Medievalism, the Lost Book, and Handicraft in The Lord of the Rings

Abstract

This thesis considers medievalism and the lost book in J. R. R. Tolkien’s text, The Lord of the Rings, and the effects of inventing textual history. The Lord of the Rings was chosen for this thesis as the Ur-text of fantasy and medievalism like World of Warcraft, Game of Thrones, and Dungeons & Dragons. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae is considered as an example of using the lost book motif to achieve sociopolitical advantages otherwise unavailable. The Lord of the Rings frequently associates handicraft with Good and industry (especially for the purpose of war) with Evil. These ideas are historicized through medievalism. The Middle Ages are made to be a convenient, pre-industrial, golden age of handicraft. While for some, medievalism can be a useful escape from the troubles of one’s own time—for others, symbols of the medieval past can become dangerous icons of ethnonationalism and other hateful ideas.