Examining the Middle Ages through modern eyes: movies, TV, stage, tourism and books. How do we perform the Middle Ages?
Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
December 13, 2013 By
While the first film was mostly criticized for its divergences from the novel, in this second instalment they usually prove to be an improvement.
Imagination For Better Not Worse: The Hobbit in the primary classroom
December 12, 2013 By
The story of The Hobbit can be utilised to develop the concept of the Hero’s Journey, a persistent trope in oral and recorded literature and an archetype for virtually all human experience.
Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Bilbo’s Quest for Identity and Maturity
December 11, 2013 By
Notwithstanding the fact that The Hobbit was generally relegated to children literature, its individual layers should be scrutinised more profoundly because it may help the understanding of the human psyche.
Doing a PhD in Middle-earth
December 10, 2013 By
In this paper, I show how The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien can be viewed as an extended allegory for any challenging and arduous human endeavour, and in particular for tackling and completing a PhD.
Horses of Agency, Element, and Godliness in Tolkien and the Germanic Sagas
December 12, 2012 By
What is the contract between man and equine that allows a beast ten times our size and one hundred times our strength to willingly serve in our ambitions? What magnetism (and who placed it) is it that draws humanity and horses together?
Talk to the Dragon: Tolkien as Translator
December 11, 2012 By
When Bilbo, and the readers of The Hobbit, are confronted with the dragon, they are in for a surprise, as Smaug’s behaviour is somewhat unusual for a dragon.
A Single Leaf: Tolkien’s Visual Art and Fantasy
December 10, 2012 By
With such a model in mind, then, we have entered into a discussion of art, myth‐making, and the Primary World from a combined academic and artistic perspective.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Did You Know? Windows on the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien
September 21, 2012 By
Tolkien anticipated his books might inspire a film adaption, and he stated his concerns in a letter he wrote in June 1958. “The failure of poor films is often precisely in exaggeration,” he explained, “and in the intrusion of unwarranted matter owing to not perceiving where the core of the original lies.” He objected to editors who “cut the parts of the story upon which its characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends, showing a preference for fights,” and said he would resent “perversion of the characters … even more than the spoiling of the plot and scenery.”
Running Widdershins Round Middle Earth: Why Teaching Tolkien Matters
September 21, 2012 By
Returning to Tolkien’s allegory, it is clear that he suggests that his fellow medievalists have taken a work of great imaginative and artistic power, and instead of using it to “see the sea”, they have mined it for words and phrases, and pulled it apart, looking for bits and pieces from other ancient works, and even reworked it after their own notions of how it “ought” to be built.
The Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on Popular Culture
September 20, 2012 By
This paper will trace the history of the
Middle Earth mythology and its popularity. By studying the example of The Lord ofthe Rings I hope to demonstrate how art not only gets pulled into the system of popular and mass culture, but also how art has an influence on the system. An interesting question comes up when studying this topic. Why did Tolkien become popular?
The Riddle of Gollum: Was Tolkien Inspired by Old Norse Gold, the Jewish Golem, and the Christian Gospel?
August 23, 2012 By
I would like to speculate on Tolkien’s sources for Gollum. As a start, it is likely that Tolkien’s conscious sources for Gollum were the same as his sources for ents.
“A Fragment Detached”: The Hobbit and The Silmarillion
May 17, 2012 By
This summary is a brief explanation of a paper that focused on the influences of The Hobbit, and The Hobbit in contrast with The Silmarillion.
How you can Follow Us!