by J.R.R. Tolkien
BBC Audiobook
How to review a narrative that has been a turned into classic tetralogy and a well-funded multimillion-dollar movie trilogy? I’ve chosen to do so via a trilogy dramatized and produced for radio by the BBC.
In a few hours’ time, I let my mind recess into listening to words of fantasy. British accents and the deep tradition of the English language adorned my rides home. An escape was the result – an escape from the lowness of American politics – and also a refocusing on doing good work in this world. This escape is no idle flight; no, it prepares me to approach anew daily life by focusing on doing good, now inspired by the fictional struggle of wizards and hobbits.
Tolkien achieves this for the reader by focusing on a World-War-II-like narrative of good overcoming evil. The humble and good-hearted hobbits named Frodo and Sam leave the comfort of their homeland to undertake a journey with vague ends and no promise of success. They must trod in strange lands and approach difficult problems. They wander, wander, and wander without much assurance that they wander in the right direction. They face real losses. They lose their leader, and they must continue lest the evil eye find the ring and overtake civilization. Nonetheless, the wandering journey of these “everymen” is necessary, just like standing up to Hitler was necessary for the Brits. Just as the the hobbits push forward from their hearts, humanity’s heart will triumph over evil.
Nonetheless, the journey is not guaranteed. Evil’s threat is real. That is why each generation must take up the struggle anew. There are no guarantees that challenges will be overcome. That is the genius of Tolkien’s account. He refocuses our energies into taking up the challenge of doing good (a la Plato’s the Good – ta kalon) as they present themselves in the mundanity of our lives – one step at a time in the wilderness.