"I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all, I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White."
— Racial segregation

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Racism
Original Language: English

Sources

J. R. R. Tolkien, "Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford" (June 5, 1959), reprinted in Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Monsters and the Critics (London: Harper Collins, 2006), p. 238. A native of South Africa, Tolkien had been a professor at Oxford since 1925. Earlier in his address he explained his objection to what he considered the "false" separation of "Language" and "Literature" in the study of English.