Did Tolkien feel the Sorrow of the Elves?

Rauþúlfr

New Member
Something crossed my mind as we discussed the Even rings. If we look at Tolkien's distain for the changes wrought upon his world for the sake of progress, do we see the constant impulse of Elvenkind to long for the days of yore as something of his own longing for his own bucolic past. We see this in the horror of the Hobbits when they return to the shire and witness Saruman's depravations. We see it in the observations by Gimli and Legolas on the decline of the city. Did he perhaps see himself as kindred to his beloved elves? And did he see the deep sadness for what was lost, and the knowledge that the beauty of the world was passing and although that could be resisted for a time, those efforts were doomed to failure?
 
Read Holly Ordway's book, 'Tolkien's Modern Reading', and consider that Tolkien's 'disdain' for the changes wrought upon the world for the sake of progress, has been considerably exaggerated.

Ordway believes that this exaggeration is primarily due to two causes, the Humphrey Carpenter biography of JRRT (and his book on the Inklings, and his selection and editing of JRRT's letters) all of which she thinks were slapdash, unscholarly, and prejudiced, and the conflation of JRRT with C. S. Lewis, Who was much more anti- modern than JRRT. Lewis used a dip pen all his life. JRRT was an early adopter of the Biro ('ball point pen' to Americans). Lewis never learned to type. JRRT owned multiple typewriters and typed much of his work. Lewis disliked automobiles, and never learned to drive. JRRT reported of automobiles that he, "loved riding in them, liked driving them". He owned one as early as 1932, and later bought one for one of his children. JRRT also loved Science Fiction, and read it extensively.

So, yes, JRRT disliked some modernizations (after all, he witnessed two great and destructive industrialized wars, in which technology added to the mayhem and devastation). But the concept that he was totally conservative, a luddite, and opposed to technological and scientific progress is greatly exaggerated.

So, yes, JRRT may have felt some kinship with the desire of the Elves to preserve all things. But this aspect of his character has been blown out of all proportion, and might not be so prominent as popular understanding believes?
 
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