When Charles Nelson first came to Michigan Technological University, in 1973, there wasn't a course in "The Lord of the Rings." In fact, there were hardly any courses on it anywhere
"It wasn't respectable," Nelson explains. "When it was first offered, I taught it mainly to engineers."
Respectable or not, over the past 29 years, Michigan Tech has turned out countless engineers, scientists, writers, teachers and foresters with a passion for J. R. R. Tolkien's epic trilogy, thanks to his class. Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Humanities, isn't at all surprised; he's passionate about it himself.
"I first read 'The Hobbit' in college, and I didn't eat, sleep or go to class until I finished it," he said. "And I read 'The Lord of the Rings' every year, so I don't get killed by the kids in class, and every time I read it I see more and more and more."
There is a lot to see besides a great story. "'The Lord of the Rings' is about discovering what's within you,'" Nelson says. "All the characters have problems that they learn to deal with. It's a quest, and in the end, they all are changed."
Then there's the nature of evil and the pride that preceeds it. "Tolkien deals very graphically with evil," he said. "A lot of what the wizard Saruman says echoes Hitler."
And it's no accident that the meek inherit Middle Earth.
"'The Lord of the Rings' is very, very Christian," Nelson notes. "There is God and the Devil, cruelty and charity, betrayal and redemption."
Nelson is a founder of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and a member of American Tolkien Society. While he has authored numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on Tolkien's work, he is more than pleased with the Peter Jackson's movie, which has brought the tale to a vast, new audience.
He's particularly impressed because Tolkien himself thought no one would ever be able to make a movie to match the scope of the work. Time, Jackson's attention to detail and 21st-century special effects are proving him wrong.
"The man certainly knows what he's doing," Nelson said.
RSS