The Lord of the Rings: a Myth for Modern Englishmen

The Lord of the Rings: a myth for modem Englishmen The Lord of the Rings: a myth for modern Englishmen Margarita Carretero González The first thing that stands out after the analysis is On 25th June, 1996, I defended my Ph.D. in the fact that The Lord of the Rings is far from the University of Granada (Spain). Its title was becoming in Spain the phenomenon that the book is Fantasía, épica y utopía en The Lord of the in Great Britain. Previous to the distribution of the Rings. Análisis temático y de la recepción questionnaire among members of the societies in both (Fantasy, Epic and Utopia in The Lord of the countries, another questionnaire was distributed Rings. Thematic Analysis and Reader’s among students of Spanish and English Philology in Response). The second part of the thesis, as the University of Granada in Spain. The results of suggested in the title, focused on the analysis this first questionnaire showed that, even though The of The Lord of the Rings from the perspective Lord of the Rings (for us El Señor de los Anillos) was of reader-response oriented theories. I wanted familiar by repute to most of the students, only a few to collect as many interpretations as possible of them had read it and even fewer could answer the from readers who had a special interest in The questions satisfactorily. As regards the second Lord of the Rings and, accordingly, I questionnaire, only 18 members of the Sociedad elaborated a questionnaire which members of Tolkien Española answered it, in contrast with the the British Tolkien Society and the Sociedad 181 who answered from the Tolkien Society in Tolkien Española received in September 1995. Britain, mainly consisting of British readers. This I offered to publish the results of my study in difference in number is quite a proportional reflection Mallorn but lack of time have prevented me of the difference in members from both societies; the from preparing it for publication in English Spanish society had around 40 members by the end until now. The lines that follow are the of 1995, in sharp contrast with the nearly half a abridged conclusion of the second part of the thousand of the British Tolkien Society. Moreover, Ph.D. I would like to take this opportunity to more that twenty years separate the founding of both thank all those who answered the questionnaire societies, since the first official meeting of the for making this part of the study possible and Sociedad Tolkien Española was celebrated in to Gavin Sinden for his help with the computer February 1991. Definitely, the Tolkien phenomenon (he made the questionnaire more attractive to is in Spain, if a phenomenon at all, a very recent one look at than I could ever have done). To all of and, for a number of reasons, I honestly doubt that you, thank you very much. The Lord of the Rings will ever reach the number of The results obtained after analysing the sales in my country that it has reached in Britain. questionnaires offer a very interesting vision of a In the first place, it seems that fantasy is a more group of readers of The Lord of the Rings. However, prolific genre in the United Kingdom than in Spain. they can only be read as a sample of the millions of We only have to go inside any book shop in both readers of The Lord of the Rings all over the world. countries to see the room allowed in the shelves to Some of the answers given by the respondents might the fantasy genre. What we call fantasía épica is quite extend to other readers but we must avoid falling into a recent genre in Spain and, even though the number the temptation of believing that these conclusions are of readers grows progressively, this type of fiction applicable to all Tolkien readers. Nevertheless, they does not seem to be written by Spanish authors since provide us with very interesting information and help most of the books found in book shops are us to offer an empirical answer to the question asked translations from British or American titles. by Randel Helms (1974, p. 64). Moreover, even though the main authors are Why do certain contemporary readers seem to translated, the sales do not go near the number they require so absolutely what Tolkien has to give reach in Great Britain. According to the critic Susana to the extent that regularly, on completion of Camps (1989, p. 84), this could be due to a difference the third volume of The Lord of the Rings, they in national character. For her, Spaniards have shown begin again on the first? historically a much more grave and austere character 51 Mallom XXXVI which leads them to condemn anything fantastic as a level of romantic fairy-story [...] which I could lie. Fantasy in Spain reached one of its greatest dedicate simply: to England; to my country. It moments during the flourishing of the novela de should possess the tone and quality that I caballerías - “chivalry novels” - like Amadís de desired, somewhat cool and clear, be redolent Gaula, Amadís de Grecia, Palmerín de Olivia or of our “air” (the clime and soil of the North Palmerín de Inglaterra, to mention but a few. This West, meaning Britain and the hither parts type of fiction presented a world of fantasy and of Europe; not Italian or the Aegean, still less adventure which was strongly condemned by ascetic the East), and, while possessing (if I could and moralist writers and this attitude, according to achieve it) the fair elusive beauty that some Camps, is a characteristic feature of the disposition call Celtic (though it is rarely found in genuine shown by Spaniards towards the fantastic. ancient Celtic things), it should be “high”, This difference in national character may well be purged of the gross, and fit for the more adult one of the causes for the disparity in the reception of mind of a land long steeped in poetry, [my The Lord of the Rings in both countries. This seems bold]. (Carpenter (ed.), 1990, p. 230) to be bourne out by the failure to publish Tolkien's In writing his fantasies, Tolkien not only works in Spain during his lifetime, mainly because pretended to create an environment where his publishing houses did not want to risk bringing out invented languages could grow but also to restore the such a long book about a subject of which there was epic tradition in England and offer a mythology that virtually no tradition in our country.1 Nevertheless, it the English could recognise as their own. According can also be argued that the fact that Spanish is not the to the answers given by some of the readers, his language in which The Lord of the Rings was efforts were highly rewarded: originally written may play an important role in the It is a “Mythology for England” and reminds different receptions. The reader who has access to a me of the best of England’s character, culture work of literature through a translation does not and countryside with Northern myth. receive the book directly from the author but through In effect, even though The Lord of the Rings has an intermediary, the translator, whose particular become a mythology not exclusive to England, perception of the book is inevitably present in the Tolkien’s work appeals very directly to the translation. And yet, translation does not seem to imagination of the English readers who can recognise have been an obstacle for the extraordinary reception in the hobbits and in the Shire their own character that The Lord of the Rings experiences in other and their own countryside. In many occasions, when European countries. As is known, it was immediately asked what The Lord of the Rings evoked for them, translated into Dutch, only a year after the readers mentioned the English way of life and the publication of The Return of the King, in a country rural countryside, whose progressive disappearance where fantasy fiction was “an unknown entity in the was lamented, as it was by Tolkien himself, by many fifties” (van Rossenberg, 1995, p. 302). The Swedish of them. translation was completed in 1960 and, generally, of On the other hand, it is well known that the all the European countries into whose languages The tradition Tolkien was most inspired by was Lord of the Rings has been translated, it is in those of distinctively English. The Lord of the Rings echoes the North of the Continent where it has experienced a the Anglo-Saxon period, Victorian medievalism and better reception. its idealisation of the Middle Ages, whereas - and It seems, then, that reading the book through a here we find an explanation for its greater popularity translation cannot be used as the only reason to in Northern Europe - Tolkien’s own mythology is justify the different reception of The Lord of the most directly indebted to its Northern equivalent. Rings in Spain. We will find the reason in Tolkien’s This aspect may partially explain the lesser popularity own words, uttered before The Lord of the Rings was of The Lord of the Rings in Southern Europe, where published: the Classic mythological tradition is predominant. [...] once upon a time [...] I had a mind to make Both traditions share elements common to all a body of more or less connected legend, mythologies but the atmosphere that Tolkien ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the 1 As explained by Francesc Parcerisas, who translated The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings into Catalan, (de los Santos et at., pp.

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