(no subject)

[furrbear]

From AlterNet:

What Would Frodo Do? JRR Tolkien and Political Economy

by: Jason Hamza van Boom. Crossposted from Tikkun Daily.

I recently posted on Tikkun Daily the following quote on JRR Tolkien vs Ayn Rand:

“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kld’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.” – “The Value of Nothing” by Raj Pate

It’s been somewhat of a hit with Tikkun Daily readers. This led me to wonder: Did Tolkien have a view on political economy?

We know what kind of economics John Galt and other Randian heroes espoused. And many more people get turned on to lassez-faire capitalism by Rand’s novels than by libertarian economics treatises. (The first history of libertarianism, by Jerome Tucille, is actually titled It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand). So, if fantasy novels can provide an ideological basis for the opposition, can progressives find inspiration from Tolkien, one of the greatest storytellers of all time?

In other words: What would Frodo do?

Read the entire article.

Comments

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Hm. I wonder what it says about me that I never read either as a "bookish 14-year-old" ... in fact, have never read either of them ever.

Granted, I read some about Ayn Rand and her ideas - and found most of it really quite repellent.

I've been trying to think of what novels I read around that time that had a big impact on me, and the two that I come up with are James Clavell's Shōgun and the Good Doctor's Foundation trilogy - as I obtained Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation in one large omnibus volume, I think I can squeak by calling it one "book." :)

[pangolin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that!