Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday's class
I enjoyed Thursday's class, especially talking about religion and how it affected Tolkien. It just made me like Tolkien more, because of the fact that he isn't trying to preach his own religion but instead he draws on many different cultures and ideas. This is one of the reasons why I like Tolkien so much more than say, C.S. Lewis (and I'm sorry if I might offend someone), but hhe had his agenda for pushing his religious views on his readers.
4 comments:
I definitely know what you're talking about here, and you didn't offend me, but I just want to defend Lewis and point out that what he believed was a HUGE part of his life and was very important to him, and that's probably why it appeared in so many of his works. I'm just curious as to which of his works you found were pushing his views on his readers (because Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, while both somehow related to his beliefs, are very different in how they portray or explain said beliefs).
I've actually always gotten the impression (when comparing The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia) that both authors have similar ideas about the relationship between faith and literary work. Both works feature Christian values in a world that is not strictly Christian. I think the main difference is that Lewis is more direct about it because his target audience is much younger and children tend to not understand nuance so well. I would agree that Lewis is probably more concerned with the Christian elements of Narnia than Tolkien is in The Lord of the Rings. I will also take the liberty to reveal that I am about as nonreligious as they come (to euphonize another word) and enjoy Narnia and do not begrudge Lewis even though I disagree with much of his philosophy. I often wonder how other secular readers feel about Narnia.
I completely agree. This discussion also made me like Tolkien more. I really appreciate his expansive knowledge on religion and how he pulls from all he knows. I think the incorporation of multiple religions also contributes how we relate to his readings. Since they are not one sided, or a retelling of one religion, for me at least, they seem a bit more believable. We've said multiple times that he was creating a mythology and the fact that he pulls from things that are all in normal human behavior or the "collective conscience" makes his works more credible.
I can appreciate both sides of this argument. For me, it is important that epic sagas like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia have aspects of faith and beliefs woven into the story. This allows for a better relationship to real-world mythologies, and makes the connection between reader and story/created world much stronger.
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