in the attitudeof the modern projectthat gave birth to the crisishe lived
through.So his storiesoperatein part by dramatizingthe mediatingpower
of the past so that his readerscan imaginativelyget in touch with a living
tradition.Partof the point of the storiesis to get behind the modern age's
rejectionof traditionby dramatizinga world in which traditionmattersa
great deal. This allowsus to see what it would mean to live with a sense of
what traditionmediates.FromTolkien'sperspective,the deconstructionof
the westerntraditionto discoverits rootsin willto poweris not a rejectionof
modernity;it is its outgrowthinsofaras the point is to somehowget behind
the hermeneuticalveil of traditionto a considerationof the real sourceof
our trouble.The problemis partlythat by becoming a traditionin its own
Moreover,
right,modernityseeksan escape from somethinginescapable.27
the modern view of traditioninsiststhat traditionis to be rejectedbecause
we are superiorto what came before us insofaras we are the beneficiaries
of progress.That is, the modern rejectionof traditionassumesthat our
ancestorswere barbariansin a way we are not; it becomes scandalousto
arguetheircase. This strainof modernityis a kindof culturalMarcionism
that breakswith its own past in orderliberateitself;so that its futurecan be
indeterminateand thereforefree.28
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andGift
4. Tradition
Remi Braguearguesthatwhat characterizesthe westerntraditionabove
all is its Romanity.For Brague,western culturegets its unique dynamism
from the fusion of two elements that are in tension:Judaism and Greek
culture.But Braguealso says there is a thirdterm that is indispensablefor
understandingwesternculture:the Roman. His point is not to remind us
that Rome influencedus, too. ForBrague,Romanityis not just a cultural
influence;it is a way of lookingat culturalinfluence.Specifically,it looks at
Judaismand Greekcultureas bothforeignand superiorto itself.The Roman
attitudetowardstraditionis to recognizethat it did not inventanything,but
ratherbears two elementsthat are foreignto itself.Accordingto Brague,
This is precisely the content of the Roman contribution: the structure of the transmission of a content not properly its own. The Romans have done little more than
transmit, but that is far from nothing. They have brought nothing new in relation to
those creative peoples, the Greeks and the Hebrews. But they were the bearers of
that innovation. What was ancient for them, they brought as something new. (32)
Understoodin thisway,the westerntraditionalreadyopens us to what is
foreignbecauseit is constitutedby what was foreign.It leads us to wonder
whetherwhat is foreignmight be in some ways superior.This cast of mind
is open to receivingthe fruitsof other cultures,preciselybecause our own
culturehas been informedby a past that was superiorin some respects.To
believein the possibilitythat traditioncan mediateis to be open to the possibilitythatwe havesomethingto learnfromthosewho came before.On this
"Roman"model of receivingtradition,one is alwaysforeignand inferior
even to one'sown tradition.Viewed thisway,traditionis neverstrictlyone's
own, somethingto be possessed,proud of and imposed on others.Rather,
it is a spiritof opennessto the new and the foreign.
Tolkien'sfiction is repletewith this understandingof tradition.To take
one obviousexample,the "MiddlePeoples"of Middle-Earth,who become
ascendantat the end of the thirdage, benefitin a myriadof ways from the
If Tolkien'scharacters
foreigntraditionof the elvesand the Numenoreans.29
discoveranythingon their quests,it is that their own customsand ways of
thoughtcome fromlong gone and often foreignculturesthat existedfor the
most part beyond their awareness.All this is to say that for Tolkientradition can be a gift that opens us to the pluralityof the world.A genuine gift
can be a surprise.It can also be a freelychosen affirmationthat it is good
to exist. It never limits or tears down the recipient.Paradoxically,in light
of the fact that a gift from anotheris an affirmationof self, it also calls us
to transcendnarrow self-concern.Receiving a gift can bring us outside
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of ourselves.When we accept a gift with gratitude,paradoxicallyit may
render us less selfish,for it is recognitionthat we need gifts to exist. Gifts
are a reminderthat we need reciprocityand convivialityfor basic survival
and a good, human life as well. Moreover,giftsare somethingwe often feel
called to grow into and live up to. In a similarway,receivingtraditionas a
gift might breakus out of a narrowpreoccupationwith ourselvesand our
own cultureand time. It freesus from a solipsisticpresentism.It cultivates
an opennessto what we have receivedfrom the past that may make us less
selfishtowardboth the presentand the future.Lookingat traditionin this
"Roman"fashionimpliesa certainhumilitytowardswhat one has received
and the sourcesone has receivedit from. In turn, this might allow one to
be humble about what else could be receivedby another.Further,thinking
about our culturallife partlyas somethingwe have receivedas a gift from
elsewhereallows us to ask questionsabout differentpeoples and cultures
with a spiritof innocence and open wonder.To have thisview of tradition
is to thinkof the cultureone presentlyinhabitsas somethingwhichhas been
informedby what it has received;somethingnourishedand culturedby a
soil that is richer than any soil we could produce ourselves.On this view,
traditionis somethingto be workedfor,to be growninto, and finallypassed
on in a new form. One cannot impose it on others as superior;precisely
because in this cast one mind one tends to think of oneself as inferiorto
those who gave the gift in the firstplace. As we shall see, imperialismfor
Tolkienis a failureto love tradition,not its fruit.
5. Mortality,Contingency,
and Tradition
Thinking about receiving traditionas a gift leads us to reflect on the
relationshipbetweenreceptionof traditionand our own contingency.Tradition can mediatemeaning in part because the stewardshipof a tradition
is a sign that we have reconciled ourselvesto our own neediness,and so
become more human.30One of the most obvioussignsof our contingency
is our dependenceon those who came beforeus for our language,culture,
socialization,and, indeed, life. The close connection between love of tradition and facing mortalitywell is dramatizedin many places in Tolkien's
work.To takeone example,in TheHobbit,Bilbo'sdiscoveryand acceptance
of traditionstemsin part fromhis confrontationwith his own mortality.In
thatwork,the themeof mortalityis dramatizedby exploringthe connection
between greed for materialwealth and comforton the one hand, and fear
of contingencyon the other.Excessivelove of money is a manifestationof
the fearof death. Greedstemsfroma longingto protectoneself againstthe
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vagariesof life by having"moneyin the bank"which promisesto ward off
anyand allmisfortune.As TheHobbitopens,BilboBagginsis a smug,wealthy,
timid,bourgeoisrecluseenjoyinga secureand comfortablelife. His wealth
and securitymanifesta kind of greed. He hoardshis wealth like a dragon
on a pile of gold;he is condescendingtowardthe worldoutsidehis narrow
range of vision. A wizard arrangesfor a group of greedy dwarvesto hire
the hobbit to help them recovertheir gold from a dragon who has stolen
it. However,Bilbo is cured of his own greed in the adventure,eventually
givingawayhis shareof the treasureto preventa war betweenthe dwarves
and their enemies. In other words,Bilbo'sjourney away from his home to
help avariciousdwarvesrecovertheirtreasurefroma greedydragonis also
a transformativejourney into himself,undertakento slay the life-denying,
death-fearinggreed that lies there.31In his journey towardsa dilation of
his soul, Bilbo encountersolder, foreign cultures,and winds up learning
their historiesand languages.His eventuallove of traditionis born out of
a confrontationwith his contingency.Slayinghis greed is the conditionfor
his being capable of opening himself to tradition;by realizinghis contingencyhe becomescapableof transcendingHobbiton'sparochialism.Once
he learnsnot to fear the fact that he standsin need of receivingall sortsof
things,includingthe past,his life opens to older,foreignculturesthat enrich
The elvesin RivendelleventuallyvalueBilbo'sfriendship
him immeasurably.
because he is one of the few hobbitswho has brokenout of parochialism
into the wider worldof tradition.
By contrast,the characterswho breakwith traditionin Tolkien'sworkdo
so in part because they seek the "freedom"of being releasedfrom the fact
of theirneedinessand vulnerability.One place this is clearestis the history
of the Niimenoreans.They descend from a race of men who helped the
elvesand Valar(vice-regentsof God on earth)in the fightagainstMorgoth.
To rewardthem for theirloyalty,the Valargive the Numenoreansan island
withinsightof the immortallands.They are grantedan exceptionallylong
life span, but the Valar cannot release them from death. They are also
forbiddento set foot on the immortallands.As the glory of their kingdom
grows,these people come to regret their mortalitymore and more. They
begin to experiencethe contingencyof theirlivesas a threat.They become
jealous of the immortalityof the elvesand Valar.Anxiousover theirfate, a
majorityof the Numenoreansbegin to turn their back on their traditions
of worship.
Awareof the situation,the Valarsend emissariesto the Numenoreans.
The Numenoreansdescribetheir experienceof mortalitythis way: "Why
shouldwe not envy the Valar,or even the least of the Deathless?Forof us
is requireda blind trust,and a hope without assurance,knowingnot what
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lies beforeus in a littlewhile.And yet we also love the Earthand would not
lose it." (S 265). The emissariespoint out that their fear is a manifestation
of lack of trust in the generosityof providence,who gave human beings
the gift of death to releasethem froma situationin which the incapacityof
theirown powersto quelltheirunboundeddesiresleadsto world-weariness.
The emissariesalso point out that their unbounded desire for fulfillment
is itself a gift not of their making,and this realizationshould blossom in
hope: "The love of Arda (earth)was set in your heartsby Iliivatar,and he
does not plant to no purpose"(S 265). In this they argue that human dependence and needinesswill be experiencedas threateningonly if doubt
is cast on the possibilityof our needs and desiresbeing satisfied.Becoming
reconciledto the fact of our neediness is the condition for receptivity.In
Tolkien'sCatholic imagination,stewardshipof a traditionis a pedagogy
of desire that educatesus in our need for receptivity.Thus this pedagogy
helps reconcileus both to the conditionsand fulfillmentof our contingent
humanity.Nevertheless,the kingturnshis backon thisadviceand implicitly
on his own heritageinsofaras it comes directlyfromthose who established
his kingdom in the first place. The responseto fear of death is rejection
of the traditionthat stands as a reminderof contingencyand need. The
Numenoreans'restlessnessand fear make their land seem smalland unattractive(266), and their desire to possesslife more securelyleads them to
glorifypower.They begin to colonize Middle Earthand exploitits people.
In short,their fear of contingencyleads them to imperialism.Their abandonment of their traditionof stewardshipof the people of Middle Earth
is both a sign and a cause of their imperialdesires.AfterreadingTolkien's
psychologicallyastuteaccount of the originsand consequencesof the lust
for imperialpower,one cannot plausiblyaccusehim of promotingwestern
colonialismthroughlove of its tradition.Rather,for Tolkien,receptionof
traditionis a bulwarkagainstthe temptationto power.
The Niimenorean story is brought full circle in the tale of Aragorn
in the Appendices to TheLordof theRings.Aragorn understandsthat the
Numenoreans- the men of Gondor- are inheritorsof traditionsthat go
back to the elves and then to the Valar,semi-divinebeingsmade by God to
govern creation. He spends most of his formativeyears in the wilderness
learningthat traditionand protectingits vestigesin the hinterlandsof the
old empire of the Numenoreans.He is a stewardin the precisesense- he
cares for and protectsall the creatureshe finds in front of him, even the
ones who don't know about it, perhapsespeciallythe hobbits.Hobbitsare
a kind of touchstonefor characterin TheLordof theRings;their diminutive
statureis a physicalmarkof theirhumbleplace in MiddleEarth.Mostpowerfulpeople in the book overlookthem (or at best treatthem with bemused
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contempt) because their narrow vision equates usefulnesswith manifest
power. By contrast,Aragorn'sprotection of Hobitton and Bree, and his
subsequentcare for the hobbits during their quest, is of a piece with his
stewardshipoverhis tradition.He caresfor the vulnerablepreciselybecause
he is in harmonywith his own vulnerability.Indeed, Aragorn is so eager
to avoid the imperialismof his ancestorsthat sifterhe is crownedking of
Gondor and Arnor (andthus rulerover the Shire),he is unwillingto enter
the Shire to visit his friendsas king,knowingthat his mere presencemight
disruptits unique way of life. Finally,at the end of his life, in contrastto
his ancestor,the kingswho invadedValinorto snatchimmortalityfromthe
Valar,Aragornlays down the gift of his life freely32
Thus traditionmediateshumanityin part because it helps us rejectthe
temptationto power.Nicolas Boyle has argued that Tolkien'sfiction was
directedlargelytowardthe recoveryof a concept of a local and traditional
Englandin contrastto the imperialistexpansionismof Great Britain.
If the Shire is Tolkien's England, it is ... an England that rejects the temptation to
secular modernity to which the real England succumbed when at the time of the Reformation it set off on the road that led to nationalism, capitalism, imperialism, and
eventually, the economic and political subordination of Europe and everywhere else
to the English-speaking United States. That temptation is represented in Tolkien's
story by the Ring, the Ring made by an emanation of the Devil, which is able to
lay nature waste, enslave the world's population, and empty our lives of substance,
reducing us to ghosts as we seek its power for ourselves. (Boyle 254)
In TheLordof theRings,the representativesof the free people of Middle
Earthabandonthe claimto powerby givingthe Ring to the weakestamong
them, preferringthe possibilityof self-immolationto the consequencesof
possessingthe Ring. This attitudeof nonposessivenessrisksthe possibility
of defeat. If one wanted to push this point, one critiqueof Tolkien'straditionalismwould be that its ethos might lead to the complete dissolution
of any pretense to the imperialambition and thus a rejectionof "all the
featuresof modernitythatmade mid-twentiethcenturyBritishsocietypossible."(Boyle 254-55). However,if the Shire does line up geographically
more or less with England,and the Ring in some broadsensepoints to the
temptationto power for the sake of securitythat modernitydesires,then
the failureof Englandin the wake of WorldWarII to keep its Empireis a
kind of successin another sense. Success in Tolkien'suniverseis a deeply
ambiguousconcept,forthosewho succeedon one plain,likeSarumanearly
in the book, fail in anotherdimension.Those who riskutterfailurein one
dimensionguaranteesuccessin another,whetherthey "win"or not.33This
view of life is one that the Catholic imagination,formed by a vivid sense
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of the crossas both scandaland success,can encompass.34
The triumphof Tolkien'svision would entail the rejectionof much of
what the west has stood for in the last 150 years- economically,socially,
politically,and technologically.In contrastto the storyof historyas progress,
the philosophyof historyin Tolkien'sart can best be describedas entropic.
Perhapsit is betterto see Tolkienas a traditionalCatholicwhose traditionalism leads to a relentlessrespect for localism. One central theme of his
fictionis that the searchfor controlover our contingencyand vulnerability
throughclingingpossessivenessparadoxicallyyieldsonly a kindof depressing death-in-life,whereinone's genuinehuman qualitiesare strippedaway.
This degradationhas consequencesthat ripple out like waves in a pond
throughsocietyand the earth.Apparentlyfor Tolkien,the more we seek to
possesssecurelythe evanescentgoods of life, the more life slipsthroughour
fingers.The notion of traditionhe defendsrefusespower,acceptsmortality,
and seekswisdomin humility.To his credit,he realizesthat his ethos might
lead to disasteron the level of realpolitik,
and so be consideredfoolishby the
"wise."35
6. Traditionand Sclerosis
This is not to say that objectionsto traditionare all wrong.A greatmany
people havebad experienceswith theirreligioustraditions,forexample.Perhaps many cradleCatholicsare in a sense recoveringCatholics;recovering
fromattemptsat mediationthatwent awry.If the greatnessof the Catholic
imaginationstems in large part from its emphasison mediation,many of
its tragediescome from that same source.Catholicismcan go wrongwhen
the realitiesthat are supposedto mediate humanityand divine presence,
become an obstacleto them. The mediatingrealitiesthatCatholicslove are
likearteries- when they are cleartheybringthe stuff of life. Butwhen they
become clogged, they killby cuttingoff the stuff of life from the heart. So
one great danger in a vision of life that emphasizesmediationis sclerosis.
Many Catholicshave had experiencesof priesthoodthat refusesto mediate. Clericalismis a refusedto live the mediatingcharacterof priesthood,
claimingfor priestsa specialsanctity(and thus a specialabilityto exercise
power) not availableto everyone else. Many Catholics have experiences
of rigid hierarchiesthat block divine life through their bureaucraticapproach.Indeed,manyhaveexperiencesof rigidinterpretationsof tradition,
whereinCatholicismitself becomesa kindof idol. Evena sacramentalview
of the world can become an obstacle in some cases for an experienceof
the immediacyof divine presence,as certainelementsin the Reformation
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emphasized.
Tolkienrecognizesthis potentialfor traditionto become sclerotic.One
particularlypoignant dramatizationof this tendency lies in Tolkien'sdepiction of the elves. In Tolkien'sfiction, elves are immortaLBy stretching
out their lives, Tolkienexploresthe burdenof living in time and the grief
that comes with it. The fact that elveslive foreverhighlightswhat might be
called the burdenof evanescence.As Legolassays,
For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift,
because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them. Slow,
because they do not count the running years, not for themselves. The passing seasons
are but ripples ever repeated in the long running stream. Yet beneath the Sun all
things must wear to an end. (LotR 379)
The point is that the transitorygoods of this worldare beautifuland attractiveto us, and yet even as we enjoy them, we have an inklingthat they
will pass away- just as we will. Our enjoymentis mixed with grief because
of the sense of impendingloss. This is why the Buddhaspeaksof existence
as suffering.He does not mean thatthereis no happinessin life.Nor does he
mean that sometimespainfulmomentsfollow happy ones in turn. Rather,
he saysthatlife is like honey on a razor;we are cut as we tasteits sweetness.
Evenin our mostjoyfulexperiences,a tragicsenselurksthat they shallpass.
We tend to pushthat away,shieldingourselvesthroughvariousdistractions.
We also tend to cling possessivelyto our positive experiencesand people,
unwillingto let them slipthroughour grasp.Clearly,the ordinarysufferings
of sickness,old age, or mental pain constitutepart of the pain of mortal
life. Yet even apart from this, there is sufferingin our joy because of the
flow of time. Forthe Buddha,at the heart of sufferingis a clingingpossessivenessthat expects the universeto meet all our demands,that refusesto
let the worldflow on throughtime becausethisflow frustratesour wish that
enjoymentshouldlast.36
The elves' experienceof this kind of sufferingis particularlyacute, for
unlike human beings, it is not cured through death; they call death "the
gift of Men" (L 267). Their rings of power somehow forestallthe passing
of the worldto such an extent that the burdenof evanescenceis mitigated
(LotR 379). In this the elves manifesta kind of clingingpossessiveness a
desireto stall the world from unwindingas it will.37This possessivenessis
both theirpunishmentand their "sin."They seek to mitigatetheir restless
wearinessof the worldby forestallingthe passingof time. However,it was
their possessiveattitudetowardsthe Silmarilsthat led to their weariness.
the punishmentfor theirpossessivenessand the murders
In the Silmarillion,
that resultedfromit was that they would "growwearyof the worldas with
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a great burden,and shallwane, and become as shadowsof regret"(S 88).
Thus the temptationof the elves is "towardsa faineantmelancholy,burdened with memory,leading to an attemptto halt time" (L 267). Tolkien
says that Sauron particularlycoveted the elven rings,for "thosewho had
them in their keepingcould ward off the decaysof time and postponethe
wearinessof the world"(S 289). Our mortalityis a conditionconstitutednot
merelyby the fact of our death, but also by the flux of being.The different
kindsof ringssymbolizedifferentattemptsto cling to evanescentgoods so
as to guaranteethat they will last. The motive for using each, however,is
to avoid suffering.Dwarvesand men use their ringsto forestallthe passing
away of things and people they love througha relentlesspursuitof glory
and wealth.By contrast,elvesuse theirsto forestallthe wearinessand grief
they experience in the passing of temporalthings by slowing down time
itself.The elves cannot be accusedof abandoningtheirtraditions.Indeed,
they live in the past preciselyso that they do not have to deedwith change
in the present.Their traditionshave become scleroticbecause they refuse
to be reconciled to their contingency.Apparentlyfor Tolkien a tradition
can only be a living one if it mediatesin a transparentway our need to be
reconciledto our neediness.
Another place Tolkien exploresthe dangers of sclerotictraditionalism
lies in the contrast he makes between Denethor and Aragorn. Tolkien's
art very often worksby settingup contrasts.Saruman: Gandalf;Faramir:
Boromir;Denethor : Theoden. One importantway of understandingthe
differencebetween Denethor,stewardof Gondor,and Aragorn,the rightful king of Gondor,lies in the way each treatstradition.As we have seen,
Aragorntreatstraditionwith respectbecause he has reconciledhimself to
his vulnerability.Denethorhas not. He is a Stewardwho is supposedto rule
in the king'splace untilhe returns.Yetwhen the kingdoes return,Denethor
dismisseshim as a barbarian,unculturedand froma lesserline.38Denethor
refusesto give up his throne to the rightfulking;he wants to cling to the
traditionhe knows,ratherthan receiveit as a gift- somethinghe does not
properlyown- and pass it on to someone else to take a new form. So he
refusesto hand it on. In fact,he killshimself ratherthanface a futurewhich
risksdefeatand loss of rule.39He also triesto killhis son in the process.The
symbolismis clear:Those who wouldrejectthe mediatingpowerof the past
also implicitly"kill"their offspring.One way to manage one's contingency
is to bear children.Providingfor offspringis an implicit recognitionthat
one will pass, and be replaced. Gratefulreceptionof gifts like traditionis
relatedto the kind of generositythat this care demands.So for Tolkienif
we "kill"our ancestorswe wind up "killing"our descendents.Traditionfor
Denethor is a source of power to cling to; not to be receivedas a gift and
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then passed on as a gift. It is something that makes him superior,rather
than somethingthat makeshim a servant- to those who came before and
to those who will come after.Traditionfor Denethor has become sclerotic;
ratherthan servicein humblerecognition
a vehiclefor self-aggrandizement,
of one's own vulnerabilityand contingency.He is contemptuousof weaknessand vulnerability;his attitudetowardsHobbitsis bemusedcontempt.40
Paradoxically,the cause of sclerotictraditionalismis the same as the cause
of the wholesalerejectionof tradition:the inabilityto reconcileoneself to
contingencyand vulnerability.
& Conclusion
Every great work of art is suffusedwith the living sense that reality is
greaterthanour abilityto conceptualizeand controlit. Greatartthuspoints
to the fact that the worldis more than our immediategraspingof it. So art
at its best challengesappearance.Art helpsrenderour ordinaryexperience
of the world strangeby opening us to dimensionsof reality outside our
abilityto manipulate(Williams37). Art in this sense is a mediatingvehicle
for communionwith reality.As Tolkiensays,
We need, in any case, to clean our windows;so that the things seen clearlymay be
freedomfrom the drab blur of tritenessor familiarity- from possessiveness.Of all
faces those of ourfamiliaresare the ones both most difficultto play fantastictricks
with, and most difficultreally to see with fresh attention,perceivingtheir likeness
the things
and unlikeness... This tritenessis reallythe penalty of "appropriation":
that are trite or (in a bad sense)familiar,are the things that we have appropriated,
legallyor mentally.We say we know them. They have become like the thingswhich
once attractedus by theirglitter,or theircolor,or theirshape,and we laid handson
them, and then locked them in our hoard, acquiredthem, and acquiringceased to
look at them. (FS 146)
For Tolkien, the fruit of the unrealisticattempt to possess life securely
throughpoweris a diminishedlife;a life not awaketo the wonderof being.
ForTolkien,the minute we startto manipulatethroughpower in order to
securelypossessanotherperson or good, we startto lose the capacityto be
astonishedby it. It is a sign thatwe havebegun to interpretour contingency
as threatening.The heroes of TheLordof theRingswho try to destroythe
Ring dramatizean attitudetowardslife that standsopposed to the tyrant's.
In the end, love- in contrastto possession- is the centerpiece of Lordof
theRings.The hobbit'sjourney away from home to destroythe Ring and
savehis home is a symbolof the interiorjourney we mustmake in orderto
rid ourselvesof the attitudeof possessivenessthat would stand in the way
of fullnessof life. Love that makesitself vulnerableto loss is the only way
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throughmortalityfor Tolkien.This entailsthat love must risksuffering.
Traditionis clearlyfluidand subjectto the way we appropriateit. Yeton
the other hand, it is also beyond our controlin a decisivesense. Exercising
stewardshipover a traditionis an attemptto seek an area of realitythat is
not manipulable.In a world obsessedwith problemsthat can be solvedby
the practicalintellect, to live within a living traditionis to recognizethat
there are realitiesthat do not lend themselvesto solutionsof this kind.It is
to realize that there is an excess of meaning in the world that lies beyond
our abilityto manipulate,or even comprehendwith discursiverationality.In
thissense,livingwithina livingtraditionis groundedin a kindof obedience.
The mediatingpowerof traditionthushas a kindof fecunditythatmakesit
aliveby helpingus to become reconciledto our own contingent,vulnerable,
needy humanity.In the end, the trajectoryof this train of thought leads
to theology.41Tolkien'sbelief in realityas created- as mediatinga divine
presencebeyondour abilityto controlor manageor even negotiate- resists
seeing all realityas merelyplasticmaterialto be molded as we desire.
At the end of Tolkien'syouth, with the shatteringexperiencesof the
Great War,it was clear to him and many others that one age had ended
and a new one was beginning.Similarly,at the end of TheLordof theRings,
one age passesaway and a new age begins.Tolkienmakesit clear that the
flourishingof this new age depends on those who are willing to allow the
traditionthey have inheritedto take on new forms.The best charactersin
Tolkien'swork study ancient languages,recall ancient epics, and sing old
poems. They knowthe historyof theirown as well as foreigncultures.They
recollectthe names of their dead. They retellancient aphorismsthat aim
at impartingwisdom. This does not make them conservativethrowbacks.
Indeed,in Tolkien'swork,theirdynamism,creativity,hopefulness,and courage stem in largepartfromthe qualityof theirmemories.Their knowledge
of the past is a large part of what allowsthem to care for the presentand
future. Moreover,this knowledge of their tradition doesn't make them
impracticalor conservativeor more prone to obey authority.It gives their
imaginationscope.It givestheirpracticaldeliberationwisdom.It givesthem
a long view of events,and a properperspectiveon them. In fact, the wider
view that traditionprovidesmakesthe heroesless susceptibleto arguments
from power. It gives them an independence and freedom from authority
that isn't availableto those who haven'tworkedhard to know the things
they know. By contrast, the fools in the book like Saruman and Sauron
don't care about the past. And that locks them into a selfishconcern for
their own power- for their own present.In a profoundsense, acceptance
of the mediationof traditionis acceptanceof one's own mortality.
The wisestcharactersin TheLordof theRings,like Galadrieland Gandalf
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and Aragorn,knowthatthe destructionof the ringmeansthatan old world
is passingaway and a new worldis beginning.The questionis whetherthe
new world that is arisingwill be wise enough to tap into the wisdom of
the past in order to create its new civilization.This is one of the central
strugglesin the TheLordof theRings between the modernizerslike Saru- and
man and Sauronwith their machinesand slavesand bureaucracies
the traditionalistreformerslike Gandalf and Aragorn.To be sure,part of
the appealof Tolkien'sfictionis its evocationof the common contemporary
experienceof regretover the loss of a tradition.Yet isn'tpart of its appeal
also the sense that hope can be found in such crises by imaginativelyusing the past as a gift to rediscoverthe dignityof our common, contingent
humanity?Many of his readersexperience Tolkien'sart as a mediating
vehiclefor reconcilingthem to the vulnerabilityof their humanityand the
opennessto divine giftsthat flowsfrom thatreconciliation.
The happiestpartof TheLordof theRingsremainslargelyunwritten- the
goldenage of Aragorn.The best symbolsof this new age are the marriages
that takeplace at the end of the thirdage- betweenAragornand Arwen,
betweenpeoplefromdifand Faramirand Eowyn.These areintermarriages
ferenttraditionsand indeed,differentraces.The marriagebetweenAragorn
and Arwenis betweenthe old elvishtraditionand the newerNiimenorean
one. In turn,the marriagebetweenFaramirand Eowynis a marriageof the
oldertraditionof Niimenor and the newerone of Rohan. In those families
thosedifferenttraditionswill be receivedand given overto new generations
formedby pastsforeignto their own present.42It is a wonderfulsymbolof
what Braguecalls "Romanity."One of the fun thingsto do afterfinishing
readingLordof theRingsis to imagine what it would look like to build this
new worldwith the resourcesthat have been receivedfrom the past. One
of the ways Tolkienuses fantasyto get around our rejectionof tradition
is to dramatizea world in which historyand traditionmattera great deal,
and can be used as resources- not for shoringup the powersthat be- but
to re-founda civilizationafter a necessarybreakwith a previousage. His
art allows us a way of seeing human history that is not all tragic. It tells
us that even when thingslook bleak, there are alwaysresourcesfor people
creativeenough and hopeful enough to do somethingfundamentallynew
and different.
I hope I haveshownthatTolkien'scriticsare wrongto accusehim of imperialism.Yetthey are also wrongto accusehim of searchingfor an escape
from sufferingby seekingcomfort in a made-up past. The conclusion of
TheLordof theRingsdoes not look back to the past;it looks forwardto the
work that needs doing in the future.Given this, and given his vivid sense
that the Great Warprecipitateda crisiswithin and breakwith modernity,
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the thrustof Tolkien'straditionalismcan be understoodas aiming to provide us with what we need to recoverin orderto care for the future,rather
than as aiming at an escape by retreatingto the past. ForTolkiensome of
the resourcesfor buildingour futurearisefrom tradition,poured into new
vesselsthroughthe hopefulworkof a Catholicimagination.
VillanovaUniversity
NOTES
1. Thanks to Kevin Hughes, Martin Laird, and Walter Thompson for reading earlier
drafts of this essay. I will give internal citations to Tolkien's works throughout the paper according to the following scheme: The Hobbit(H); The LettersofJR.R. Tolkien(L); The Lordof
theRings (LoR); "On Fairy Stories" (FS); The Silmarillion(S).
2. See Shippey, Author174-82.
3. For good examples of this approach, see Abromaitis 56-73; Birzer; Garabowski,
9-11.
4. See his opening reflections in, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," 7ff.
5. See Smith, Faith and Belief. 69- 10 1.
6. As Maritain says, "The cathedral builders did not harbor any sort of thesis... They
neither wished to demonstrate the propriety of Christian dogma nor to suggest by some
artifice a Christian emotion. They even thought a great deal less of making a beautiful
work than of doing good work. They were men of Faith, and as they were, so they worked.
Their work revealed the truth of God, but without doing it intentionally, and because of
not doing it intentionally" (63).
7. "Tolkien, instead of letting the Christian element remain on the surface, where it
might be easily dismissed with little thought by those who agree with it as well as by those
who disagree - lets his faith be absorbed into the story and the symbolism. It is there to be
pondered, thought, and reflected upon: to bring new insights with each subsequent reading"
(Dickerson 218-19).
8. See Burrell, especially chapter 6.
9. Tolkien was influenced by his friend Owen Barfield's work, PoeticDiction, where he
writes, "'Meaning' itself can never be conveyed from one person to another; words are not
bottles; every individual must intuit meaning for himself, and the function of the poetic is
to mediate such intuition by suitable suggestion" quoted in Tolley, 53.
10. "Probably every writer making a secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator,
wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes
that the peculiar quality of this secondary world . . . [is] derived from Reality, or [is] flowing
into it." (FS 155).
11. For Shippey, Frodo is a "hinge, a mediation," {Author187). For Tolkien's claim that
the Valar mediate, see Carpenter, Letters193-94.
12. Cantor makes a similar point: "[C.S.] Lewis and Tolkien wanted not only to preserve but to vitalize through their writing and teaching this Anglo-Edwardian retromedieval
culture. In the mechanistic, capitalistic, aggressive age of Harold Macmillan and Margaret
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Thatcher, it looked as though their program of cultural nostalgia would have little long-range
impact. In the 1990's we cannot be so sure of that" (209-10).
13. SeeRearick.
14. See, for example, his disdain for "that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hider" (L 55).
15. See Garth.
16. For recent attempts to draw this link, see Fussell and Tate.
17. Shippey, Author312-18.
18. See Cantor 216.
19. See Sherry.
20. Shippey, Author,vii. As Bettelheim has pointed out, "Myths and fairy stories both
answer the eternal questions: What is the world really like? How am I to live my life in it?
How can I truly be myself?" (45).
2 1. For accounts of Tolkien's experiences during World War I and its effect on his work,
see Garth.
22. "[T|f the salvation offered by God is in fact the salvation of the human race, any
account of this salvation will naturally take a historical form - it will be the history of the
penetration of humanity by Christ" (De Lubac 141).
23. In "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" Sam says, "Beren, now, he never thought he was
going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that
was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes
on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it- and the Silmaril went on and came
to Earendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got it- you've got some of
the light of it in that star-glass the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale
still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?" (LoR 696-97).
24. Of course, this point illuminates not just his approach to art, but also to scholarship.
It explains his fascination with ancient and medieval languages, his approach to Beowulf,his
convictions about the proper way to order the English curriculum at Oxford, in which he
insisted that alongside the study of texts one had to study the history of languages as the
primary cultural artifact. That is, Tolkien thought of ancient languages and epics, as ways
of recovering traditional virtues and insights, thus bringing them up to date in service of
renewal.
25. "Recovery (which includes return and renewal of health) is a re-gaining - regaining
a clear view. I do not say 'seeing things as they are' and involve myself with the philosophers,
though I might venture to say 'seeing things as we are (or were) meant to see them as things
and
57.
Tree
from
Tolkien,
ourselves,"
Leaf,
apart
26. For a further exploration of this point, see Smith, "The Foolishness of the Wise.
27. See Maclntyre 326-48.
28. See Brague 56-57.
29. Faramir gives a typology of human beings at LoR 663. The Numenoreans are the
High Men; those who remained in Middle Earth instead of going to Numenor are the Middle
People, and the Wild Men under Sauron are called the "Men of Darkness." At the end of the
third age, the Numenoreans pass away as their bloodlines become mingled with the Middle
People. Tolkien thinks of contemporary people as inheritors of the Middle People.
30. This should not be surprising, insofar as Tolkien says death is the main theme of
his work (L 267).
3 1. Thus The Hobbitis a paradigmatic example of a mythical hero narrative. For a good
description of the characteristics of this genre, see Campbell.
32. "On his deathbed, Aragorn says to his wife, "Nay, lady, I am the last of the Numenoreans and the latest King of the Elder Days; and to me has been given not only a span
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thrice that of Men of Middle-Earth, but also the grace to go at my will, and give back
the gift. Now, therefore, I sleep... [L]et us not be overthrown at the final test, who of old
renounced the Shadow and the Ring. In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! We
are not bound forever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.
Farewell!" (LoR 1037-38).
33. For example, consider Aragorn's words to Boromir who repents his attempt to seize
the ring after losing a battle with ores. As he lays dying, Aragorn says, "Few have gained
such a victory. Be at peace!" (LoR 404).
34. Of course, this is Tolkien's notion of "eucatastrophe," which he calls the "true form
of fairy-tale" (FS 153).
35. Tolkien recognizes the plausibility of this approach and embodies it in his treatment
of Denethor and Saruman. Saruman believes his rule would be infinitely preferable to
Sauron, and so wants the Ring for himself. Denethor's policy is different. He believes that
using the Ring against Sauron would have morally disastrous consequences because the
Ring corrupts those who use it (LoR 795). So he recommends that it be kept hidden from
the enemy, only to be used in a situation of extreme need (LoR 795). Denethor has been
pursuing a successful containment policy against Sauron for a long time, and at the beginning of the story he seems to think that it will keep working, provided the enemy does not
get the Ring. Yet Gandalf 's policy practically guarantees this. So whatever their differences,
Denethor and Saruman agree on one thing: sending the Ring into the heart of the enemy's
realm with two weak hobbits is idiotic. It practically guarantees that the tyrant will acquire
the power he needs to triumph decisively. For these men, Gandalf 's policy has nothing to
recommend it. For Saruman, it wastes opportunities both to get rid of Sauron once and for
all and to gain access to the kind of power that is needed to order a society with wisdom. For
both Saruman and Denethor, it guarantees Sauron's victory because the hobbits are almost
certainty doomed to failure. These are powerful, common-sense observations. Gandalf
seems foolish because he both ignores the realities of the situation, and relies on weakness
when strength is demanded.
36. "What is it that the Buddha is telling the world here? First, that by the mere fact of
being born under the conditions of finite existence every living creature is subject to the
evils of sickness, old age, and death, and to the sadness that comes when his loved ones are
stricken by these ills. These inevitable occasions of unhappiness (dukha)constitute the problem
of life. But they would not make us unhappy were it not for the blind demandingness (tanha)
in our nature which leads us to ask of the universe, for ourselves and those specially dear to
us, more than it is ready or even able to give. Moreover, it is this same unrealistic and selfish
craving which, frustrated as it inevitably becomes, moves us to act in ways that increase the
unhappiness of others" (Burtt 28).
37. "The Elves were sufficiently longeval to be called by Man 'immortal.' But they were
not unageing or unwearying. Their own tradition was that they were confined to the limits
of this world (in space and time), even if they died, and would continue in some form to
exist until 'the end of the world.' But what 'the end of the world' portended for it or themselves they did not know. . . Neither had they of course any special information concerning
what 'death' portended for Men. They believed it meant 'liberation from the circles of the
world,' and was in that respect to them enviable. And they would point out to Men who
envied them that a dread of ultimate loss, though it may be indefinitely more remote, is not
necessarily easier to bear if it is in the end ineluctably certain: a burden may be heavier the
longer it is borne," (L 325). For a paradigmatic dialogue between elves and men concerning
mortality, see S 265.
38. "Denethor says, "I am Steward of the House of Anarion. I will not step down to be
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99
the dotardchamberlainof an upstart.Evenwere his [Aragorn's]claim [to kingship]proved
to me, stillhe is but of the line of Isuldur.I will not bow to such a one, lastof a raggedhouse
long bereftof lordshipand dignity"(LoR 836).
39. "I would have thingsas they were in all the days of my life. . . and in the days of my
longfathersbeforeme; to be the Lordof this City in peace, and leavemy chairto a son after
me. . . But if doom deniesthis to me, then I will have naughtneitherlife diminished,nor love
halved,no honour abated..." (LoR 836, emphasisin the original).
40. See Denethor'sreactionto Pippin'soffer of service (LoR 739). Compare this with
Theoden's reaction to Merry'soffer of service (LoR 760). Theoden's sympathywith and
care for weaknessmakeshim a much betterking than Denethor.
4 1. "If thereis always,thatto whichthingsare relatedirrespectiveof what I can (literally
and metaphorically)make of them, that awarenessof a depth in the worldbeyondwhat is
at any moment observableis close to what seems to be meant by 'sacred'"(Williams7).
42. There is some ambiguityin Tolkien'streatmentof marriagesbetween races. The
are precipitatedin each case by some
downfallsof the three hiddenkingdomsin Silmarillion
resultof a mixed marriage.Even so, the offspringof these marriagesexercisesome salvific
role, especiallyin the case of Earendil.
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