TOLKIEN’S MYTHIC MEANING: THE READER’S ONTOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2020 Quinn A J Gervel School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Research carried out at Nazarene Theological College, Manchester, UK 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 2 Abbreviations of Tolkien Works ........................................................................................ 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 5 Declaration ........................................................................................................................ 6 Copyright Statement .......................................................................................................... 7 Dedication ......................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ 9 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Sub-Creativity and Ontological Experience .................................................... 27 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 27 Anticipating Tolkien’s World ............................................................................... 28 Establishing Tolkien’s Mytho-Logos .................................................................... 34 Awakening to Tolkien’s World through Bilbo Baggins ........................................ 39 How Poetic Awakening Can Lead to Transformation ........................................... 48 Nourishment through Generativity ....................................................................... 50 Affective Resonance ............................................................................................ 54 Chapter 2: Analogical Participation in Creation and Sub-Creation ................................... 56 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 56 Analogy of Being ................................................................................................. 56 ‘But How?’—Imagination .................................................................................... 63 Mediated Sub-Creation: Leaf by Niggle ................................................................ 70 ‘But How?’—Secondary Belief ............................................................................ 79 Ontological Botany .............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 3: Historical Planes of Meaningful Experience ................................................... 92 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 92 Understanding Smith’s Experience ....................................................................... 93 Patterning Tolkien’s Sub-Creativity ..................................................................... 96 Purposeful Poesis through History ..................................................................... 101 Impactful Feigned History .................................................................................. 106 Upon the Threshold: Letting Meaning be Free .................................................... 110 Chapter 4: Sub-Creation and Meaning ........................................................................... 121 Introduction........................................................................................................ 121 Intentional, Meaningful Narrative ...................................................................... 122 Transport to Secondary Belief ............................................................................ 126 Affective Philology ............................................................................................ 133 Chapter 5: Allocating Religious Sense through Ontic Grounding ................................... 142 Introduction........................................................................................................ 142 A Means of Discerning More through Tolkien’s Logos ...................................... 144 God’s Pattern: Ontological ‘I’ and the Presence of God ...................................... 146 The Mystery of Narrative Space ......................................................................... 152 3 Chapter 6: Cosmic Imaginaries that Transcend Secularity .............................................. 161 Introduction........................................................................................................ 161 Absorbed into Living Narrative .......................................................................... 163 Self as Central: Downward and Inward .............................................................. 172 Engaging Individualistic Lenses ......................................................................... 181 Chapter 7: Enchantment Awakens Personal Creativity ................................................... 189 Introduction........................................................................................................ 189 The Best Kind of Window .................................................................................. 190 Circumvention through Connatural Creativity .................................................... 192 Addressing His Audience ................................................................................... 196 The Capabilities of Enchantment ........................................................................ 201 Enchanting Machinery ....................................................................................... 206 Chapter 8: Reality from ‘Beyond’ and Meaning Within ................................................. 215 Introduction........................................................................................................ 215 Seed, Soil, and Praxis ........................................................................................ 217 By Means of Instrumentality—Mediation through Sub-Creation ........................ 221 Attaining Telos through Instrumentality ............................................................. 227 Living Impact of LOTR ..................................................................................... 239 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 245 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 255 FINAL WORD COUNT: 81,286 4 Abbreviations of Tolkien Works ‘Aman’ – ‘The Annals of Aman’ ‘Beowulf’ – ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’ Bombadil – The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ‘Draft Introduction’ – ‘Tolkien’s Draft Introduction to The Golden Key’ ‘Essay’ – ‘Smith of Wootton Major Essay’ ‘Genesis’ – ‘“Genesis of the story” Tolkien’s Note to Clyde Kilby’ Hobbit – The Hobbit ‘Istari’ – ‘The Istari’ ‘LaterQS1’ – ‘The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Phase 1’ Leaf – Leaf by Niggle Letters – The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien Lost Tales – The Book of Lost Tales 1 LOTR – The Lord of the Rings ‘Manuscript’ – ‘Manuscript B’ ‘Names’ – ‘Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings’ OFS – ‘On Fairy-stories’ ‘Papers’ – ‘The Notion Club Papers’ Peoples – The Peoples of Middle-earth ‘Power’ – ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’ Reader – The Tolkien Reader Return – The Return of the Shadow Sauron – Sauron Defeated Silmarillion – The Silmarillion Sir Gawain – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo SWM – Smith of Wootton Major ‘Vice’ – ‘A Secret Vice’ ‘Welsh’ – ‘English and Welsh’ 5 Abstract This thesis explores how J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) compels literary belief that bridges into a reader’s experience in a way that can lead to life transformation. By coming to an understanding of Tolkien’s sub-creativity and how it relates to creativity in the reader, this thesis interprets how Tolkien instilled LOTR with meaning to awaken religious sensibility, creating conditions for belief that may be interpreted as an ontological encounter with God ‘outside’ the story. Mythos, ‘the regenerative power of story’, affectively mediates experience, whether stories be told, read, or heard. Sub-creation is both the activity of producing mythos and the final result of a storyteller’s efforts. LOTR stems from what Tolkien called his own personal ‘linguistic predilections’, portraying a particular otherworld derived through his own unique creativity. It has remained popular since it was published in the mid-1950s, and from its first page, readers are introduced to a cosmos according to its own literary plane. As a long narrative within a unique mythical historical setting, it demonstrates how characters participate in that world. The thesis considers how and why readers may find this relatable in their own particular ways. While arguing that the backdrop of LOTR’s mythological history was integral