r/GKChesterton • u/pgeddes17 • Sep 08 '24

Tolkien, Chesterton and Little Englandism

A couple of months ago, I posted an essay in this subreddit which argued that Chesterton had a particular influence on Tolkien which is evident in Tolkien's essay On Fairy-stories. His ideas about the creative imagination, art, and religion all bear the mark of Chesterton in one way or another.

As a follow up to that I have just posted a second essay which argues that Chesterton's influence can also be seen in Tolkien's specific ideas about England and Englishness as displayed in the Shire in The Lord of the Rings. I argue that Tolkien's English patriotism should be seen in the context of so-called "Little Englandism" and that many of the features of the Shire have links with Chesterton's Distributism.

I hope you enjoy it, any comments or feedback would be much appreciated: https://open.substack.com/pub/pmgeddeswrites/p/the-shire-as-little-england?r=1wmo4u&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

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u/andreirublov1 2d ago

I'm sure you're right that there was an influence - GKC as a prominent English Catholic writer of the generation before JRRT was an obvious person for him to look up to. And T's dictum that the present age is one of 'improved means to deteriorated ends' could easily have been one of C's.