Corey Olsen, PH.D.
By Ashley Andrews, 700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –75 YEARS
On September 21, 2012, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (his first major published work) turned seventy-five. And for the Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen, it was an event worth noting. Olsen is a fan of Tolkien - a pretty big fan as a matter of fact. It all started when he first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was only eight at the time, and he has been re-reading those books ever since. "I have always loved reading his books slowly and carefully," he shared. "There is so much to enjoy and to notice when you do that!"
"THE HOBBIT" VS. "THE LORD OF THE RINGS"
Tolkien, he described, had a knack for "creating stories which are truly mythic in their impact on readers - It was his greatest strength." Olsen shared, "He believed that a myth was a special kind of story that resonates with people in a deep way, and his own stories have many elements that I think really hit people this way..."And The Hobbit is a perfect example.
According to Olsen, The Hobbit is a "brilliant little book." But, he believes that it is often overlooked simply because of the success of The Lord of the Rings series. "The Hobbit is a book beloved by millions, and it has served for many as the gateway to a lifelong love of Tolkien's works. Nevertheless, I often feel that The Hobbit lives a little too much in the shadow of The Lord of the Rings. Sitting on a shelf next to the three larger volumes that come after, The Hobbit is easily overlooked, dismissed as a simple, childish "prequel" to Tolkien's great masterpiece." But, he ensures, this story is far from a mere "prequel" or "children's story."
As Olsen described, The Hobbit was published in 1937, and Tolkien had no plans to write a second. But his readers and publisher demanded otherwise. And so seventeen years later, Tolkien finally published the first part of the Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. Soon after though, he realized that the "sequel" did not resemble The Hobbit. So had no choice but to rewrite The Hobbit, in order to make it fit with the larger and rather darker story that had grown out of it.
Now some of us, Olsen suggests, probably grew up reading his work. Still, that hardly makes them children's stories. As he pointed out, "Why should we assume that a book intended to be enjoyed by children should necessarily be beneath adults? This assumption is never true of good children's books. In The Hobbit, Tolkien deals with many complex and important ideas, and by the end of the book, in particular, he has gotten into dome pretty deep waters. The book deals with the effects of greed and the temptations to abuse power. It undertakes a very nuanced psychological study of Bilbo's character, which is very complex and develops in some quite unexpected directions. It even considers some very difficult philosophical ideas, such as the relationship between fate and free will. Tolkien does a remarkable job of making his story accessible to kids, but that does nothing to make it a less interesting and provocative story!"
HIS INSPIRATION, HIS FAITH
Over the decades, many have speculated just where Tolkien found his inspiration. Some have said that historical events were his inspiration. Tolkien, however, denied that implication numerous times. But, as Olsen insisted, "What he denied was the idea that the books were an allegory of WWII, in the 'Sauron = Hitler and the Ring = the Bomb' sense. He never denies that his own experiences of wartime and his reactions to his contemporary political situation influenced him; they inevitably do." In both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, "He presents a rigid, hierarchical world in which the heart of his evil characters is the corrupting urge to dominate. He raises some very important questions about power and the abuse of power." But while current events may have influenced his work, many agree that Tolkien's greatest influence was his faith.
Tolkien was a dedicated Christian, a Roman Catholic to be specific. He is even credited with leading C.S. Lewis to Christianity. However, he made sure that his stories were ambiguous when it came to religious symbols. Tolkien believed that the hand of God was evident everywhere, not just in Scripture. As far as he was concerned, even his own imagination was evidence of God's presence. So he chose to keep his religious themes allusive rather than explicit. For instance, for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien purposefully designed, as Olsen put it, "an expansive pantheon of gods" which he used solely as a backdrop. In his own way, Olsen shared, "He was being consistent with his frame, which he was always careful to do. This is ancient history, and God, though present in the books, has not been revealed in any systematic way. Some of the Elves know of him, but the humans and hobbits do not, generally. However, the themes and ideas of Tolkien's books are pervasively Christian."
Much like C.S. Lewis, Tolkien implemented his faith into his writing. However, they both took different approaches, making them distinct. "The two of them," Olsen described, "have very similar ideas and convictions about storytelling, myth and fantasy, though their approaches to discussing Christianity and their writing styles are very different. Tolkien, especially, was an unusual kind of writer; the extent and the nature of his learning (philology and old literary traditions), his theories and convictions about fantasy and myth, and his spiritual life all combine to make him unique in my experience...I don't think there is anyone quite like him." What's more, he continued, "Tolkien's works are also fundamentally grounded in Christian theology, where myths get at the truth of our existence. This world is not our destiny...That's the reason we feel dissatisfied. Through the mythological world Tolkien creates, we can begin to think about things beyond our mundane world...His robust representation of evil in his mythology is one of the most theologically and philosophically nuanced ones to ever be expressed in mythology. A hard-hitting understanding of evil, pain and suffering is essential for artists - Christian and otherwise - if they want to accurately speak to the real world around us."
PROFESSOR, WRITER, FAN...
It was Tolkien's way with words that inspired Olsen to put his creative thoughts to paper. "Ultimately, that's what I try to do in my book (Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit"). I want to take readers on a leisurely walk through The Hobbit, helping them to slow down and look at the many fascinating developments that you can notice when you aren't rushing through...I know many people find the idea of 'literary criticism' rather tiresome, and the thought of some English professor 'dissecting' a book that they hold dear is rather awful." But, he ensures, "In my book, I seek only to invite you to take a slow stroll through The Hobbit with me, stopping long enough to pay attention to its subtleties and to take note of the larger themes and ideas the story engages with. I don't examine the book like a lab specimen, but I enjoy it with you and share with you the things I find so amazing about the book. Whether you are reading The Hobbit for the first time or coming back to it for the thirtieth time, I think you will find that there are always new marvels to discover." Olsen firmly believes that, "Academia has neglected fantasy and science fiction as fields of intellectual inquiry for too long..." And he is doing his best to change that. And that is why he is the "Tolkien Professor."