: "industry and progress are sinister"
: At the expense of people and nature was Tolkien's point;
: take at look at industrial slums, and then at the
: rural dwellings where their first-generation
: inhabitants come from, and tell me which is more
: pleasant.
Actually, Tolkien said at one point that his story was not intended to include any metaphorical/similistic (is that a word?) comments on the real world. For example, some have commented that LOTR was intended as a metaphor of the second world war, which was happenning at the time of writing. Tolkien countered by saying that, had that theory been correct, Gondor would have used the ring to devestate Sauron's forces, Barad-dur would have been occupied, not destroyed, in Mordor, Saruman would have discovered the last secrets of ring-lore and made his own master ring with which to devestate his foes, and hobbits would have been held in contempt by both sides.
Largely, the supposed metaphorical/similistic significance of LOTR was a product of the Hippie movement, who adopted it as a kind of icon in many cases. Tolkien always firmly held that there was not intended to be a hidden (or not so hidden) message of any kind.
On the other hand, Asimov took the view that it doesn't matter whether or not the author intends for a hidden message or metaphorical significance to be there, it's still just as valid. Or, as he put it "People analyse my work and find all kinds of cunning details that I can't remember putting in, but which I suppose must be there or they wouldn't have found them."
Martel.
