Tolkien Among the Greeks

It is not too strong to say that the writings of Oxford don, J. R. R. Tolkien, are a pillar of our collective psyche. But for Tolkien, there is no Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. Official Ukrainian government communiques routinely talk of stopping incursions by Orc squads, and Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, regularly quotes Tolkien in her speeches. In the battle of memes, that other tremendously influential fiction, James Bond, is bested by Gollum and Gandalf.