Joseph Loconte’s book, A
Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War is advertised to be an account of
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in the First
World War. So it was with great eagerness that I started to read it.
Unfortunately, I have to report it is no such thing. Readers
of this blog will know this is not a negative blog, so this is more of a warning
concerning truth in advertising.
Loconte is obviously an educated man who has done a good
amount of research. His chapters are quick essays on important and somewhat
overlooked aspects of societal trends before and during the war. He reveals how
eugenics was popular among intellectuals in America and Britain, as well as in Germany,
and the influence Darwin’s family had on it. He describes in detail how liberal
theologians tended to identify the kingdom of God with their own nations, whether
Britain, France, Germany, etc.
What is frustrating is he tends to describe an important
movement or trend in society, then state that it must have had a great influence
on Tolkien or Lewis. He may use no quotations, or a quotation from one of them
that kind of has to do with the subject, or a quotation that has nothing to do
with it. And he sometimes describes The Lord
of the Rings incorrectly.
Back to this not being a negative blog. If you want a series
of essays on those societal trends, with occasional quotations from Tolkien or
Lewis, or other thoughtful people, this book can be eye-opening.
What really killed it for me was when Loconte started to
have some good quotations from Tolkien, then he revealed he was getting them
from some weighty tome out there called Tolkien
and the Great War by John Garth. I stopped reading Loconte’s book halfway
through. Maybe I’ll get that other book.
