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Elves, the righteous ringmakers: Taking Tolkien seriously

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Date Issued:
1990
Summary:
Tolkien's trilogy deserves a more serious consideration than many are willing to give. Through Tolkien's fantasy it is possible to discover how we come to know what we know about the metaphysical world so that we can experience the proper cosmic pattern that gives us, as Mircea Eliade writes in Cosmos And History, "the nostalgia for eternity" because its patterns "can never be uprooted: it can only be debased" (122). If we are to understand Tolkien, we must discuss Tolkien's ideas such as power, the nature of good and evil, and free will and individual responsibility. The virtue of the elves becomes the focal point for those ideas since the elves are the structural force that gives the work its power and meaning. To further explain the virtue of the elves, Tolkien plunges into basic human emotions and a symbolic structure that can surmount cultural boundaries. He thus creates a world through the ancient device of exemplifying morals in unfamiliar personalities in order to bring home truths in which modern man can believe.
Title: Elves, the righteous ringmakers: Taking Tolkien seriously.
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Name(s): Rosa, Adrian Wayne.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Faraci, Mary, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1990
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 78 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Tolkien's trilogy deserves a more serious consideration than many are willing to give. Through Tolkien's fantasy it is possible to discover how we come to know what we know about the metaphysical world so that we can experience the proper cosmic pattern that gives us, as Mircea Eliade writes in Cosmos And History, "the nostalgia for eternity" because its patterns "can never be uprooted: it can only be debased" (122). If we are to understand Tolkien, we must discuss Tolkien's ideas such as power, the nature of good and evil, and free will and individual responsibility. The virtue of the elves becomes the focal point for those ideas since the elves are the structural force that gives the work its power and meaning. To further explain the virtue of the elves, Tolkien plunges into basic human emotions and a symbolic structure that can surmount cultural boundaries. He thus creates a world through the ancient device of exemplifying morals in unfamiliar personalities in order to bring home truths in which modern man can believe.
Identifier: 14606 (digitool), FADT14606 (IID), fau:11402 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1990.
Subject(s): Tolkien, J R R--(John Ronald Reuel),--1892-1973--Lord of the rings
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14606
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.