[Mithalwen]

But Tolkien wasn't an American catholic. Being a catholic put Tolkien somewhat outside of the Establishment of his day. He was possibly what we call "small c conservative" but I don 't think that corresponds to american conservatism much. I don't think that Left wing right wing designation is helpful since it is all relative to the perspective of the person labelling rather than a fairly set group of doctrines adhered to. It is not like saying Tolkien was a Catholic.

There is such a geographical factor as well. It seems to me that the majority of European non-British Tolkien fans I know tend to the left but then many are scandinavian and those countries tend to be more socialist than the UK. Similarly there seems to be a lot of American Tolkien fans who tend to the right but then American politics seems generally to be to the right of the UK. As for the Brits they seem to be both some to the left and right of the generally centrist politics. As a consequence I am sure most of the scandanavians would regard me as to the right and many americans as a lefty. It doesn't really get you anywhere. Also do you mean by right wing and left wng anything to the right or left of centre or the extremes? They always seem a more extreme term somehow and I can't imagine that Tolkien would have had any truck with the likes of the BNP.

I can't recall seeing anything that indicated much about Tolkien's politics at a party level. His letters and other writings give good clues about how he might have felt on specific issues but his world is so expansive that many people are going to see things that chime with their beliefs, interests or world view. A catholic will see things that relate to catholicism that will wash over someone raised in another culture or tradition, a scholar of norse myth will see those paralels, the conservative may applaud the restoration of the appointed order and the radical the overthrow of oppressive tyrants. Linguists revel in the languages, gardeners the herblore. Many may just enjoy the story.

Tolkien and his stories are too complex to be assigned to or claimed by any one group.