Showing posts with label Arianism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arianism. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Tolkien's Take on Arianism

Lovers of English and snark have yet another reason to rejoice.  I had heard once from a friend that Tolkien took it upon himself to set Hitler straight on the infamous notion of the Aryan race, and a quick google search pulled up this classy blog: Letters of Note.  The entry in question concerns a letter written by Tolkien in response to a German publisher's query as to his lineage, as a copy of The Hobbit would presumably be denied print if Tolkien failed to prove his Arianism.  Though famous for his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Tolkien was also a peerless linguist with a far superior understanding of linguistic/cultural history than der Fuehrer, and his response is a fitting put-down (it is unknown whether his publisher sent it).