I love reading The Imaginative Conservative. This online journal welcomes a variety of authors representing the spectrum of conservatism who converse on topics related to truth, beauty, and goodness. Sometimes, however, conservatism rightly deserves its reputation for nay-saying. Such is my response to Bruce Frohnen’s essay, “Malevolent?…No…Maleficent?…Whatever.” Mr. Frohnen detects a feminist reading underlying the plot that [...]
The more we dabble in “creating worlds,” the more likely we are to consider whether our own world had a Creator. The more we construct and tell stories, the more likely we are to ponder the possibility of our own Storyteller. Dear Mr. Dawkins, You’ve said lately that fairy tales are quite harmful. Your reason [...]
1. When and how did you first come across The Lord of the Rings? Believe it or not, I first read The Lord of the Rings during my second prison sentence. Prior to my conversion I was involved in radical white supremacist politics and was imprisoned twice for publishing materials likely to incite racial hatred. [...]
Dan Simmons, Hyperion (1989) A month or so ago, I asked two of my Kiwi progressive rock/science fiction friends, Russell Clarke and Paul Watson, for some recommendations for dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. We already share a lot in common, and, after comparing lists, Russell realized I’d not read anything by Dan Simmons. I was already somewhat [...]
As far back as I can remember, my mother always had new books to offer me. When I was just staring to read, she gave me Dr. Seuss and Richard Scary books. These were my favorites. As soon as I was old enough to ride my bike any distance at all, she had me get [...]
With the film trilogy “The Hobbit,” Peter Jackson returned to Middle Earth with less respect to some of the best “material” ever written. The results are rather awful. There must be something about New Zealand that brings out the megalomania in movie makers. It recently was announced that James Cameron, that titan of trite who brought [...]
The Devil’s first sin was not the temptation of Eve, but preceded the creation of the Garden. He “tried to destroy by violence before he succeeded in ruining by fraud.” You might like to compare Tolkien’s “Ainulindale” (the Elvish account of the creation of the world through music, in The Silmarillion), with the following meditation on the Exercises [...]
Some years ago I wrote a book about Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. It was called Secret Fire by the publisher DLT, and The Power of the Ring in the USA (Crossroad didn’t like the UK title). This year, with financial troubles at DLT, it went out of print (in both versions) and I was asked by Crossroad [...]
J.R.R. Tolkien composed a whole “Elvish Book of Genesis,” describing the creation of the world by the One God (Illuvatar). In that mythological account—which he believed to be compatible with the creation story in Genesis—God first proposes the world as a musical theme. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.” [...]
The White City, in its pride and presumption, lay under siege. Having gathered “his most cunning smiths and sorcerers,” Melko, the twisted one, had directed the creation of organic machines, through “iron and flame” to attack. Led by the leader of the demonic balrogs, Gothmog, and armed with such unholy weapons, Melko’s forces breached the [...]
J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) shaped my life in more ways than I can or ever will understand. At least in this life time. Though he died when I was only five years old, I have often given God thanks for allowing me to live on the same earth as Tolkien. Indeed, [...]
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter The History of The Lord of the Rings edited by Christopher Tolkien If considered at all, Oxford philologist and novelist J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) remains a perplexing twentieth-century figure for most academics, conservative or otherwise. Most famous academically for his insightful and seminal 1936 essay on Beowulf, [...]
J. R. R. Tolkien ’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth by Bradley J. Birzer Much has been written of J.R.R. Tolkien’s accomplishment during the past half century, with critics struggling to understand the powerful grip exercised by the English fantasist’s writings upon readers. Some Tolkien-focused criticism has been enlightening, much has been repetitive, and a small [...]
According to J. R. R. Tolkien’s son, Christopher, Hugo Dyson (1896-1975) had quite enough, thank you, even though the lesser-known Oxford don was considered the most fun-loving of the Inklings. As another newly-written passage of The Lord of the Rings was read aloud by its author, Dyson was "lying on the couch, and lolling and shouting and saying, [...]