“ THE LORD OF THE RINGS IS OF COURSE A FUNDAMENTALLY RELIGIOUS AND CATHOLIC WORK; UNCONSCIOUSLY SO AT FIRST, BUT CONSCIOUSLY IN THE REVISION.
— J. R. R. TOLKIEN TO ROBERT MURRAY, S.J. [1]”
That's more of a refutation of people claiming his work is pagan, which if Varg is any indication, doesn't seem to have dissuaded any LARPers. That is not claiming his work is allegorical.
Any devout Catholic writing a work will produce a work that is fundamentally Catholic. Same with any other faith. A man's worldviews are deeply ingrained in him and will be reflected his work
Even if you try not to it ends up that way. I wrote two characters for a book without much thought. One ended up being an anti state, freedom lover, the other ended up being a hardcore Christian. Both characters ended up representing two of my value systems, without any conscious attempt to, it all just came out that way. They even debate each other, and it was like me debating with myself and my own ideological conflicts.
"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. However that is very clumsily put, and sounds more self-important than I feel. For as a matter of fact, I have consciously planned very little; and should chiefly be grateful for having been brought up (since I was eight) in a Faith that has nourished me and taught me all the little that I know; and that I owe to my mother, who clung to her conversion and died young, largely through the hardships of poverty resulting from it."
“ THE LORD OF THE RINGS IS OF COURSE A FUNDAMENTALLY RELIGIOUS AND CATHOLIC WORK; UNCONSCIOUSLY SO AT FIRST, BUT CONSCIOUSLY IN THE REVISION. — J. R. R. TOLKIEN TO ROBERT MURRAY, S.J. [1]”
That's more of a refutation of people claiming his work is pagan, which if Varg is any indication, doesn't seem to have dissuaded any LARPers. That is not claiming his work is allegorical.
Any devout Catholic writing a work will produce a work that is fundamentally Catholic. Same with any other faith. A man's worldviews are deeply ingrained in him and will be reflected his work
Even if you try not to it ends up that way. I wrote two characters for a book without much thought. One ended up being an anti state, freedom lover, the other ended up being a hardcore Christian. Both characters ended up representing two of my value systems, without any conscious attempt to, it all just came out that way. They even debate each other, and it was like me debating with myself and my own ideological conflicts.
People write what they know.
"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. However that is very clumsily put, and sounds more self-important than I feel. For as a matter of fact, I have consciously planned very little; and should chiefly be grateful for having been brought up (since I was eight) in a Faith that has nourished me and taught me all the little that I know; and that I owe to my mother, who clung to her conversion and died young, largely through the hardships of poverty resulting from it."
Why not fullquote?