# Has America its own Lewis and Tolkien? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801 "2006-02-10T03:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/21 "2006-02-10T15:29:54Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > There’s an awful lot of Catholic theology and Catholic ethics in The Lord of the Rings and Tolkein’s other works. Catholic ethics: Yes Catholic theology: outweighed by the other influences in my opinion. We need to flag down \*\*QtM \*\* and get him involved. Captain, I know Tolkien was a fairly devout Catholic and a well educated one. If you read through the Silmarillion, the Book of Unfinished tales and the Histories of Middle Earth, you would probably agree the Catholic influence was minor compared to the influence of the Old Epics. Jim ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/22 "2006-02-10T15:41:38Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > If there is an American author who is worthy of comparison to Lewis and Tolkien, I think it’s Walter Wangerin, Jr., whose fantasy tales _The Book of the Dun Cow_ and _The Book of Sorrows_ blend Christian allegory, fairy tales, and epic adventure. > > Like Lewis and Tolkien, Wangerin writes beautiful essays, too. I think Stephen Lawhead wants to rise to JRRT/CSL stature- if only I could finish reading just one of the books I have by him! 😃 I’m pretty sure Frank Peretti realizes he’s nowhere near their level, but he does a good job at his writing (the two DARKNESS books were Americanized simplifications of THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/23 "2006-02-10T19:00:53Z")
I considered putting down Lawhead but I don’t believe he has been of any interest to academia. I read the Tallyesin (sic?), Merlin, Arthur books. Lots of interesting ideas, impressive stories, realistic world–but somehow just hollow. Perhaps his characters aren’t layered enough, or something. It’s hard to remember his work. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/24 "2006-02-11T02:47:45Z")
Interesting replies. It would appear that Lewis and Tolkien, though imitated, are truly one of a kind - more accurately, are _each_ one of a kind. It would be interesting to tease out the reasons why each, most especially Lewis, who has no “epic” work to his name to ensure his immortality, has proven to be so enduringly popular, and indeed almost irreplaceable, it would seem. Perhaps, as CSL would say, people can’t get enough of the “same old thing”, if that same old thing happens to be true, or as close to the truth as only an honest attempt to reach the truth can get. I have read [one](http://www.narniaontour.com/articles/conflictconvergence.htm) or [two](http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:x0rzkrk1pTgJ:scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05292002-153921/unrestricted/etd.pdf++%22reason+imagination+and+universalism%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1) efforts on the Internet recently which indicate, to me, at any rate, that some “Lewis scholars”, as I note they like to brand themselves, are in danger, in Lewis’s terms, of attending to the fernseed but missing the elephant. Each, the first piece to a greater extent than the second, falls into the classic trap of telling the reader more about the author than about its avowed subject. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/25 "2006-02-11T05:17:46Z")
Sure it does. Who else would’ve discovered the Pacific? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/26 "2006-02-11T15:52:16Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Sure it does. Who else would’ve discovered the Pacific? Balboa? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801/27 "2006-02-11T20:12:20Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > I considered putting down Lawhead but I don’t believe he has been of any interest to academia. I read the Tallyesin (sic?), Merlin, Arthur books. Lots of interesting ideas, impressive stories, realistic world–but somehow just hollow. Perhaps his characters aren’t layered enough, or something. It’s hard to remember his work. I agree, I read them more a pseudo History than an Epic Fantasy. I thought they were well done but not truly compelling. Jim [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-its-own-lewis-and-tolkien/343801.md?page=1)