Comments on: Superman I: Secret Origins

By: Rad Geek

Rad Geek — Mon, 01 May 2006 01:48:02 +0000

Rob, thanks for a great post. mb, the letter you're thinking of is Tolkien's draft of a letter to the Potsdam publishing house Rütten & Loening Verlag, from 25 July 1938. It's reprinted in Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (letter #30; cf. also letter #29 to his English publisher Allen & Unwin). In the reprinted letter he wrote "I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people." I have more (including some background a full copy of the excerpts reprinted in Letters) at G 2006-04-27: From the geek archives: Jews, Tolkien, and a parting note to some ruddy little ignoramuses.

By: mb

mb — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 14:33:35 +0000

Speaking of Tolkien, in his collected letters there is a fine letter from the late 1930s, when the Hobbit was being translated into German. As I recall it, he was asked to certify for the German publisher that he was “Aryan,” ie non-Jewish, to which he replied that he had no idea what the term “Aryan” meant linguistically, and that he’d be quite proud to be Jewish, though he wasn’t. So Tolkien would probably be “surprised” to be lumped in with the folks discussed above, but not necessarily “horrified.”

By: Matt Norwood

Matt Norwood — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 02:45:40 +0000

My own favorite boook on the origins of bodybuilding and the super-hero in America is the excellent Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America by John Kasson. You can tell it's scholarly because of the colon in the title.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:39:41 +0000

Yes, you are right of course. And I knew writing it that Tolkien is quite the opposite of American or Jewish (he comes by his Wagnerian echoes much more honestly than George Lucas, you might say), so it was probably sloppy of me to toss him in there. He’s just so central to the geek mythos as I see it that any half-baked theory on geek culture has to find some way to accomodate him. I did try to keep that paragraph speculative, since my thinking on these subjects is very tentative.

Thanks for reading, though, and thanks for the comment.

By: In the provinces

In the provinces — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:29:09 +0000

J.R.R. Tolkien was neither American (an eminently English academic and Oxford don) nor Jewish–but an Englishmen of partially German (and eminently Christian German) descent. I’m not quite sure what he’s doing in an otherwise interesting commentary on Jews and geek culture in America.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 21:33:31 +0000

Great Caesar’s Ghost! You’re ashamed for knowing, I’m ashamed for forgetting. Of course it’s Kal-El. Or L. (Edited.)

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 20:31:50 +0000

A great post, of course. I’d looked at the Jones book recently and wondered if it was worth reading. I will now add it to my pile based on your recommendation.

But as long as we’re talking about being geeks here, it’s Kal-El getting the spanking from Donenfeld, not Jor-El. Actually, if it is 1943, it is arguably Kal-L even.

Yes, that last paragraph has filld me with shame.