Tolkien and Tech

Given J.R.R. Tolkien’s self-evident greatness (and the millions of copies his novels have sold), it is perhaps little surprise that HarperCollins—the house now responsible for publishing his works—continually unearths obscure texts to bring out in new editions. From collections of essays on Middle-earth to volumes of collected poetry, many shed new light on his literary imagination. Yet Tolkien did not write fantasy out of a craven desire to acquire vast wealth but rather to participate in what he called “sub-creation.” One could even argue that the construction of Middle-earth was a kind of worship, the crafting of a “sanctifying myth.” His enthusiasts are right to worry, then, that this trend, at a certain point, may amount to the crass commercialization of the professor’s legacy of words.