Tolkien and Modernity 2

by Thomas Honegger (Editor), Frank Weinreich (Editor)

The current volume, being the second of two dedicated to 'Tolkien and Modernity', grew out of the wish to further the exploration of Tolkien as a 'contemporary writer', i.e. an author whose literary creations can be seen as a response to the challenges of the modern world. It comprises papers that focus on four broad love, time, heroism, and style. Although one could argue that these topics have been present since the beginning of literature, though sometimes temporarily submerged, it is with the cataclysm of World War I and the entry of Einstein's Theory of Relativity into the public consciousness - two events that shook the very foundations of pre-modern society - that they gained a new and immediate relevance.

292 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2006

Reviews

[Charley Robson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm genuinely not sure if I missed something, but these essays seemed to be grasping for things to write about more than actually writing about anything. All were clearly well researched and written with gusto, and the points were (as far as I was able to make out) sound in their context. However, the actual subjects of those essays were often obscure to the point of incomprehensibility, and none of the subjects covered justified their own existence. Niche essays, of course, have every right to exist - but I genuinely could not work out what these authors were trying to say, or why they wanted to say it.

In short: you do you, Honegger and friends. But I remain unconvinced that connections between the style of late Beethoven pieces and Tolkien's imagined textual historiography can tell me much about the meanings of either.