"Both Rings were round and there the resemblance ceases", wrote
J.R.R. Tolkien about the rings in his epic The Lord of the Rings and
Richard Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung. Or did
he? The answer is not as straightforward as many Tolkien fans
believe, whether they agree with the statement or consider it misguided.
Nor is the statement itself as transparently defensive as
some Wagner buffs suggest.
Much has been said and written about Wagner and Tolkien, a
subject that tends to generate a certain amount of heat, mostly
due to the former's controversial status as Hitler's favourite composer.
But until now the various, often contradictory opinions
and the facts and perceptions on which they are based were rarely
discussed at length or analysed in depth. The publication in 2009
of Tolkien's The Legend and Sigurd and Gudrún with its partly
Wagnerian content reinforced the need for a systematic treatment
of the subject. This book offers one.
There is more to both Rings than their common roundness, and
the resemblance between Tolkien and Wagner goes beyond a Ring
of Power and some narrative elements: they shared a number of
preoccupations and interests - nature, nation, the North, death
and immortality, language and above all, myth. This is a book
about the two great mythmakers of their times, and about what
they have in common despite everything that separates them.
