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Originally Posted by Bęthberry
The "Moderns vs. Tolkien" dichotomy creates a vast assumption that Tolkien didn't share anything with the Moderns, which is rather strange. After all, he grew up within a largely similar cultural and social milieu (even given that there is an identifiable English Catholic sub-strain of the culture). He had similar historical experiences as the Joyces, the Bloomsbury set, Lawrence, Shaw, Wilde even if they didn't fight in the trenches at the Somme. He was on good terms with W.H. Auden. He knew of at least intellectually the currents in the scientific community at Oxford and in England at large--he wasn't cloistered. Even his love of philology and Old English was absolutely spot on in terms of currency of ideas, although now perhaps it is regarded as a bit of a dustheap of history (by some).
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Good call. And we now know from the Companion & Guide that his reading tastes included some highly Modern literature, not only was he a sci-fi fan but he even like Iris Murdoch (and she liked him, too, happily
). Tolkien was not known to be fond of the Bloomsbury Set and the aesthetic movement in general, but that was rather through taste than any prejudice about their inclinations - he was a friend to Auden and worked alongside some infamously homosexual dons and students - one contemporary mentioned in Letters was the Warden of Wadham, Professor of Poetry and eventual Vice Chancellor Maurice Bowra who was terrifyingly eccentric. If he did not like Wilde then it would be down to simple taste.