The following quote, from C. S. Lewis' letter to Fr. Peter Milward (September 22, 1956) is something interesting I found regarding Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy – especially with regard to the fact that we are to read the essay to which Lewis alludes in this letter.
Lewis writes: “Tolkien's book is not an allegory – a form he dislikes. You'll get nearest to his mind on such subjects by studying his essay on Fairy Tales in the 'Essays Presented to Charles Williams.' His root idea of narrative art is 'subcreation' – the making of a secondary world. What you wd. call 'a pleasant story for the children' wd. be to him more serious than an allegory. But for his views read the essay, which is indispensable.” (I am assuming that “wd.” stands for “would.”)
Interestingly, Tolkien himself also states something of his “dislike” of the allegory form – in a statement that I think is a bit peculiar considering that so many people point to the LOTR Trilogy as being an allegory itself (compare this with some of the "story versus allegory" discussions we have had of C. S. Lewis' “Chronicles of Narnia”).
Tolkien writes this in the forward (I, xi . . . I think that is how it is to be referenced) to the Ballantine edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.
“An author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience, but the way in which a story-germ uses the soil of experience are extremely complex, and attempts to define the process are at best guesses from evidence that is inadequate and ambiguous.”
Anyway, it is just something more to think about . . .
Lewis writes: “Tolkien's book is not an allegory – a form he dislikes. You'll get nearest to his mind on such subjects by studying his essay on Fairy Tales in the 'Essays Presented to Charles Williams.' His root idea of narrative art is 'subcreation' – the making of a secondary world. What you wd. call 'a pleasant story for the children' wd. be to him more serious than an allegory. But for his views read the essay, which is indispensable.” (I am assuming that “wd.” stands for “would.”)
Interestingly, Tolkien himself also states something of his “dislike” of the allegory form – in a statement that I think is a bit peculiar considering that so many people point to the LOTR Trilogy as being an allegory itself (compare this with some of the "story versus allegory" discussions we have had of C. S. Lewis' “Chronicles of Narnia”).
Tolkien writes this in the forward (I, xi . . . I think that is how it is to be referenced) to the Ballantine edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.
“An author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience, but the way in which a story-germ uses the soil of experience are extremely complex, and attempts to define the process are at best guesses from evidence that is inadequate and ambiguous.”
Anyway, it is just something more to think about . . .
posted by Christensen at 9:02 PM
1 Comments:
It is interesting that you bring this up. John Garth's book "Tolkien and the Great War" is pretty much all about how the Great War affected in subtle ways his creative writings and the mythology of Middle-Earth. Though I must admit it can be hard not to find allegory in some of Lewis and Tolkien's writings and piece it with a real life experience. Many people want to know where the ideas come from because they are geninuely interested, but I think we as readers do have to be careful of not looking too hard at their works for allegory where there might not be.
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