Quote:
Originally posted by Kimmykim
But what about the claims that Tolkien was using the so-called fantasy realm to thinly veil his rascism among other things?
I love the books, but they certainly have as much of a pro and con following as Rand's do.
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I think those claims mainly show how disgustingly far political correctness has dared going.
The reason that Tolkien's works have what would today be considered a slight undertone of racism is that his writings are those of a white intellectual man who was born in the 1890's.
Tolkien said he did not write The Lord of the Rings as an allegory of the real world, and there is no real reason to doubt that.
He simply wrote an epic about one of the world's oldest themes, and naturally most of the symbolism he used stemmed from his own culture.
To blame Tolkien for the "racism" in his books is, in effect, to blame him for not being on the forefront in the fight against racism, or even to blame him for being born white and in the 1890's.
Every writer, every storyteller, every artist is embedded in a culture. Blaming them for this is not only unreasonable, it's ridiculous.
I wouldn't personally dare to say that Tolkien's works have as much of a pro and con following as Rand's works do. The Lord of the Rings was chosen as the best English literary work of all time a while ago, his books are some of the best selling works ever, and I believe the movies based on his books are also among the most successful movies ever made.
Ofcourse, there will always be haters, but a vast majority of people seem to like him
