NYT article on Tolkien

[uhu79]

Link

Might be interesting for one or the other.

Certainly not for people with ratings higher 1 in Tolkien-Lore

[Majestic]

Excellent article, uhu79. Thanks for posting it!

[Rich H]

Like all those on the frontlines of that awful war, Tolkien went through a hell I never want to get close to. It amazes me how so many of those that survived actually went on to live such normal lives. I'm sure the horrors they witnessed haunted them until the end of their days. It says a lot for the strength of the human spirit.

[Majestic]

It does. It makes me wonder, with PTSD being so common among modern soldiers, if it wasn't actually just less reported or undiagnosed back then. Certainly some were "shell-shocked", but I imagine the amount of Shadow some gained just seeing such horrors would have left a mark.

[Finrod Felagund]

It does. It makes me wonder, with PTSD being so common among modern soldiers, if it wasn't actually just less reported or undiagnosed back then. Certainly some were "shell-shocked", but I imagine the amount of Shadow some gained just seeing such horrors would have left a mark.

My father remembers soldiers affected by shell shock/PTSD living as tramps in the fields of Essex in the early 1950's. My maternal Grandfather was an Infantryman in Burma and was shot twice by the Japanese; my Aunt recalls that he came back with an awful temper. The bottom line was that for most men there was no support and you simply had to get on with it.

One of the interesting things about the recent Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts is that it's opened people's eyes to PTSD and made it clear what Frodo was going through. I've always been surprised by critics such as Edmund Wilson who alleged that the Fellowship all came back OK - you'd think he'd know better.

Good article by the way - thanks Uhu.