I wandered into the library with Mark at lunchtime yesterday - and picked up a book, as you do.
Can’t remember the title - something like “Reclaiming Middle Earth”. It’s written by an evangelical Episcopalean priest. His thesis is that under the surface narrative is a “deep” theological narrative. The ring saga is one big theological statement. His analysis, he says in his introduction, will not pick up on themes or motifs, but follow the narrative.
I sent it home with Mark.
When I got home it was on the kitchen table. “Do you realise who’s written that?” Mark asks in horror. “He’s a god botherer.” Yes, of course I knew that, but it was how you go about supporting a thesis like his that intrigued me. And anyway, I haven’t read any lit crit in a long time. It should be fun.
You don’t read everything just because you agree with it. It was this guy’s method that interested me. Sometimes you have to read outside your own square …