161 lines
7.9 KiB
Markdown
161 lines
7.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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created_at: '2016-09-16T21:18:27.000Z'
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title: The Fantastic World of Professor Tolkien (1956)
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url: https://newrepublic.com/article/136543/fantastic-world-professor-tolkien
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author: lermontov
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points: 148
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story_text:
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 114
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1474060707
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_lermontov
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- story_12517423
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objectID: '12517423'
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---
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All this is the secret information which Gandalf, after twelve years of
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search and travels, returns by night to tell Frodo. For, thanks to
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Bilbo’s inheritance, the harmless young Hobbit is now in possession of
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the Lord of the Rings.
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Frodo, appalled, attempts to pass the ring to Gandalf. But Gandalf knows
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that those who possess the ring end by being possessed. And, while he is
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tempted by power his spirit is one of “pity for weakness, and the desire
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of strength to do good.” So he refuses the responsibility. No time is
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left, for Sauron is closing in on the Shire. Frodo flees to save his
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homeland, taking the ring and followed by three companions, while
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Gandalf goes his own way towards their next meeting place. Stone
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barrow-wights encase the Hobbits; ringwraiths, slaves of Sauron, pursue
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them and wound Frodo. He makes mistake after mistake and survives only
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though his own bravery or by the intervention of some unexpected force
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of good. Strider, a ranger sent by Gandalf, guides him and so at last
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Frodo reaches Rivendell.
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For evil is matched and overcome not by superior power, but by the
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determination and the goodness of ordinary beings, ennobles by the
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assumption of burdens beyond their capacity to bear.
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In Rivendell, the Council of Elrond is held and the decision is made to
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attempt the destruction of the Ring. But this, ancient folklore asserts,
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can be accomplished only by casting the ring into the fire mountain that
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rises in Mordor, the fortress of the enemy. The one who will bear it
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there must be chosen and after a long silence Frodo whispers, “I will
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take the ring though I do not know the way.” Next from the Free Peoples
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a fellowship is formed to help the ring-bearer: a man, Boromir, the
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three Hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, Gandalf, and Strider, now revealed as
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Aragorn, heir of the ancient Kings of the West.
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The Fellowship sets out by a hunter’s moon and passes through increasing
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peril. A snowstorm drives them into Mines of Moria where Gandalf in
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battle with a dreadful spirit of the underworld vanishes into an abyss.
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Aragorn leads the company on to the enchanted beauty of Lothlorien.
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There no shadow lies, but the reluctant Fellowship moves on. Soon they
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are surrounded by orcs and still worse the ring begins to work its evil
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among them. For the unconquered cities around Mordor are under attack
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from Sauron, and when Boromir realizes that Frodo will not be diverted
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to their defense, he attempts in a moment of madness to seize the ring.
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Then, at the end of the first volume, Frodo realizes that he must
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continue alone. He slips on the ring and escapes followed only by his
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gardener, Sam.
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So the Fellowship is broken. Aragorn aided by Gandalf, now returned from
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the dead, leads the company in desperate battles against the present
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forces of Sauron. Frodo, battling evil itself, is lost with Sam on the
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barren slopes of the Emyn Muil. There Gollum, who once held the ring,
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overtakes and plots to kill them. Frodo, instead is empowered to kill
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Gollum, but he remembers his own protest to Gandalf and Gandalf’s
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answer:
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> “What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature when he had a
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> chance.”
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>
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> “Pity? It was a Pity that stayed his hand.”
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>
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> “I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.”
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>
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> “Deserves death\! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And
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> some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too
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> eager to deal out death in the name of Justice ... even the wise
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> cannot see all ends.”
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So Gollum is spared, to guide Frodo and then betray him. Thus as the
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second volume closes, Sam is forced to abandon his master and, bearing
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the ring, move on to Mordor alone.
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But Frodo survives, and in the third volume while the Fellowship wages a
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climactic battle to occupy the attention of Sauron, he accomplishes the
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impossible. The battle is won, the wounded remain, beyond hope of
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healing. But folklore proclaims: *The hands of the King are the hands of
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a healer and so shall the rightful King be known.* Aragorn returns from
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the battle and by healing earns his place as King. The Fellowship is
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reunited and parts in peace. The new age begins.
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> Its promise exceeds the wildest hopes of the heroes. But it is not for
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> all to enjoy. “I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire too after
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> all you have done,” cries Sam to Frodo whose old wound will not heal.
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>
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> So I thought once too \[Frodo answers\]. But I have been too deeply
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> hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not
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> for me. It must be often so Sam when things are in danger someone has
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> to give them up, to lose them so that others may keep them.
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So Frodo departs, leaving Sam to raise a family and the reader to
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reflect on the meaning of Tolkien’s tale.
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And of course it contains meaning. *The Lord of The Rings* is primarily
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story telling, but the universality and the timeliness of its plot give
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to it allegorical significance.
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It is the struggle of good and evil that Tolkien sets apart, through
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fantasy, from superficial detail. Evil in the form of Sauron, is man’s
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rebellion against Providence, his attempt to become the lord of a world
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he did not make. For he who starts by forcing his will upon others, ends
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by destroying everything that he touches. Gollum is also evil, but not
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beyond redemption. He is the servant of power, spared out of pity in
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order that the compassion of the Hobbits may enable them to surmount the
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insurmountable. For evil is matched and overcome not by superior power,
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but by the determination and the goodness of ordinary beings, ennobles
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by the assumption of burdens beyond their capacity to bear. Gandalf is
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brilliant and Aragorn brave, but Frodo’s is the decisive will. And yet
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for all his achievements, Frodo remains unchanged. For Tolkien’s purpose
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is not that Hobbits should cease to be Hobbits; it is simply that they
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should understand and give their best.
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Gandalf is the instrument of Providence, but a strange sort of
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instrument. His power is limited and less than Sauron’s; his
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interventions are decisive but rare; frequently he is absent when he is
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most needed. He is forbidden to dominate. For in the First and Second
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Ages of Tolkien’s world, the gods interfered in man’s fate and so
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obscured it. In the Third Age their emissary is present, but as a helper
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only. The Age ends with the destruction of the ring, and the time of
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man’s dominion begins. So when Frodo and the High Kindred, whose time
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has also passed, step into the ship that bears them to the Grey Havens,
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Gandalf is also on board.
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> Anyone inheriting the fantastic device of human language can say The
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> Green Sun. Many can then imagine or picture it. But that is not
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> enough.... To make a secondary world inside the Green Sun will be
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> credible commanding Secondary Belief will demand a special skill, a
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> kind of elvish craft. Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they
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> are attempted, and in any degree accomplished, then we have a rare
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> achievement of Art... indeed story telling in its primary and most
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> potent mode - Tolkien
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This standard, set by Tolkien in his contribution to the *Essays
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Presented to Charles Williams,* is met in his own work. He possesses
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elvish craft. He adds to it the scholar’s perspective and the humanist’s
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faith. And yet he never allows the magical balance of mystery and
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perception to be lost. For reasons his world of fantasy is more gripping
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than the events that occur next door, say at *Ten North Frederick.* For
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Tolkien’s fantasy does not obscure, but illuminates the inner
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consistency of reality. There are very few works of genius in recent
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literature.
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This is one.
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