MotW,
You hit the nail on the head in the last paragraph of your post, I think. One of the biggest problems, perhaps, with Mr. Brin’s article is two fold: First, he reduces monarchy to feudalism and vise versa; second, he assumes that Middle-Earth is ripe with feudalism because it has monarchies. However, monarchy is very different from feudalism, and in fact, true feudalism can only exist with a weak centralized government. Historically, monarchies long outlived western medieval feudalism. At the same time, you would be hard pressed to find feudalism, the western medieval variety, in Middle-Earth, especially in The Shire (which as you say is perhaps one of the few societies worth emulating). (I am currently working on an essay juxtaposing Tolkien’s description of The Shire with notions of Catholic community and social teachings, and once completed I may make available in part on this forum.)
I would find it hard to compare Tolkien’s work with Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s work as well, but there is one notable parallel between Goethe and Tolkien. When Goethe stayed in Strasbourg (I think around 1770) he was greatly impacted by the Strasbourg Cathedral, and he was impressed by the Gothic style and considered it distinctively German (in my mind a rather fallacious conclusion). He was also, through Johann Gottfried Herder, exposed to the folk-stylish musings of Johann Georg Hamann, James MacPherson, Laurence Sterne, and Oliver Goldsmith. Because of these influences he took part in the Sturm und Drang movement that aimed at establishing a distinctively German cultural and literary alternative to the French neoclassical tradition predominate in Germany at the time. The fuel of the movement was in part (and it can be argued is the larger part) was the past, the primordial Teutonic roots of the German people. That kind of nostalgic searching seems to be at work in Tolkien, albeit in a very different cultural and historical context.
You are right though, the Sturm und Drang movement remained a nationalism, pure and simple (though ironically a very eclectic one). Tolkien, while starting from the search for a distinctively English mythology, transcends mere nationalism as is evidenced by so many people of so many different historical and cultural backgrounds being able to identify with his creation. From a Catholic’s perspective, Tolkien’s strong personal faith that allows Truth to be manifested in cultural diversity, may account for this transcendence.
So lumping Tolkien with the Sturm und Drang, movement, or vise versa, is a huge mistake on the part of Mr. Brin. Or lumping all “romantics” into a single category is a bit foolish, but like so many other things in his article, he is apt to sweeping generalizations and sociological inaccuracies to push his point. All the while he only proves he hasn’t an “inkling” of what he’s talking about.
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I prefer Gillaume d’Férny, connoisseur of fine fruit.
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