Show notes
J.R.R. Tolkien is commonly perceived as a reactionary who totally rejected the modern world, and whose literary influences began and ended with the Middle Ages. Holly Ordway's new book, Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, debunks that view of Tolkien's life and work.
Ordway begins with an invaluable critique of the sources of this misconception, especially the official biography written by Humphrey Carpenter, who admitted his own bias and desire to portray Tolkien as an uptight fuddy-duddy.
She then proceeds to examine the works of modern literature we know Tolkien read, gleaning insights about how he may have been influenced either by acceptance or rejection of what he found in those works. In this interview we focus on Tolkien's reading of the father of modern fantasy, William Morris, the adventure writer H. Rider Haggard, the now-unknown religious romance John Inglesant, and even literary modernists like James Joyce and Roy Campbell, and realists like Sinclair Lewis.
Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_J46A7QhhQ
Links
Tolkien's Modern Reading https://store.wordonfire.org/products/tmr
Daphne Castell interview with Tolkien https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/tolkien
Diana Glyer's books on the Inklings:
The Company They Keep https://www.amazon.com/Company-They-Keep-Tolkien-Community/dp/0873389913
Bandersnatch https://www.amazon.com/Bandersnatch-Tolkien-Creative-Collaboration-Inklings/dp/1606352768
Some of the many books enjoyed by Tolkien mentioned in this episode:
William Morris, The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains
H. Rider Haggard, She
Joseph Henry Shorthouse, John Inglesant
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Andrew Lang's fairy tale collections
Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books
E.A. Wyke-Smith, The Marvellous Land of Snergs
John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps and the other Richard Hannay books
This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
