[Child of the 7th Age]

Littlemanpoet--First of all, let me say that I am in sympathy with your statement that we have lost our sense of the past, and that this has contributed to our alienation from many of the paradigms which Tolkien loved and represented. As I said in an earlier post, I went on to get a doctorate in medieval history, a very impractical thing to do, way back in the 70s, because I felt the same stirrings in my heart studying this subject as when I read the writings of Tolkien and White. Just a small illustration but no person who lives in the West and has a connection with their heritage can pooh-pooh elves and dwarves if they understand anything about ancient literature.

I used to feel that, at least people from non-western areas, still had the connection and ties with their own cultures and mythic truths. Now I am afraid that there is so much cultural imperialism (I don't know what else to call it.) that people all over the world are losing this sense of connectedness.

I don't want to live in a world where everything is judged solely by the standards of 21st century business, science, etc. (not that there isn't goodness and truth in these fields too, but there has to be something more) I certainly don't want to live in a society whose main symbol worldwide may be the coca cola can. Give me elves and those pesky little hobbits any day!

The more I read your post and my own ranting as well, I realize that very similar words could have come out of Tolkien's own mouth and pen. Patrick Curry has some very strong and interesting things to say about Tolkien's rejection of "modernity." Many critics do not disparage Tolkien on the basis of literary or philosophical grounds, but rather because they "subscribe to the very same values of modernity--statism, scientism, economism, and secularism--which are implicated in the pathological dynamic that so alarmed Tolkien." Part of this underlying rejection is what, I believes, draws me to Tolkien and I don't see it in many other fantasy writers. (I do see it in White, especially in his views on the role of war.) Tolkien wanted a society that was different in many ways, at least in terms of values, and I feel and respond to this same yearning. As a Catholic, he had little hope that this would ever come about before the end of time, but he said, or his stories said, we had to keep trying. Today, unfortunately, so many people are cut off from their past, both in terms of concrete history and more distant mythic roots, that these individuals just don't feel or get it! I am not sure how we get past or around this, but there must be a way. [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img]