Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
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Date of Graduation
Spring 2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
Department of English
Advisor(s)
Mark Rankin
Dabney Bankert
Sofia Samatar
Abstract
J. R. R. Tolkien embodies the opposing ideals of Enchantment and the Machine in the Silmarils and the One Ring respectively. These created objects oppose each other just as Tolkien’s ideals of art do. Enchantment is art’s ideal, it's purpose is to glorify and enrich the beauty of reality through subcreation. The Silmarils exhibit the delight of making and perceiving beauty. Whereas the Machine is art’s shadowy reflection that utilizes apparatuses or devices rather than personal talent in order to coerce others and reality itself. Overall Tolkien's aesthetic theories reflect many fears surrounding modern attitudes toward weaponizing art. Tolkien supplies Enchantment as the solution to these problems surrounding art and creativity in an oppressively technological world.
Recommended Citation
Hartinger, Michael, "Of the silmarils and the ring: J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction and the importance of creation and art" (2018). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 569.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/569
Included in
Aesthetics Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Modern Literature Commons
