Bag End, Hobbiton Movie Set, Matamata, New Zealand. Photo credit: Myla Malinalda.
Haven’t you ever wanted to throw a brick at your TV or computer, run outside your front door to find Bilbo sitting there in the garden, smiling while he offers you a beautiful poppy-seed cake and a seat at his table?
Sounds familiar? This is part of an article written by Quickbeam (Clifford Scott Broadway) on TheOneRing.net dating back to August 22, 1999. Yes, you read it right, 1999.
I was browsing their Library archives (formerly known as Green Books) the other day in a wave of nostalgia for the old times and the title of this article, In Defense of Escapism, piqued my interest. Right after starting to read it, I realized Clifford’s words completely resonated with me and couldn’t be more current than that.
As I wrote on Twitter a couple of months ago, social distancing surprisingly turned into social media distancing for me during the current pandemic. Being bombarded with terrible news at any time of the day wasn’t good for my mental health, so I decided to distance myself from social media (I never watch television so that wasn’t a problem for me) and only read the bare minimum to keep myself informed on the important things. However, for literally months, I haven’t been able to properly concentrate to read a book, even if I was looking forward to diving myself into Professor Tolkien’s work once again, especially during the lockdown, without the pressure of not having enough time to dedicate to it. But my brain had other plans. Luckily though, Escapism comes in many forms, so I got myself into movies and videogames and, thanks to Peter Jackson’s trilogies and Standing Stone Games’ The Lord of the Rings Online, I was still able to find refuge in Middle-earth.
Now that my brain started to finally process all this and we are still forced to coexist with Covid-19 in our day-to-day lives, I’m slowly getting back to my beloved books and I am looking forward to September to start rereading The Lord of the Rings and then branch out over The Silmarillion, probably with The Hobbit in between for a change of pace. To use Clifford’s words once again:
Going back to reread these works is just as rewarding. Ask any fan and they’ll tell you straight up: “It’s like visiting an old friend.” Indeed, I indulge myself another reading of Tolkien’s creation every few years because it’s a more welcome place to be than here. Those hobbits and elves are people I want to spend time with–I want to sit by their fires and listen to their songs. As the alarming speed of today’s telecommunications brings the world’s brutality right into my living room, the comforts of the Shire are more inviting than ever.
But what makes Professor Tolkien’s work so special to so many people, besides the characters, the story, and the setting? For years, I’ve been trying to answer this question taking stock of all the things present in his books, but I never thoroughly thought about those that were absent.
Tolkien’s writing is by turns powerful and highly romantic, true, but there is something in the work that beckons me back, continually appeals no matter how many times I read it. Actually, it’s a particular set of things ABSENT that I find so wonderful: a world with no obscenities, guns, or sex. Seriously, it makes all the difference to the modern reader’s experience.
In conclusion, many things have changed during the last twenty years but, at the same time, the world can still be an overwhelming and scary place. But, luckily for us, Middle-earth will always be there to welcome us back home when we’ll find the need to escape and we will still find Bilbo sitting in his garden no matter what’s happening around us.
Resources:
- In Defense of Escapism by Quickbeam (Clifford Scott Broadway)
- TheOneRing.net Library (formerly known as Green Books)
- Quickbeam’s Out on a Limb column (from 1999 to 2004)
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