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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7762841" data-attributes="member: 6873517">That's an important point, though I'm not sure I agree LotR is reactionary. You did say "verge into" so I get that.  What it is in many ways is complicated. It's definitely got some deeply conservative and/or nostalgic "Little England" elements and "the Scouring of the Shire" does have an unnecessary dig at Britain of the 1940s and 1950s. It's deeply Christian in many important ways and has an important discussion on the nature of freedom, power, and evil. One thing JRRT is pretty clear on is that what he refers to as the "Free Peoples"---those created by Eru and in accordance with the Music of Creation---can be tempted and fall into evil. Sauron and Saruman both fall, primarily due to their excessive love of order for Sauron and rationalization for Saruman. The destruction of the Ring only comes through the restraint by the powerful, most notably Gandalf and Galadriel, and the mercy that Bilbo and Frodo showed towards Gollum. In the end Frodo fails at the Crack of Doom and succumbs to the Ring. Ultimately, the Ring is destroyed because Gollum takes it, getting what he wants most. This would not have happened had Frodo in general, treated Gollum in a humane and merciful fashion. One can dislike Tolkien's Catholic traditionalism, but his discussion of the nature of evil and of power is more subtle than critics often say and the messaging that Frodo brings really doesn't feel like, say, blood and iron ethnonationalism or any of the other elements of, say, Umberto Eco's excellent <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/" target="_blank">Ur-Fascism</a>, which alas seems paywalled but is excerpted <a href="http://interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Yes I have read <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Pooh" target="_blank">Epic Pooh</a>, including the updated version. I get what Michael Moorcock is saying and I understand that much of his issue has to do with his views on British politics---Moorcock being a strident atheist and socialist and Tolkien being a devout traditionalist Catholic, and, I presume a Tory---but in many respects I think he doth protest too much in spots and also misses the point in others. Nevertheless, I do think Epic Pooh is worth reading for people who don't recognize the larger issues and overly romanticize Middle Earth.</blockquote>

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