The Body in Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on Middle-Earth Corporeality
2014; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0146-9339
Autores Tópico(s)Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
ResumoTHE BODY IN TOLKIEN'S LEGENDARIUM: ESSAYS ON MIDDLE-EARTH CORPOREALITY. Edited by Christopher Vaccaro. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2013. 9780786474783. $40.00. CHRIS VACCARO'S INTRODUCTION TO THIS UNIQUE COLLECTION poses central question: Do bodies matter in Middle-earth? (1). Is corporeality of incarnated spirits of Tolkien's something that deserves our critical attention? Indeed it does, and introduction is not to be missed as it provides concise overview of issues related to body in literature and points out themes that are of most interest to readers of Tolkien: death and resurrection, pain and suffering, metamorphosis, fertility and celibacy, spirituality and materiality, purity and pollution. Verlyn Flieger's insightful lead chapter, Body in Question: The Unhealed Wounds of Frodo Baggins, proposes to show that [w]hat happens to body over course of his journey is outward manifestation of his changing inner condition (12). Tracing pattern of images of thinning, transparency, invisibility, inner light, and contrasts with shadow, Gollum, Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's intent that we pay attention to unhealed wounds, which show that hobbit pays highest price and gets least reward (18). Yvette Kisor, in Incorporeality and Transformation in The Lord of Rings, contrasts incorporeality and invisibility, asserting that they are in fact quite different: fading or invisible things in Tolkien in fact retain their corporeality. She bolsters her argument by examining transparency and physicality of Ringwraiths and Gandalf, and contrasting more ambiguous (27) case of Frodo. The Ring, she argues, is everywhere associated with embodiedness; it necessitates its wearer maintain physical form in order to wield it, [...] and invisibility it grants is simply [...] trick of sight (24). Kisor also considers case of twilight world where Frodo encounters both solidified shadows of Nazgul and white flame-like figure of Glorfindel; usefully, she traces Tolkien's development of this concept through his earlier drafts of this chapter (28-30). Anna Smol draws our attention to parallels between trauma inflicted on bodies of soldiers in both World War I's literature and its harsh reality and Tolkien's similar treatment of Frodo. In Frodo's Body: Liminality and Experience of War, Smol uses critical frameworks of uncanny and abject to trace out lifelong pattern of (beginning with his parents) as it culminates in disintegration of physical and psychological boundaries of his self (48). His wounding and maiming over course of his quest make visible his loss of autonomy (56), making comparison to shell shock inescapable. Matthew Dickerson, in Hroa and Fea of Middle-earth: Health, Ecology, and War, expands on some of themes he and Jonathan Evans discussed in their 2006 book Ents, Elves, and Eriador. Here Dickerson examines tension between and unseen reality in Tolkien's Arda. In contrast to materialistic philosophies, Tolkien holds that what happens in unseen has profound influence on seen (66), but does not accept Gnostic or neo-Platonic conclusion that matter and body are therefore evil or at least to be rejected. The implication, then, is that Tolkien reality of spiritual world, [but] also affirmed value and goodness of material world (72). Dickerson uses this conclusion in support of his assertion that Tolkien was type of environmentalist, valuing ecological for its own sake, and bolsters his arguments with examples both mundane (the relationship of Hobbits to Shire) and mystical (Yavanna as subcreator, channeling Eru's Flame Imperishable to bring life to matter). Environmentalism, care of earth as the dwelling place of God, thus becomes a spiritual activity (79). …
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