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Originally Posted by davem
Perhaps it filled the gap they felt with the loss of traditional religion. Its interesting that the book which so inspired them was such a 'spiritual' work but one which didn't promote a specific religion. Perhaps it wasn't that they had rejected religion, but that religion had moved away from them.
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It is interesting that even though traditional Western religions have declined and society has become much more secular (I'm thinking of the UK as opposed to the US which seems to be quite the opposite), that there has been enormous growth in 'personal' spiritual exploration. It is now entirely acceptable to make use of astrology, tarot, crystal healing, numerology etc in everyday life as spiritual 'tools'. Even I can remember when such things were considered 'weird' and I'm only in my 30s.
Even the Sunday morning BBC 'God Spot' is occupied by a thoroughly ecumenical magazine show exploring faith and spirituality from all angles. I don't think its mere coincidence that interest in Tolkien, fantasy and sci-fi has grown alongside this more personal focus on belief; people might be secular but they still seem to need something meaningful beyond everyday life.
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Originally Posted by Bethberry
It is not only Tolkien who has been newly included. We can find other popular writers besides Tolkien now being included on reading lists and being made the subject of scholarly lectures. We would also find that other forms of previously overlooked literatures are now the subject of courses, such as literature of the formerly British colonies, Black literature (particularly in the U.S.), working class literature. Norman Feltes at York University in Toronto was responsible for 'unearthing' a substantial amount of reading material which was devoured by the working classes in nineteenth century England but which was largely ignored by the leisurely and academic classes. I doubt I need to mention that women writers have in particular been the recipients of a great deal of academic interest where previously most were ignored.
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It was only around 15 years ago that I was at University and we had not only optional modules on what was non-traditional 'canon' literature but these texts were included in core modules too. Certainly where I studied, black and women's literature was considered well within the 'canon'. I also undertook a unit on literature of the 1930s which lead me on to a discovery of a whole genre of working class fiction after studying Walter Greenwood's 'Love On the Dole' - much of it only available from small socialist printing presses. However, fantasy and sci-fi were still not considered acceptable as courses of study on my degree even as specialist papers; a fellow student struggled to have his dissertation on graphic novels accepted, and I found difficulty finding someone to mark a paper on Kurt Vonnegut (it was the tutor with an interest in satire who took it on). I still think that in the UK we're a good few years behind the times with regard to studying Tolkien.
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Originally Posted by Child
Thanks for reminding me about Brian Rosebury. He is certainly a professor who's done an interesting book on Tolkien. For some reason, I had him pegged in my mind as a "Yank." I didn't realize he taught at Lancashire. (That's where part of my dad's family was from. The rest hailed from Cornwall.)
Your comment on polytechnics is interesting. I think you are correct. We don't have such fine distinctions in categorizing colleges. There are certainly schools like Georgia Tech but they are still considered universities. It's also interesting to me that so many serious science people have an interest in Tolkien. At my son's school, two of his teachers were interested in Tolkien on much more than a casual basis. One was in physics and the other held a doctorate in chemistry.
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Sometimes I wonder if some of the dismissal of Tolkien by the Arts establishment in the UK is due to his huge fan base in the more 'techie' community. We have to be honest and admit that there is still an image problem with regard to Tolkien in that his fans are viewed as nerdy and into computers and gadgets (as I am, and I have to say, if being into computers and gadgets makes me a nerd then so be it...). Certainly here, there is a pretty big divide between Arts and Sciences. Arts people are 'cool' while Science people are 'geeks'. Yet there is little difference in actual 'grey matter'. I have in the past found this pretty frustrating as I like a lot of 'cool' Arts stuff, yet Tolkien is seemingly always on the mental checklist of 'uncool' things.
I don't know if this will ever change to be honest. In the wake of the films it seemed for a while that to be into Tolkien was a very 'cool' thing indeed, but this seems to have abated a little now. However, as a new generation of young Tolkien fans starts to go through university and demands to study things they enjoy and have those things taken seriously I have some hope. Even if it all comes to naught then it's not going to affect what i think, as I'm old enough to like what I like and not care if it's cool or not!
Have to give you a special nod there as someone who has Lancastrian blood, though davem will not approve, as a proud Yorkshire Tyke.