Since we're sharing, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Hopefully it doesn't take us too far off topic.
I think it's great how although people come to Tolkien's works with different perspectives and worldviews, we all get something meaningful out of them. A writer's worldview can inform their storytelling without being overt about it, which makes it relatable to different groups/types of people. I don't care much for allegory myself -- high school studies of Orwell beat that thoroughly out of me -- and I don't think I would enjoy Tolkien's works nearly as much if his Catholicism was clearly front and center, because I don't share those beliefs. (And I don't think the writing would have been nearly as good. Take, for example, Pullman's
His Dark Materials books -- while I share the author's atheism and generally like the plot, the writing is not what you would call subtle.
)
Being nonreligious, I find inspiration in other things, including literature. The melancholic yet, at the end of the day, optimistic tone in LotR fits my attitudes about the world. "Above all shadows rides the Sun, and Stars forever dwell..."
07-10-2016, 10:07 PM
Hybrid Mode
