As Last shows, there was something of the (lowercase t) traditionalist about Tolkien, both in his dislike of modernity and his interest in ancient myth. This fitted well with the mood of the Italian Right, as did the work of Evola.
It would be interesting to know whether this is just coincidence, or whether there is a deeper connection. What inspired Tolkien, other than the myths he worked wth as a scholar?
5 comments:
Very interesting article. Do you think Tolkien was a gnostic traditionalist? Or perhaps he was a catholic trationalist? This last theory has succeed in the last decade, mainly through the work of Joseph Pearce, a British neonazi supposedly converted to catholicism. But after reading some of his articles I question his conversion. Some of his old comrades think the same and recognise him as an undercover nazi.
Tolkien was deeply committed to an unbending traditional Catholicism, held a deep loathing for industrialisation and the loss of societal hierarchy.
Rodger Cunningham said:
I'm surprised the article doesn't mention the central fact about the Tolkien/ Traditionalist/ fascist connection, viz., that The Lord of the Rings was published in Italian with Tolkien's preface removed and replaced with one by Elemire Zolla.
Though Tolkien certainly belonged to both the English right and the Catholic right, any specific connection or even affinity of his with fascism was, I think, persuasively refuted by Lucio del Corso and Paolo Pecere in their book L'anello che non tiene: Tolkien fra letteratura e mistificazione.
Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (TJ Winter)"Riding the Tiger of Modernity" (2016):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Ien1qo_qI
I've never seen anyone question the sincerity of Joseph Pearce's conversion.
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