Thank you
Son of Númenor for supplying those quotes from the Letters. They, and others like them, were the ones that I was immediately reminded of when I first saw this thread. There are also a number of references to his dislike of Terror from the Air, which
Helen mentioned. Indeed, in letters written during WW2 to his son Christopher, who was stationed with the RAF in South Africa at the time, Tolkien expressed his sadness that Christopher should be flying military aircraft. He likened the situation to a Hobbit riding a Fell Beast, I believe. When I read this, I thought how distressing it must have been for Christopher to read of his father’s intense dislike of the very things that he was flying in the service of his country. But, since Christopher knew his father as closely as anyone, I suppose that he must have understood.
Although Tolkien expresses in his Letters many sentiments with which I can agree, his dislike of modern technology is one area where I find his views significantly at variance with my own. I can understand his hatred of modern warfare (particularly given his experiences in WW1, which I am sure that I could never even begin to appreciate fully) but, as
Kuruharan intimated, it is people, not machines, that kill people. And, as one who greatly appreciates the beauty of my own country, I can understand his sense that the ugliness of modern factories and the like were blighting the land (although very little of rural England, including areas such as that on which the Shire is based, represents its natural state). And I can also (acutely) identify with his thoughts on technological advancements speeding up the pace of life to an unpleasant (and often dangerously stressful) degree.
But he seems to take no account of the benefits that advancements in technology can bring, particularly in terms of medical advancements, standards of living and information availability. This issue came up in a recent PM discussion with
Numenorean, who wondered what Tolkien would have made of the information age and, in particular, the internet. I said that I thought that, as someone who valued information (or at least the communication of thoughts and ideas), he might have recognised the value of the internet. Then again, the internet can be put to good and bad use, just like the “infernal combustion engine” which he lambastes in his Letters.
One final thought. It seems odd to me that someone should be content with a certain level of technology, yet find any advancement beyond that unpleasant. I suppose it depends upon what one is used to. My mother never did get round to learning how to operate a video recorder!
