A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism In the Cataclysm of 1914–1918
Page 22
103. Kilby and Mead, eds., Brothers and Friends, 284.
104. Lewis, The Four Loves, 104.
105. Alister McGrath convincingly argued that Lewis joined the Somerset Light Infantry so that he could serve alongside his friend Paddy Moore. See McGrath, C. S. Lewis, 65–66.
106. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 105.
107. Ibid., 104.
108. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 88.
109. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 87.
110. Ibid., 940.
111. Members of the Inklings included Lewis and his brother Warren, Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Hugo Dyson.
112. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 94.
113. Hooper, ed., Collected Letters, Vol. 2, 501.
114. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 303.
115. Hooper, ed., Collected Letters, Vol. 3, 249–250.
116. In his letter to Tolkien, dated November 13, 1952, Lewis does not explicitly refer to the First World War in his mention of “the war” as among the things that Tolkien’s work had helped to make permanent. But it seems unlikely that he would have the Second World War in mind, which had come to an end seven years earlier.
117. Hooper, ed., Collected Letters, Vol. 3, 1458.
118. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 694. Italics are mine.
119. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 341.
120. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 216.
121. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 870.
122. Ibid., 500.
123. Spacks, “Power and Meaning in The Lord of the Rings,” in Zimbardo and Isaacs, eds., Understanding The Lord of the Rings, 60.
124. Ward, ed., World War One British Poets, 25.
125. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 78.
Conclusion: The Return of the King
1. “November 11th 1918,” History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/november_11_1918.htm
2. Thomas Hardy, “And There Was a Great Calm,” in Ward, ed., World War One British Poets, 58.
3. Meyer, A World Undone, 486.
4. Hooper, C. S. Lewis: Companion and Guide, 444.
5. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 717.
6. Walmsley, ed., Faith, Christianity and the Church, 46.
7. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 111.
8. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 962.
9. Ibid., 950.
10. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 252.
11. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf, 68–69.
12. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 255–56.
13. Carpenter, ed., The Letters, 253.
14. Ibid., 69.
15. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 185.
16. Ibid., 737.
17. Ibid., 759.
18. In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien leaves no doubt about his understanding of the central meaning of Christianity. “The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.” Tolkien, Tree and Leaf, 72.
19. Isaacs and Zimbardo, eds., Tolkien and the Critics, 248.
20. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf, 69.
21. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 954.
22. Ezra 3:11–12.
23. Churchill, The World Crisis, 3–4.
24. Meyer, World Undone, 260.
25. Quoted in Dan Rodricks, “The Sad, Senseless End of Henry Gunther,” Baltimore Sun, November 11, 2008, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2008–11–11/news/0811100097_1_henry-gunther-11th-month-war-i.
26. Overy, The Twilight Years, 12.
27. T. S. Eliot, The Wasteland and Other Poems (Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company), 33.
28. Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, 294.
29. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 339.
30. Ibid., 766.
31. MacDonald, Phantastes, 188.
32. C. S. Lewis, ed., George MacDonald: An Anthology (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), xxxv.
33. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, 557–558.
34. Lewis, ed., George MacDonald, xxxv.
35. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 968.
36. Joel 3:14.
37. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 953.
38. Revelation 22:5.
A Remembrance
1. The Story of the 91st Division (San Francisco: H.S. Crocker Co., Inc., 1919), 19.
2. Ibid., 32.
INDEX
Abbott, Lyman, 45
The Evolution of
Christianity, 14
Aiello, Giuseppe, xi
Ambrose, Stephen, Band of
Brothers, 174
American Genetic
Association, 16
Angell, Norman, The Great
Illusion, 3–4
anthroposophy, 126
Antwerp, German
takeover of, 80
Aragorn, 151, 171–172, 195
Aravis, 154–155, 175
Armenians, deaths, 106–107, 216n7
armies, 23
Armistice Day, 107
Arras, Battle of, 96
artillery, 64
Askins, John, 111, 115–116
Aslan, 10, 21, 139, 147, 148, 153, 154–155, 189–190, 194
Asquith, Herbert Henry, 33
atheism
communism and, 112–113
Lewis and, 87–88, 110
Lewis’s shift from, 128–129
Mussolini and, 114
war reinforcement in
Lewis, 93
Auden, W.H., Tolkien letter
to, 74–75
Austro-Hungarian Empire, collapse, 123
Ayres, Harry, 99
Baggins, Bilbo, 6–7, 22, 135, 145
Baggins, Frodo, 145–147, 150–151, 152
anguish after leaving
Shire, 65
vs. Aragorn, 171–172
defeat, 189
determination to travel
alone, 177
as foot soldier, 52
friendship and, 177–178, 181
resigned to final defeat, 188
reunion with Bilbo, 22
and Ring, 155–156, 160
Baker, Leo, 128
Balrog, 151
Barfield, Owen, 126–127
Barnsley, Thomas Kenneth
“Tea Cake,” 72
Barth, Karl, Epistle to the
Romans, 124
Batten, Samuel Zane, 39
Beeching, H.C., 43
Beowulf, xvii, 72–73, 223n81
Beregond (soldier in
Gondor’s army), 65
Bloomsbury Group, 125, 219n75
The Book of Lost Tales,
121–122. See also The
Silmarillion
books published after
WWI, 108
Boromir, 156
Bradley, Henry, 109
Brest-Litovsk Treaty, 94
Britain
in 1890s, 4–5
Bryce Commission, 42
casualties, 123
declaration of war, 79
as nation chosen by
God, 36
public school system, 30
role in defending
Western ideals, 32–33
technological advances, 5–6
British Expeditionary Force
(BEF), 58
casualties, ix
as citizen soldiers, 75
resolve and discipline
in, 70
Britain, Vera, 10
Bull, Paul, 47
Burleigh, Michael, Earthly
Powers, 34, 40
Cain and Abel, 164
Cairns, David, 45
Carpenter, Humphey, 6, 118
casualties of WWI, ix, 106
catastrophe, overcoming, 189–191
cemeteries, in Europe, 107
chaplains, 48
Cherry, Conrad, God’s New
Israel, 38
choices, 151–152, 182
&nbs
p; Christian nationalism, 34
Christianity, 12, 115
Lewis and Tolkien
discussion on, 132–133
as mythology, 14, 88–89
rejection in 1920s and
‘30s, 125
writers as Lewis’s
friends, 134
The Chronicles of Narnia, xii, 21, 136, 139, 143, 147–148, 170–171
friendship in, 174, 175
popularity, 144
role for animals, 9
chronological snobbery, 127
Church of England, 16, 35
churches
alliance with state, 34
eugenics sermon
contest by, 19
and fascism, 114
Churchill, Winston, 61, 63, 95, 100, 192
on battles, xiii
in House of Commons, 1
on Treaty of Versailles, 104
view of warfare, 1–2
The World Crisis, 76
in World War I, xi
Cirith Ungol, 152–153
city on a hill, America as, 37–39
civilization, threat to, 108
civilizational confidence, 115
clergy, messages against
Germany, 43
combat zone, clergy and, 48–49
communications, on
British line, 66–67
communism, 158
atheism and, 112–113
confidence, in human
progress, 2–3
conflict, Tolkien and Lewis
ambivalence toward, 50
conscription, 58, 81
Cooke, Richard, 44
courage, 74–77, 156
Crafer, T.W., 37
Crystal Palace, 5
cultural renewal,
expectation of, 45
cynicism, 117
The Dark Knight Rises, 188
Darrow, Clarence, 162–163
Darwin, Charles, 12
Darwin, Leonard, 17
Day, James, 44
“De Profundis” (Lewis), 93
Dearmer, Percy, 44
death
Lewis on, 110, 111
Phantastes and, 82
“Death in Battle,” 122
defeat, possibility of, 182
democratic capitalism, 113
destiny, and free will, 150–155
Devine, Dick, 149
dignity of human life, 138
disillusionment, 105–107, 117
after WWI, 107–111
with West, 115
Divine Providence, 38
Dix, Otto, 145
doubt, 126
duty, 30
Dyson, Hugo, 130
Edward VII (King of
England), 208n7
Eksteins, Modris, 115
Eliot, T.S., 124–125, 193
Elrond, 50, 151, 177
empires, collapse, 123
Engall, J., 32
Ents (humanoid trees), 9, 10
environment, judgment
against man’s assault, 10
Éomer, 164
Éowyn, 187
epic hero, xvi
escapism, accusations of, xv
eucatastrophe, 189, 190
eugenics, 15–19, 158
Eugenics Education
Society, 16
Europe
loss of moral norms, 124
response to Wilson’s
leadership, 103–104
Evers, Mervyn, 71
evil, 145, 149–150, 158, 190
humanity’s struggle
with, 41, 187
power of, 148, 159, 188
Ezra, 192
fairy tales, MacDonald
objectives in using, 83
faith
crisis of, 115–117
in trenches, 47–49
World War I and, xviii
“The Fall of Gondolin,” 166
Fall of Man, 7, 21, 150
fantasy, realism of, 165–170
Faramir (Captain of
Gondor), xix, 187–188, 204n30
fascism, 113–114, 158
The Fellowship of the Ring, 50, 155
Lewis review of, 143
relationships in, 176–178
Ferguson, Niall, 5, 22, 32–33, 84
Ferry, Abel, 58
First World War. See Great
War
Flieger, Verlyn, 171
Forster, L.W., 74
France, combat losses, ix
Francis, Ernest, 53–54
free will, and destiny, 150–155
freedom, threat to, 158
“French Nocturne” (poem), 92–93
Freud, Sigmund, 115, 116
friendship, gift of, 174–181
Frodo. See Baggins, Frodo
Fussell, Paul, 123
Galadriel, xv, 151
Galton, Francis, 15
Gamble, Richard, 25
The War for
Righteousness, 45, 46
Gamgee, Sam, xix, 73–74, 75, 147, 151, 152, 177
Gandalf, 18, 51, 77, 139, 145–146, 150–151, 182
on being chosen, 154
on march against
Sauron, 9
Garth, John, 30, 170
Tolkien and the Great
War, 66
George, Lloyd, 95
Germany
Allied blockade of, 106
chemical weapons
use, 42
combat losses, ix
empire collapse, 123
as evil, 41–44
mortality rate in 30
Years War, 28
political claims, and
Divine Will, 39–41
Protestant clergy
support of, 35
Western Front
offensive, 1918, 94–97
Gibbs, Philip, 67, 76, 137
Gilbert, George Holley, 43–44
Gilbert, Martin, 23, 62, 65, 74
Gilson, Rob, 58–59
death in battle, 63
Tolkien learning of
death, 68–69
Gimli, 151, 177
Gladden, Washington, 15
Glorious Revolution
(1689), 36
God
case against, 86–89
and country, 36–37
Freud and, 116
Germany as chosen by, 39–41
mastery of nature
without, 11–15
obscenity of belief in, 125
in Tolkien’s writings, 51
Gollum, 74, 152, 189
good and evil, psychology
of, 162–165
Grace, 189, 190
Graves, Robert, 49
Goodbye to All That, 120
The Great Divorce, 133
Great War, 10
vs. all ancient wars, 192
and battles in Prince
Caspian, 169–170
and democratic
capitalism weakness, 113
despair and disbelief
from, 142
destructiveness of, 106
end of, 103
and free will, 155
as holy war, 44–47
impact, xviii–xix
impact on Tolkien and
Lewis, 144–145
last soldier to die, 185
sea battle in North
Sea, 53
spiritual consequences
of, xiv
start, 23
technology, 64
Tolkien’s work as
response to, 118–119
views on war effort, 169–170
Green, Roger, 83
Greeves, Arthur, 84, 88, 93, 130, 133
Grey, Edward, 26
grief, 187
after WWI, 107–111
and joy, 191–192
Gunther, Henry, 185
Haig, Douglas, 49, 97
Halfelven, Elrond, 181
Hancock, John, God’s
Dealings with the British
Empire, 36
Hanson, Victor Davis, xvii
Hardman, Donald, 85
Hardy, Theodore, 48
Hardy, Thomas, 165, 185–186
Hastings, Max, 11, 60
hedonism, 116
helplessness, after WWI, 107–111
Hemingway, Ernest, 117
heroism, modern views, 188
The Hobbit, xi, 75
hobbits, 6–7. See also
Baggins, Frodo
Hobson, J.A., Imperialism, 35
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 13, 19
Holy Spirit, vs. Volksgeist, 40
Homer, The Iliad, Lewis
reading of, 80–81
honor, in The Lord of the
Rings, 119
Hooper, Walter, 83, 134, 187
hope, 105
loss of, 186–189
and tragedy, 143
The Horse and His Boy, 154–155, 175
warfare in, 168
Hubbard, Elbert, 41
human dignity, 100
humanity
confidence in progress, 2–3
eugenicists
commitment to
improving, 20
and nature, 9
truths about condition, 143–144
humility, xix
Huxley, Aldous, xi
imagination, 128, 138–139
individual responsibility, eroding, 162–163
Industrial Revolution, 3
industrialization, Lewis’
views on, 8
Inklings, 134, 179, 224n111
innocence, loss of, 123
Innocent X (pope), 28
intellectual debate, 126–127
International Eugenics
Congress, 17
international harmony, 4
inventions, in early 20th
century, 11
Italy, fascism in, 113–114
Jacobs, Alan, 174
Jadis (Wicked Queen of
Charn), 22, 147–148
Jenkins, Philip, 41
The Great and Holy
War, 29
Jesus, Lewis views on, 131
Johnson, Laurence
Bertrand, 91, 97–98
Johnson, Paul, x–xi, 114, 163
joy, and grief, 191–192
Jünger, Ernst, Storm of
Steel, 145
justifying war, 29
Jutland, Battle of, 53, 55
Kant, Immanuel, 4
Keegan, John, xii, 23, 59, 63
The Face of Battle, 57, 75–76
Kent, Susan Kingsley, 112
King Caspian, 8
King, coming of, 193–196
Kirkpatrick, William
Thompson, 79, 87–88, 110
Kitchener, Lord (Secretary
for War), 57
Lancashire Fusiliers, 72
The Last Battle, 186–187, 193
grace in, 190
Legolas, 151
Lenin, Vladimir, 113
Lewis, Albert, 96