#thought the story of turin was inspired by the book of job

[undercat-overdog]

There is more to Tolkien's work than his Catholicism.

I think there's a general tendency in many areas of fandom - fandom broadly, I'm also think academic work and reddit; this post isn't aimed at tumblr fandom specifically. in fact probably a bit more aimed at reddit but there was no precipitating incident that's leading me to write this. Anyways, a general tendency to over-weight the influence of Christianity in his work? Especially when it comes to finding allegories (Andreth talking about her people's beliefs in the Athrabeth is the only thing I think that is one, and Tolkien in his notes talked about how it was too Christian and wanted to change it), but more generally too. And sometimes I think Catholicism is brought into the text in ways that really aren't there. Idk.

Also... I think there is a way that him himself as a creator is. Hmm. I don't want to say under-discussed because it's not. But his work is more than the sum of his influences?

#ok there was a precipitating incident #and that was me being reminded of arguing on reddit a while back with some guy who #thought the story of turin was inspired by the book of job #and dismissed the influence of the kalevala #it remains one of the most baffling internet encounters i've ever had and i've been on the internet since i was a pre-teen in the 90s #so i guess i'm vague-posting about some weird guy on reddit #meta