Podcast #1,094: How the World Wars Shaped J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis

When people think of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they often picture tweedy Oxford professors and beloved fantasy authors. But their writing wasn’t drawn only from their bucolic days teaching at Oxford and walking in the English countryside; it had a darker, deeper backdrop: the trenches of World War I and the cataclysm of World War II. Lewis and Tolkien weren’t just fantasy writers — they were war veterans, cultural critics, and men with firsthand knowledge of evil, heroism, and sacrifice.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Joseph Loconte, returning to the show to discuss his latest book, The War for Middle Earth. We explore how both world wars shaped the perspectives of Tolkien and Lewis, found their way into works like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, and infused their literary masterpieces with moral weight, spiritual depth, and timeless themes of resistance, friendship, and redemption. We also talk about the legendary friendship between Tolkien and Lewis, the creation of the Inklings, and how the men demonstrated the countercultural power of imaginative storytelling.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Related AoM podcasts:
  • #178: The Inklings Mastermind Group
  • #272: Lewis, Tolkien, and the Myth of Progress (Loconte’s first appearance on the AoM podcast)
  • #430: Why You Need to Join the Great Conversation About the Great Books
  • #499: A Fascinating Primer on Norse Mythology 
  • #594: How Churchill (and London) Survived the Blitz of 1940
  • #723: Men Without Chests
  • #765: C.S. Lewis on Building Men With Chests
  • #951: The Hobbit Virtues

• Related AoM articles
  • The Power of Conversation: A Lesson from CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien 
  • Lessons in Manliness from Viking Mythology 
  • Lessons in Manliness: The Hobbit
  • Men Without Chests
  • “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” speech by Winston Churchill
  • 4 Classic Chapter Books to Read Aloud With Your Kids

• Related outside articles:
  • Tolkien’s Deadly Dragons 
  • Munich Agreement
  • Owen Barfield

• Tolkien books mentioned:
  • The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 
  • Beowulf translated by Tolkien
  • The Hobbit 
  • The Lord of the Rings 
  • Beren and Luthien 
  • Letters from Father Christmas 

• Lewis books mentioned:
  • The Letters of C.S. Lewis 
  • The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis 
  • The Pilgrim’s Regress
  • The Chronicles of Narnia
  • The Great Divorce
  • The Screwtape Letters 
  • The Space Trilogy 
  • The Four Loves
  • Mere Christianity 
  • The Reading Life 

• Related books by other authors:
  • Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth
  • The Somme by Martin Gilbert
  • The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
  • The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
  • The Aeneid by Virgil
  • Phantastes by George MacDonald
  • The Vinland Sagas
  • The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
  • The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
  • Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory

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