Quote:
Originally Posted by Patricia
Unfortunately, for me, the book is ultimately rather conservative and backward-looking. The women characters are either absent or pooly-developed. And feudal kingship is not a realistic model for the twentieth century. But perhaps that is meant to reflect the author's uneasiness with the post-war situation? Maybe he can't see a satisfactory way ahead, so plunges into a reactonary epic?
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One of Tolkien's goals was to create a "mythology" for the English, which he strongly felt that we lacked, compared with the rich mythology of the Nordic, Germanic, and Celtic nations. The whole
point of his work is to be backward-looking and to reflect the days of feudal kingship; it's not meant to reflect modern society. I don't think that means, however, that it cannot be enjoyed by 21st century readers.
In the introduction to LOTR, he dismisses the idea that the story of the War of the Ring was an allegory for the Second World War, which many of the early reviewers of the book had suggested. He states, in fact, that he thoroughly detests allegory in any form.