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Talk:Essay:Greatest Conservative Novels (view source)
Revision as of 12:52, March 25, 2009
, 12:52, March 25, 2009no edit summary
I was just wondering why Lord of the Rings was on the list. Certainly it has some themes that might be derived from Christianity since Tolkien was a devout Christian, but I fail to see how this or any other aspect sets it aside as distinctly 'conservative'. [[User:RobertWDP|RobertWDP]] 13:25, 25 February 2009 (EST)
I was just wondering why Lord of the Rings was on the list. Certainly it has some themes that might be derived from Christianity since Tolkien was a devout Christian, but I fail to see how this or any other aspect sets it aside as distinctly 'conservative'. [[User:RobertWDP|RobertWDP]] 13:25, 25 February 2009 (EST)
Listing ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'' as conservative is a stretch. I'd term it libertarian (almost hardcore libertarian, though not as much so as, say, Ayn Rand's works), not conservative. (We all know that libertarians do share a number of viewpoints with conservatives, but also differ on many key beliefs.) If you want to include a Heinlein novel, I'd suggest ''Starship Troopers''. It, like ''Moon'' is somewhat libertarian in its viewpoint, but not as much so, and ''Troopers'' is also unwaveringly pro-military, a good conservative value. Support for the military simply isn't a theme that's even addressed in ''Moon''. (For what its worth, I know several libertarian science fiction fans, including a few absolute raving libertarians, and they generally rank Heinlein up there with Rand as their favorite authors.)
I agree with RobertWDP that ''Lord of the Rings'' doesn't belong on the list. Great books though they are, I don't think Tolkien had much if any political motivation in writing them. (In fact, as I understand it, his motivation was to create something he felt Great Britain lacked -- a "myth cycle" analogous to the mythology of Greece, Rome, the Norse, Egypt, etc.) And while Tolkien was a Christian, and there are Christian elements in the books, they're not as explicitly Christian as, for instance, CS Lewis' body of work, which is steeped in Christian allegory. If you want to include a work of fantasy, I'd suggest the ''Narnia'' books, though even those I'd find it a bit of a stretch to consider them especially reflective of ''conservative'' Christianity as opposed to Christianity in general. (Disclosure: I've read LotR numerous times. I've only read Narnia once, and that's been a while back.) [[User:ArthurA|ArthurA]] 08:52, 25 March 2009 (EDT)