The Created Myth at the Turn of Modernity
and Postmodernity (J.R.R. Tolkien’s Experience)
Paper | Mirgorod, Vol. 23/24 (2025) | pp. 257–319
Marina SAVELIEVA
Abstract: The article analyses some features in the being and formation of a mythological relationship to the world in the twentieth century. In particular, a notable characteristic of myth at the final stage of Modernism was the aspiration not only to study the myths of past historical periods, but also to purposefully create new myths. Unlike the classical prehistoric myth, the modern myth has its own author or creator. One of the first and most successful instances of myth-making was J.R.R. Tolkien’s creation of the world of Arda. The article puts forward the idea that the creation of an individual author’s myth is possible only if the author’s own thinking possesses certain mythological characteristics: a preference for an emotional and sensory attitude to the world; an awareness of the importance of imagination in the study of real historical and cultural experience; the ability to see the close connection between everyday life and science; and the skill to establish logical connections where they appear to be absent. It is also important that Tolkien objectively interpreted myth as a “living, thinking, speaking world”; therefore, the creation
of languages for the sentient communities inhabiting that world formed both the basis for his imaginary universe and the criterion of its plausibility. Thus, Tolkien managed to combine science and art, and as a result, his universe appears more coherent than the fantasy works of many other writers. He did not confine his writing to a single literary genre (for example, an allegory of war). His mythological “journey” became one response to the objective ideological demands of the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, he showed how imagination, united with historical knowledge, helps to comprehend structures of mentality and to recover lost stages in the spiritual development of particular peoples—in this case, the English.
Keywords: J.R.R. Tolkien / Myth / World / Consciousness / Language / Power / Sensual / Name / Death / Immortality
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32017/mirgorod-2025-23.24-9
Cite this paper: Savelieva, M. (2025). Сотворённый миф на рубеже модерна и постмодерна (Опыт Дж.Р.Р. Толкиена). Mirgorod: The Annual of the History and Epistemology of Contemporary Literary Studies, 23/24, pp. 257–319. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32017/mirgorod-2025-23.24-9
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