Comments on: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Great War

By: Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:45:01 +0000

It was something I looked into when I started. Unfortunately, the source list on my site is the best I can do for now.

By: Michael O.

Michael O. — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:11:48 +0000

I can understand not wanting to have lengthy lists of sources after every article, but it should still be clear where readers can access it, and of course also out of respect for those authors.

By: Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:52:36 +0000

Hm, I’ve never heard the term Trama-narrative, but I don’t think that I’d call either of them that: they were certainly influenced by Tolkien’s experience, but there were seeds of the worlds and stories prior to his combat experience.

By: Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:51:14 +0000

Yep – that was one of a couple of sources: the biggest help for me was a hefty reference chronology, which helped me place him. When I started this column, sources were something that we decided not to put in (part of the format, I guess): I run a corresponding post on my own site that lists the sources that I use for each post.

By: Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:49:39 +0000

I’ll check that one out!

By: Andrew Liptak

Andrew Liptak — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:48:50 +0000

Indeed – that was one of the sources that I used for this piece. I didn’t read it all the way through, but I found what I did read to be incredibly helpful.

By: lorq

lorq — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:39:58 +0000

I always got a sense that both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were trauma-narratives about the First World War. The repetitive plot device of a new army unexpectedly swooping in to save the day on the battlefield seems like a trauma-response: endlessly replaying the traumatic event to make it “come out right this time.” Perhaps that’s what’s behind Tolkien’s idea of the “eucatastrophe” (the unexpected turn of events that saves the hero from certain doom).

By: John DeNardo

John DeNardo — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 01:31:46 +0000

Fwiw, Andrew cites sources on his own blog.

By: Michael O.

Michael O. — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:55:02 +0000

I’m confused – did you read Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth by John Garth for this article? If so, you should credit him as a/the source. His name and book don’t appear anywhere in your article.

If not, you should read his book – it’s one of the best works of literary criticism & biography I’ve read. And you should credit wherever you got the information – you have at least two unsourced quotations in there.

By: ddr

ddr — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:42:47 +0000

I’ve always been fascinated about the links between Tolkien’s experience in the Great War and his fiction, and I think viewing the Lord of the Rings in that light provides a lot of insight into it. There’s so many connections between elements of the story and other Great War fiction. In addition to Garth’s work, I’d recommend Janet Brennan Croft’s book “War and the works of JRR Tolkien” which is very interesting in this regard.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:04:06 +0000

Wrong cover, but that’s okay. I met John Garth a couple of times (my talk was at the same time as his, guess which one of us had a full house) and he’s a fantastic scholar on Tolkien.

It’s very interesting to examine Tolkien in the same light at other authors who were who affected by WWI like Hemingway. If you ignore that Tolkien’s work has a fantastical setting, it has a great deal of similarities with the works of his contemporaries with regard to lost innocence and the injustice of war on a personal level.

I highly recommend Tolkien and the Great War.