101 - The Non-Reactionary Tolkien - Holly Ordway

J.R.R. Tolkien is commonly perceived as a reactionary who totally rejected the modern world, and whose literary influences began and ended with the Middle Ages. Holly Ordway's new book, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, debunks that view of Tolkien's life and work. Ordway begins with an invaluable critique of the sources of this misconception, especially the official biography written by Humphrey Carpenter, who admitted his own bias and desire to portray Tolkien as an uptight fuddy-duddy. She then proceeds to examine the works of modern literature we know Tolkien read, gleaning insights about how he may have been influenced either by acceptance or rejection of what he found in those works. In this interview we focus on Tolkien's reading of the father of modern fantasy, William Morris, the adventure writer H. Rider Haggard, the now-unknown religious romance John Inglesant, and even literary modernists like James Joyce and Roy Campbell, and realists like Sinclair Lewis. Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_J46A7QhhQ Links Tolkien’s Modern Reading https://store.wordonfire.org/products/tmr Daphne Castell interview with Tolkien https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/tolkien Diana Glyer’s books on the Inklings: The Company They Keep https://www.amazon.com/Company-They-Keep-Tolkien-Community/dp/0873389913 Bandersnatch https://www.amazon.com/Bandersnatch-Tolkien-Creative-Collaboration-Inklings/dp/1606352768   Some of the many books enjoyed by Tolkien mentioned in this episode: William Morris, The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains H. Rider Haggard, She Joseph Henry Shorthouse, John Inglesant Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Andrew Lang’s fairy tale collections Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit books E.A. Wyke-Smith, The Marvellous Land of Snergs John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps and the other Richard Hannay books This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio