This year marks the centenary of World War One, also known as The Great War. The legacy of WWI is still part of our societies up to our time. Among the most immediate influences on literature of The Great War was the emergence of Modernism. Authors such as Ernest Hemingway or Virginia Woolf key examples of Modernism as well as being influence by The Great War. In recent times, scholars began to investigate the influence of Tolkien’s war experience on his writings. Now, the BBC has launched the “How was The Lord of the Rings influenced by World War One?“ online ‘iWonder’ Guide.
As a newlywed of 22, J.R.R. Tolkien experienced the horrors of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The Battle of the Somme went down in history as one of the largest battles of the Great War with more than 1,000,000 casualties. BBC’s online guide is divided into seven chapters, each exploring different interrelated issues. Hosted by John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, expert Dr Dimitra Fimi, author of Tolkien, Race and Cultural History, is featured as well:
1. A lost generation (text)
2. The battle for Middle-earth (video) – Tolkien’s own experience of World War One
3. Machines and monsters (text)
4. Sam Gamgee and the Tommy (text)
5. Allegory of war? (video featuring Dr Dimitra Fimi, author of Tolkien, Race and Cultural History)
6. The shell-shocked hobbit (text)
7. Face or falsehood? (a quiz)
For a greater in-depth analysis of Tolkien and WWI, John Garth‘s Tolkien and the Great War is a must read!
2 Comments