I have been rereading Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers, which is so densely packed with ideas that there is always something that strikes me as a fresh and interesting thought. Most recently, the following passage, in which two members of the Notion Club discuss the views of their barber, a “very decent chap,” seems to have far-reaching relevance, not only in today’s political climate but also in other times throughout history. Here is the passage:
‘Oh, Norman Keeps is our barber,’ said Frankley. ‘At least that’s what Arry and I call him: no idea what his real name is. Quite a nice and moderately intelligent little man: but to him everything beyond a certain vague distance back is a vast dark barren but utterly fixed and determined land and time called The Dark Ages. There are only four features in it: Norman Keeps (by which he means baronial castles, and possibly the house of any man markedly richer than himself); Them Jameses (meaning roughly I suppose the kings One and Two); The Squires (a curious kind of bogey-folk); and The People. Nothing ever happened in that land but Them Jameses shutting up The People in the Keeps (with the help of The Squires) and there torturing them and robbing them, though they don’t appear ever to have possessed anything to be robbed of. Rather a gloomy legend. But it’s a great deal more fixed in a lot more heads than is the Battle of Camlan!’*
‘I know, I know,’ said Lowdham loudly and angrily. ‘It’s a shame! Norman Keeps is a very decent chap, and would rather learn truth than lies. But Zigūr** pays special attention to the type. Curse him!’
(NCP 230-31)
*Battle of Camlan: the battle in which King Arthur and his nephew Modred fell.
** Zigūr: the Adunaic name of Sauron.
Norman Keeps has an extremely limited and simplistic view of the past. His idea of The Dark Ages as an “utterly fixed and determined land and time” is infused with resentment and envy of those who are more powerful than himself. And although I wouldn’t disagree with the fact that powerful people have abused and do abuse the common people in many different times and places, Norman Keeps’s view has extracted one historically inaccurate and incomplete strand and made it the whole of his vision of history.
For me, the interesting insight is that Zigūr / aka Sauron “pays special attention to the type” of person that is Norman Keeps — “moderately intelligent,” “decent,” who “would rather learn truth than lies.” How does evil find inroads with a person like Norman Keeps? Is it easier to manipulate his resentments into evil thoughts and actions? Is his simplistic version of history ripe for exploitation by those who are better informed? Does his impoverished understanding of facts mean that he has no adequate means of countering the lies that are meant to influence him?
If you have any thoughts on this passage, I would love to see your comments.
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The Notion Club Papers can be found in The History of Middle-earth: Sauron Defeated, vol. 9.
Anna Smol: A Single Leaf 
4 responses to “Rereading The Notion Club Papers: Sauron and the Barber”
It would seem that not just Orwell (who published 1984 just a few years after Tolkien wrote this) had insight into the propagandistic efforts of the state to manipulate a good percentage of the population through lies and deception. Of course, Zigur/Sauron here is (perhaps?) not literally “the state,” but this is where applicability comes into play. This is yet another indication (in my opinion) of why Tolkien’s work has such staying power; he thought deeply about the modern world (and about human nature in general) as much as any other “realistic” fiction writer; he just expressed these views through fantasy.
As frustrating as it is to hear falsehoods coming out of the mouths of the Norman Keepses of the world, I tend to think that most of them ARE “decent chaps” who would “rather learn truth than lies.” But the power of Zigur/Sauron to deceive is mighty, and often overwhelming, alas. But I think we would be better served spending our limited resources trying to topple the Dark Lord (AND replace him with a King Elessar, instead of someone who will just rise to become another Dark Lord), rather than berating the Keepses for their wrong-headedness.
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I agree that fantasy can express realities about the world just as well as realistic fiction.
You’ve also hit on another aspect of this passage that has been bothering me: the attitude expressed towards Norman Keeps. Frankley especially seems to treat him with condescending mockery. Lowdham maybe is slightly more understanding, but in both cases neither man actually knows the real name of his barber! If they’ve known him long enough to know his views on history, wouldn’t they know his name? Is this due to class differences? I may be niggling over details here; after all, this passage doesn’t develop into a further discussion of the Norman Keepses of the world or how we should treat them.
Thank you for your comment!
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Tolkien said something similar about hobbits in the Prologue: “they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.” Like old Sandyman the miller, Norman Keeps will resent anyone who tries to up-end his understanding of how the world is.
If I were a sinister mastermind who wanted to turn such people to evil, I’d look for a situation where the circumstances of the world exposed errors in their understanding. Then I’d undercut the people who were trying to educate him, and tell Mr. Keeps that if he followed my lead, he could go back to believing what he always had.
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That’s a viable strategy for incursions of evil, and I can really see it working with the Numenóreans, who envied the elves’ immortality and became convinced they could seize it for themselves. You have an interesting point about the hobbits too. Many of them, like Sandyman, show how narrow-minded and ill-informed they are. Did this help with the take-over of the Shire by Saruman’s men? I’d have to go back to the Scouring of the Shire chapter to think about this some more.
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