Tolkien and Mary Renault

[GrayMouser]

It's been a long time since I've read them, but now that I think about it, there isn't a lot of male homosexuality in the two books Tolkien was referring to, unlike her other works set later in Greek history (a bit of Sapphic love, though).

A lot of Goddess worship, lamenting their replacement by the Sky Gods- standard anthropological fare back in the day- and one direct hit on monotheism, in the form of a young Israelite who scandalizes all the good pagans with his intolerance for other peole's worship.

Though looking back at the letter, he does mention liking her other works, too.

And glad to see Eddison mentioned there- "The Worm Ourobouros" is classic, though the Zimiamvia Trilogy is a hard slog- fans of "The Faerie Queene" would probably appreciate it.

And somewhat surprised to see he liked John Christopher's "The Death of Grass" ("No Blade of Grass" in the US), a fairly grim post-apocalypse tale, as well as Azimov (sic), a noted believer in progress and technology.

Obviously a man of catholic tastes