LOTR and your Weltanschauung - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

***Mister Underhill*** · 08-15-2005, 10:24 AM

I wasn't suggesting anything so much as I was making an observation: that in my experience most (not all!) people take up LotR when they are young, or not at all. How much this says about LotR, and how much about our culture and the effects of age, I can't say. Also, I felt that Tolkien had had a rather profound and, as it turns out, lasting effect on me, and I wondered if others might have had similar experiences.

I would not go so far as to say that young and impressionable people necessarily get more "value" out of LotR by virtue of their inexperience, although I'd say they are more apt to be receptive to its idealistic moral standpoint. Whether that standpoint is valuable or not has been the subject of some debate. As I recall from a certain philosophy thread -- or was it one about characterization? -- there are at least a few Downers who are attracted to LotR's moral philsophy on some abstract level, but consider it untenable or at least unrealistic in "the real world".

Anyway, this thread was meant more as a place for people to share or to speculate about how (or if) Tolkien's work had any significant impact on their own personal Weltanschauung than a place for making any sweeping generalizations about who gets more value out of LotR.

Also it was a chance to use the word Weltanschauung, which I never pass up. Try it. It's fun. Weltanschauung.

08-15-2005, 10:24 AM	#25
*Mister Underhill* Dread Horseman Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Behind you! Posts: 2,744	I wasn't suggesting anything so much as I was making an observation: that in my experience most (not all!) people take up LotR when they are young, or not at all. How much this says about LotR, and how much about our culture and the effects of age, I can't say. Also, I felt that Tolkien had had a rather profound and, as it turns out, lasting effect on me, and I wondered if others might have had similar experiences. I would not go so far as to say that young and impressionable people necessarily get more "value" out of LotR by virtue of their inexperience, although I'd say they are more apt to be receptive to its idealistic moral standpoint. Whether that standpoint is valuable or not has been the subject of some debate. As I recall from a certain philosophy thread -- or was it one about characterization? -- there are at least a few Downers who are attracted to LotR's moral philsophy on some abstract level, but consider it untenable or at least unrealistic in "the real world". Anyway, this thread was meant more as a place for people to share or to speculate about how (or if) Tolkien's work had any significant impact on their own personal Weltanschauung than a place for making any sweeping generalizations about who gets more value out of LotR. Also it was a chance to use the word Weltanschauung, which I never pass up. Try it. It's fun. Weltanschauung.