Some History and a Question.....

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Esty

At a time when religion, especially organised churches, was being rejected by young people (rebelling, as Child so astutely notices), they still needed something to replace it in their lives. Science, the god of the previous years, had proved disappointing and disillusioning.

I think you are on to something here. Western society became increasingly secularised in the second half of the 20th century, and in addition, people lived under a new kind of threat, the very real possibility of total global destruction. I know that equating the Ring with the 'Bomb' is not de rigeur for Tolkienists, but that's not what I am saying; LotR makes a clear case that science applied incorrectly, in the form of destructive technologies, could and would lead to disaster.

Given that the sixties saw the rise in the US of the anti-Vietnam movement, and in the UK (and the US, and rest of the world) of CND, Tolkien's work must have been highly appropriate. And it must not be denied that what Child says is correct - there was also a youth culture of mind-expanding substances and rock music which would be sympathetic to epic fantasy. Interestingly, in Liverpool in the 80s and early 90s, the 'scally' youth culture was strongly focussed on 60s and 70s music, 'substances' and anything vaguely 'mind-expanding' - Tolkien was very popular; one of the more interesting effects of 'Thatcher's Britain'.

Originally Posted by Squatter

Nonetheless, universities, whatever they might say, are followers of profit and fashion. With more and more people discovering both him and medieval studies, Tolkien may yet appear on more syllabi just as a matter of supply and demand. Obviously Oxford isn't likely to lose many 'customers' (apparently students should be regarded as such nowadays) by ignoring him, but other, less secure, institutions might feel tempted to jump on the Tolkien bandwagon. If, as Germaine Greer lamented, Tolkien has proven to be the most influential writer of his century, it may be inevitable that his work will get its own courses. Time will tell, and the only objection I can think of is that Tolkien would have preferred it if people were to study Cynewulf or Bede rather than him. Personally I prefer to apply academic tools to the private study of his work, which is cheaper and doesn't threaten to take the fun out of it.

I'm interested to see how the new focus on Higher Education as a 'market' will pan out. In the US, a University education has always been expensive; over here its a relatively new idea that students should pay in some form for their education. I would like to see if given the new emphasis on students as 'customers', Faculties begin to change their courses to reflect what undergraduates demand. This could either mean that there are a lot of IT and business courses as students are thinking about paying off debts, or it could mean they instead decide to follow purely what interests them.

I think the greater number of Tolkien courses in the US may have something to do with the financing and organisation of Universities. In the US, there are religiously funded Universities which may be more amenable to studying a writer who was a known devout Catholic. Here, barring a handful of tiny (20-30 students) Oxford Private Halls and The Jews' College (if that is still going?), Universities are secular and they work relatively closely with the Government on strategic planning of future courses. Arts subjects are still extremely well-defended against any accusations that they are 'useless'.

English is still a phenomenally popular degree in the UK, and most degrees combine Language and Literature; I cannot see this changing. However, some associated departments are closing down such as Linguistics at Durham and a significant number of Foreign Language departments. If any increase in the number of courses where Tolkien can be studied is likely to happen, then I think it will be most likely to come from former Polytechnics and institutions outside the 'Russell Group' (Oxbridge, London, Durham etc) - as seen with the Brian Rosebury course offered at Central Lancashire University.

I actually agree that to study Tolkien formally may take the fun out of his work. I certainly would not like to see his work forced on unwilling teenagers at school as they would then hate it, but it would be nice to have the opportunity to study his work.