"Tolkien especially grapples in his novels more seriously than many supposedly more sophisticated modern literary works with the evils of the twentieth century."What a total crock of XXXX. Tolkein repeatedly attacked these attempts to impute meaning into his work . . . especially this old canard.
“Tolkein repeatedly attacked these attempts to impute meaning into his work . . .”
True, but to be fair, even he might not really know why he wrote it. Or he might have personal reasons for not wanting to admit his purpose.
He fought in some horrendous fighting in WWI, and lost all but one of his friends. WWI screws this guy up royally, then he writes a book that clearly dissects what is wrong with Europe? Tolkien can deny it all he wants,,, but it’s pretty clear.
His denials are probably for his own tortured reasons,,,,
IE,, an artist does a ton of Church hating art. You find out his dad beat him every week for not memorizing the bible or some such. No matter how much the artist denys that as the reason for his topics,,, it’s fair and correct to make the association. Happens all the time.