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By James Dempsey
Did J.R.R. Tolkein, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—renowned linguist and distinguished professor of language and literature at Oxford University—once teach at Holy Cross, as is sometimes rumored?
Only in fantasy, we fear.
But it almost happened.
Edward F. Callahan, professor emeritus and former chair of the English department, joined Holy Cross as a newly minted Ph.D. in 1957. At that time Rev. William Donaghy, S.J., was president of the College, and Rev. Thomas J. Grace, S.J., was head of the English department.
Fr. Grace, who held a Ph.D. from Oxford, was moving to modernize the department—by replacing many of the Jesuits teaching English with professors who had their Ph.Ds. But Fr. Donaghy, who was old-school in many matters, including pedagogy, thought that the Jesuits were doing a fine job. As a result, the two priests often locked horns. (Once Fr. Donaghy used a eulogy he was giving for a deceased Jesuit librarian to mount a fierce attack on the New Criticism. The members of the English department had to sit silently in the pews and listen.)
"Grace had contacts at Oxford and was a close friend of Tolkein's," Callahan says. "He thought Tolkein might come for a semester and teach at the College—so he went to Donaghy and explained that the scholar who had produced one of the most important essays on Beowulf in the history of English scholarship might be interested in coming to Holy Cross."
"Absolutely not," was Donaghy's response. "We have enough Oxford people here as it is."
"Of course," adds Callahan, "The only Oxford person on campus was Fr. Grace."
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The Jeane Dixon Axe Murder Rumor
"Letters to Tomorrow"
The Cow That Came in From the Cold
The Plot Against the Greenhouse
The Naked Bunch
The Immurement of Father Crowley
The Lord of the Rings on Mount St. James?
More myths and legends...revealed!
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