Tolkien's Failed Quest

Tolkien's Failed Quest

Tolkien got the main symbols in The Hobbit from Richard Wagnerâ€™s Ring cycle, but he was testy and sensitive whenever Wagnerâ€™s name was mentioned. The problem was Wagnerâ€™s anti-Semitism. The English had a long history of philo-Semitism that did not mesh with Wagnerâ€™s views, leading to an artistic conflict that Tolkien could not resolve, and ultimately to an incoherent book. In purging Wagnerâ€™s symbols of their anti-Semitism, Tolkien purged them of their meaning as well, for the real issue in Wagnerâ€™s Das Rheingold is capitalism, not anti-Semitism. And if Capitalism is the real issue, England must be the villain, which is unacceptable to Tolkien, an English patriot. Once rearranged to suit English sensibilities, though, those symbols lose their power, meaning, and coherence. After reading renowned cultural critic E. Michael Jonesâ€™s intellectual tour de force, youâ€™ll never view Tolkienâ€™s saga the same.

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