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Patrick Curry (born 1951) is a Canadian-born British scholar who has worked and taught on a variety of subjects from cultural astronomy to
divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
, the ecology movement, and the nature of enchantment. He is known for his studies of
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
.


Biography

Patrick Curry was born in
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, Canada. He took his B.A. in psychology at the
University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
in 1978. He gained his M.Sc. in logic and scientific method at the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
in 1980, and his Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
in 1987. He lectured on cultural astronomy and on astronomy at
Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. The instit ...
from 2002, and on cosmology and divination at the
University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...
at Canterbury from 2006. He is the editor-in-chief of ''The Ecological Citizen''. He writes book reviews for British national newspapers. He appeared in interviews on two of the extended DVDs on
Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
's film trilogy of
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''. He is a contributor to Blackwell's 2014 ''
A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien ''A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien'' is a 2014 book edited by Stuart D. Lee and published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is a part of the ''Blackwell Companions to Literature'' series, which have been described as prestigious reference works, and features ...
''. He has written two books of poetry, ''Lockdown'' and ''Desire Lines''. Curry is divorced and has two children. He states that he has had "a long relationship with Buddhism ( Sōtō Zen)", taught by
Kōbun Chino Otogawa (February 1, 1938 – July 26, 2002) was an American Sōtō Zen priest. Biography Otogawa, who preferred to be called by his first name, rather than by either of the Japanese Zen honorifics: ''sensei'' (teacher) or ''roshi'' (master), came ...
.


Reception


''Defending Middle-Earth''

Juliette Wood, reviewing the 1997 work ''Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity'' for Gale Academic, calls Curry's use of Tolkien's fantasy in the debate about the ecology movement "with its resacralisation of the environment and its neo-pagan overtones" both interesting and wide-ranging. She notes that Curry provides examples on both sides of the debate, but calls it unfortunate that Curry then takes a side and launches "a diatribe" against Tolkien's critics. Stratford Caldecott, reviewing the same book for ''
The Chesterton Review ''The Chesterton Review'' is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture (Seton Hall University). It was established in 1974 to promote an interest in all aspects of G. K. Chesterton's life, work, art, a ...
'', wrote that Curry had at least one essential qualification for writing about ''The Lord of the Rings'': he loved it. Caldecott states that Curry both does an excellent job of rebutting "accusations of right-wing or authoritarian conservatism" against Tolkien, and instead "paints him as more of a Green subversive", opposing the global "monoculture" which makes everywhere the same. Adam Schwartz, reviewing the book for ''VII'', writes that while Curry is "insightful" in identifying Tolkien's subversion of "prevailing modern norms", his "ideological commitments cloud his comprehension of Tolkien's radicalism". In Schwarz's view, "scholarly analysis and political advocacy are distinct discourses", and blending them is unsatisfactory.


''Enchantment''

Bernice Martin, reviewing Curry's 2019 book ''Enchantment'' for ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
'', states that Curry came to Buddhism via the New Age movement from seemingly a Christian background, and that in the book he indicts the reductive "modern secular and technocratic culture". Martin admires the way that Curry handles the subject, using his personal experience, collective examples like
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
's funeral, and Tolkien's writings to build a picture of what is wrong with modern society.


''Deep Roots in a Time of Frost''

The Tolkien scholar
Tom Shippey Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
, in the ''
Journal of Tolkien Research The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after ...
'', reviews the 2014 essay collection ''Deep Roots in a Time of Frost''. He lists the main themes as "the nature of 'enchantment' and the need for re-enchantment"; "opposition to 'modernism' and the hopes for post-modernism"; and "the strange nature of critical responses to Tolkien". He endorses the last of these as clearly true, if remarkable. Shippey states that he entirely agrees with Curry about the early literary modernists like
T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
and
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
, but not that modernism remains "as a major and continuing threat" as Curry argues in the book, complete with "the co-dependent power of corporate and finance capital, the modern political state and modern science"; Shippey writes that he is "not happy with this". He notes that Curry is most passionate about the first theme, enchantment. Shippey states that while he cannot always follow Curry or see what he means, he also agrees with him. They agree that enchantment is not the same as magic, but Shippey finds "wonder" in early science fiction, something that Curry would (he writes) link with modernity; and he disagrees that the world has been disenchanted (in
Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist and political economy, political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of Modernity, ...
's phrase). All the same, he suggests that if Tolkien were alive, he would endorse Curry as the critic "closest to the secret of enchantment".


Books


Written

* 1989 ''Astrology, Science and Society''.
Boydell and Brewer Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, edition ...
. * 1989 ''Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England''.
Polity Press Polity is an academic publisher in the social sciences and humanities. It was established in 1984 and has offices in Cambridge (UK), Oxford (UK), New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the Uni ...
,
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent Academic publishing, publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, ...
. * 1992 ''A Confusion of Prophets: Victorian and Edwardian Astrology''.
Collins & Brown HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
. * 1995 ''Introducing Machiavelli''. Icon. * 2004 ''Astrology, Science and Culture: Pulling Down the Moon'' (with Roy Willis).
Berg Publishers Berg Publishers was an academic publishing company based in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England and Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It was founded in the United Kingdom in 1983 by Marion Berghahn. Berg published monographs, textbooks, refere ...
. * 200
''Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien: myth and modernity''
(reissued with new Afterword).
Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...
. First published by Floris, 1997. * 2010 ''Divination''.
Ashgate Publishing Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office i ...
. * 2014 ''Deep Roots in a Time of Frost: Essays on Tolkien''. Walking Tree Books. * 2017 ''Defending the Humanities: Metaphor, Science and Nature''. Rounded Globe. * 2017 ''Ecological Ethics: An Introduction'' (2nd ed.).
Polity Press Polity is an academic publisher in the social sciences and humanities. It was established in 1984 and has offices in Cambridge (UK), Oxford (UK), New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the Uni ...
. * 2019 ''Enchantment: Wonder in Modern Life''. Floris Books.


Edited

* 2006 ''Sky and Psyche: The Relationship between Cosmos and Consciousness'' (with
Nicholas Campion Nicholas Campion (born 4 March 1953) is a British astrologer and historian of astrology and cultural astronomy. He is the author of a number of books and currently pursues an academic career. Career Astrology Campion is a former ''Daily M ...
). Floris Books. * 2008 ''Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays on Astrology and Divination'' (with Angela Voss). Cambridge Scholars Press.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Patrick Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of University College London Tolkien studies Living people 1951 births