More on Far-Right Extremists & Tolkien

Marxist Criticism, JD Vance, & "the Culture Wars"

I am not a Marxist critic, but I appreciate a good Marxist analysis, and here is one of the best in Tolkien scholarship, which fits in well with the recent Quick post of Links I posted about Vance’s fandom of Tolkien.

Tolkien’s Deplorable Cultus: Right-Wing Hobbit Enthusiasts and the Urgency of Marxist Criticism in Fantasy

Robert T. Tally, Jr.

As elaborated in a recent Politico article, “‘Hillbilly Hobbit’: How Lord of the Rings Shaped JD Vance’s Worldview,” the junior senator from Ohio and current vice-presidential nominee has long cited Tolkien’s work as an inspiration for his political awakening. Naming Tolkien as his favorite author, Vance in 2021 explained, “I’m a big Lord of the Rings guy, and I think, not realizing it at the time, but a lot of my conservative worldview was influenced by Tolkien growing up.”13 While extolling the virtues of simple, rustic, “traditional” lives, with the hobbits of the Shire as stand-ins for out-of-work Appalachian miners or Midwestern family farmers, Vance also seems to imagine himself as a Gandalf, a gifted, well-educated tech “wizard” who can inspire the small folk to greatness while also paternalistically looking out for them.

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Tolkien is not himself a Marxist (far from it!), but his work is well suited to a Marxist analysis that may disclose elements of the political unconscious and counter-narratives implicit in the texts, which in turn may stand in opposition to the facile and self-serving misreadings of Tolkien’s right-wing fans. It may not be possible to rescue Tolkien from his far-right admirers, fascist hobbit campers, and palantíri-obsessed corporate Big Brothers, but there is ample space within Tolkien’s own writings for alternative interpretations. The left cannot cede the literature of alterity and of the imagination, of which fantasy in general and Tolkien in particular represent crucial forms, to those on the right who ultimately seek to foreclose the imaginative and the political possibilities available to us. The deplorables who make up Tolkien’s present-day cultus ought not be given the final say in the matter, nor should they be permitted to forge and wield their own rings of power.

I’m still too swamped with other stuff to write my thought about the topic, though it’s becoming clear that as a childless cat lady and postmenopausal (autist atheist queer) feminist, I probably have something useful to contribute!

Until then, read and enjoy Rob’s article (the two pull paragraphs give you barely a tasted of a beautiful long-form piece): I have other friends who are writing on the same topic, and I’ll share here when theirs go up (remember, friends, I am no longer on Facebook, was on Twitter perhaps two hours over a decade ago, so you’ll need to share links with me here or by email at robinareid AT fastmail DOT com).