Re:Why hasn't Middle Earth had an Industrial Revolution?
by TheOtherHobbes on Tuesday June 28, 2022 @08:10AM
(#31906656)
Because he was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon and not a historian of the 18th/19th centuries.
There's no Industrial Revolution in Anglo-Saxon mythology. Including it would have jarred in a dyschronistic way.
More than that, fantasy is based on nostalgia for heroic simplicity and straightforwardness, with a dash of magic to instil some child-like wonder.
The Industrial Revolution operated on a completely different narrative and moral basis. It was more about colonisation at home, using mechanisation to organise forced labour.
It's hard to be a brave Romantic hero in that kind of setting.
There's no Industrial Revolution in Anglo-Saxon mythology. Including it would have jarred in a dyschronistic way.
More than that, fantasy is based on nostalgia for heroic simplicity and straightforwardness, with a dash of magic to instil some child-like wonder.
The Industrial Revolution operated on a completely different narrative and moral basis. It was more about colonisation at home, using mechanisation to organise forced labour.
It's hard to be a brave Romantic hero in that kind of setting.