Is THIS how you imagined the vampires?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Now where were we, ah yes...Bethberry, in regards to 'The Picture of Dorian Gray': do you think that Tolkien, based on his religious inclination, would have read or appreciated Oscar Wilde? Aside from the Dorian Grayish nature of the Elves, it is interesting to think of Bilbo after years of holding the Ring feeling 'thin and stretched', while maintaining his outward appearance, yet behaving in a manner uncharacteristic of his kindly nature (the portrait and the Ring being similar). The vampirish similarities of Gollum and his cannibalistic tendencies (if one considers eating Orcs as cannibalism) seem to be a direct reflection of the effect of the ring and its eventual erosion of morality.

I wouldn't immediately make any assumptions about Tolkien simply "based on his religious inclination", as you put it, because I don't think his faith hobbled his mind in a closed way, although it certainly, as any POV, predisposed him to certain frames of reference and values. After all, he himself went through fluctuations of faith and for parts of life was not as devout a practitioner as at others.

The "Moderns vs. Tolkien" dichotomy creates a vast assumption that Tolkien didn't share anything with the Moderns, which is rather strange. After all, he grew up within a largely similar cultural and social milieu (even given that there is an identifiable English Catholic sub-strain of the culture). He had similar historical experiences as the Joyces, the Bloomsbury set, Lawrence, Shaw, Wilde even if they didn't fight in the trenches at the Somme. He was on good terms with W.H. Auden. He knew of at least intellectually the currents in the scientific community at Oxford and in England at large--he wasn't cloistered. Even his love of philology and Old English was absolutely spot on in terms of currency of ideas, although now perhaps it is regarded as a bit of a dustheap of history (by some).

In short, I think he shared some of the same cultural issues as the Moderns (using that word very broadly). He might have taken a different tack in understanding those topics, but he was not immune to, say, the subjects of beauty, art, indulgence, taste. The lure of beauty and the depiction of beauty as truth is central to his art. I think it would be really interesting to consider some of the similarities he had with the Wildes before automatically assuming he had nothing in common with them. I think it is entirely possible he understood vampires in--dare I say it--an allegorical way--perhaps the better term is vampirism--and explored it within the context of his thought. In fact, his very defense of art as culturally, historically, socially significant takes it out of the mere realm of personal hedonism, although even there one could explore that topic too, as you have done here about Bilbo.

Dearie me, I have run on and now run out of time. Must dash.