Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly Ordway

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly Ordway Zachary D. Schmoll Tolkien's Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages, by Holly Ordway. Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire Academic, 2021. vii, 392 pp. $29.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-943243-72-3. Holly Ordway's thesis is paradoxically modest and bold. On one hand, her argument is restrained, as she says that in contrast to Tolkien's modern reading, "principally his medieval reading, but also the study of languages, his personal friendships with the Inklings and other formative experiences, especially in the Great War—occupy a more important place in his creative imagination" (9). The traditional picture of Tolkien, established in the authorized biography by Humphrey Carpenter and reinforced by numerous other works, emphasizes these elements of Tolkien's inspiration to the exclusion of anything modern. Ordway cites Carpenter's statement on Tolkien, "He read very little [End Page 249] modern fiction, and took no serious notice of it" (Carpenter 158; qtd. at 7), as a representative attitude that many have taken towards the Professor of Anglo-Saxon's reading habits. Her contention is that this popular conception of Tolkien's literary interests is incorrect. She writes, "My argument in this book is that they [the medieval reading, languages, friendships, and formative experiences mentioned in the quote above] are not the only materials upon which he drew" (9). Ordway continues in the following paragraph, "Let me not be misunderstood: I shall not be arguing that his modern reading is more important than his medieval reading, nor even that it is equally important" (9). On the surface, this would not be a remarkable claim for just about any other literary figure. It would not be shocking to imagine any scholar picking up a work of popular fiction and enjoying something outside of their usual academic fare. Not only that, but authors seem to be influenced by just about anything they read, for good or bad. Again, it would hardly be surprising for Tolkien to see something that he liked in a work of modern fiction and be inspired to put something into his sub-creation as a result of that. To the contrary, and Ordway shows evidence of this as well, it is possible for an author to be influenced away from certain narrative forms, techniques, or devices because of a story's poor execution. Both of these events are so commonplace for almost any author that Ordway's claim seems modest. It may seem overstating the case to call her contention bold, because it seems so simple to accept that Tolkien may have read and been influenced by modern fiction in some way. Ordway demonstrates that Carpenter's work has been largely responsible for the anti-modern image of Tolkien and seeks to correct that misinterpretation for the rest of her book. Ordway does not speculate about books that were popular in Tolkien's circles and assume that he read them. Instead, evidence for what she defines as his reading "comes from a range of sources: Tolkien's own writings, published and unpublished; interviews with him; accounts by family, friends, colleagues, and students; biographical studies; and finally, material in Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond's magisterial J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (revised 2017 edition)" (30). However, even with this conservative filter applied, Ordway was able to chronicle 148 authors and over 200 individual titles of post–1850 English fiction, poetry, or drama that Tolkien is documented to have read. One may compare the list Ordway compiles in the Appendix with the recently published work Tolkien's Library, by Oronzo Cilli. Their general approaches to qualifying source material are similar, although [End Page 250] it is worth noting that Cilli cites a greater number of secondary scholars than Ordway, who only includes books chronicled in the work of Hammond and Scull. Also, Cilli presents an anthology as one entry whereas Ordway lists the contributing authors separately. That is why there is an entry for C. S. Forester on Ordway's list, for example, but he is not found in Cilli's work. The collection that Forester's work is...