A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, And A Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien And C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, And Heroism In The Cataclysm Of 1914-1918, by Joseph Loconte

At the end of this remarkable book, the author speaks about the bravery of his grandfather, an Italian-American who fought in World War I, and in his own deep tie to the horrors that engulfed the Western world between 1914 and 1918, horrors that seem all the worse for having been ineffective in curbing the lure of domination, and leading within a generation to an even more destructive war. Like the author, I too have a family connection to World War I, in that two of my great-grandfathers were gassed on the Western front and suffered horribly before early deaths as a result of that [1]. The context of the author’s connection to World War I gives him a sense of great fellowship with J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, who were both officers in that conflict, where both suffered great loss and saw horrors that deeply inspired their own thoughts and writings, and their concern for the well-being of mankind and the lure of the lust for pleasure and power that so often leads to destruction on scales both personal and cosmic.

In terms of its structure and content, the book is organized chronologically, with frequent skipping around, as well as topically in that it begins by looking at the world at the fin de siècle as Europe lurched blindly towards war with the illusions of peace and prosperity and social progress in mind. Then the author looks back at the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War and the fact that Europeans associated pointless struggle with religious war, not seeing the horrors they were approaching themselves. After this the book switches back and forth, first looking at the wartime experience of J.R.R. Tolkien and how many of his friends were killed in trenches, and he himself spared from likely death due to suffering from trench foot, and then looking at Lewis’ experience as a volunteer officer lacking in great personal bravery who was wounded by shell fragments in 1918 at Arras, and who also lost many friends due to combat. The book then looks at the darkness in the worldview of Europe, how Lewis and Tolkien formed a friendship where the two of them encouraged the literary efforts of the other and encouraged each other in faith and conduct, before looking at the hard-won heroic optimism of both men in the face of the approaching darkness of World War II, and pointing out how their faith saved them from the despair that engulfed so many of their peers.

There is a lot to praise about this book, which does not dwell on certain personal aspects of the life of Tolkien and Lewis but focuses on the stern compression of events in World War I that deeply affected them both. The book is lively and full of worthwhile quotes from both its subjects as well as its author [2]. For those who are interested both in the message of faith and friendship told in the story of these two great men, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the real life inspiration of their imagination fiction [3], this is a worthwhile book that takes up only 200 pages of elegant and well-written text that wrestles with deep and dark subjects with vivid language and detail, but without succumbing to despair, showing a close familiarity with the writings of both Lewis and Tolkien, and a skillful prose style which turns the horrors of the charnelhouse of the Western front of World War I into a work of surprising and tender grace, with plenty of food for thought for those of us who see the gathering dark in our own lives and in our own times, which we face as bravely as we can, as in the days of old.

[1] See, for example:

Death Is A Hungry Hunter

[2] See, for example:

“That is a chapter of ancient history which it might be good to recall. For there was sorrow then too, and gathering dark, but great valor, and great deeds that are not wholly vain (77).” – Tolkien

“On upward curve and easily, for them both maid and man
And beast and tree and spirit in the green earth could thrive.

But now one age is ending, and God calls home the stars
And looses the wheel of the ages and sends it spinning back
Amid the death of nations, and points a downward track,
And madness is come over us and great and little wars (123).” – Lewis

“I will help you bear this burden, as long as it is yours to bear. But we must do something, soon. The Enemy is moving (139).” – Tolkien

“She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between (139).” – Lewis

“Nevertheless, these authors anchor their stories in the ancient idea of the Fall of Man: just as a force of evil entered our world in a distant past, so it inhabits and threatens the worlds of their imaginations. It is the deepest source of alienation and conflict in their stories. Even so, it cannot erase the longing for goodness and joy, so palpably alive in the best and noblest of their characters. They are haunted by the memory of Eden: take away this fundamental idea, and their moral vision collapses.

We might expect their stories, rooted in this belief, to lurch in one of two directions: either toward the triumphalism of the crusader, as we saw during the First World War; or towards fatalism, a cast of mind that renders men and women helpless victims in the storms of life. Instead, the heroes of Middle-Earth and Narnia are much more complex. They are often hobbled by their own fears and shortcomings; they resist the burdens of war. Yet we also see in them an affirmation of moral responsibility—an irreducible dignity—even amid the terrible forces arrayed against them (150).”- Loconte

“The most influential Christian authors of the twentieth century believed that every human soul was caught up in a very great story: a fearsome war against a Shadow of Evil that has invaded the world to enslave the sons and daughters of Adam. Yet those who resist the Shadow are assured that they will not be left alone; they will be given the gift of friendship amid their struggle and grief. Even more, they will find the grace and strength to persevere, to play their part in the story, however long it endures and wherever it may lead them (183).” – Loconte

[3] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/a-musing-on-the-purpose-of-christian-fantasy-through-the-works-of-c-s-lewis/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/c-s-lewis-logic-and-fantasy/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/book-review-the-world-according-to-narnia/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/the-power-of-the-myth-of-the-hidden-prince/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/book-review-finding-god-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/book-review-finding-god-in-the-hobbit/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/book-review-the-discovery-of-middle-earth/