Tolkien Archive
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Androgynes, Crossdressers, and Rebel Queens: Modern Representations of Medieval Women Warriors from Tolkien to Martin
Posted on May 15, 2013 | No CommentsThis was another stellar paper given at the Tales after Tolkien session. It was an intriguing look at the women of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and how each author portrays the mother and warrior characters of Galadriel/Cersi/Daenerys and Eowyn/Arya/Brienne. The paper examined the differences and problems posed by the portrayal of women in theses fantasy novels. -
The Meaning of the Middle Ages: Fans, Authors, and Industry
Posted on May 15, 2013 | No CommentsThis was a very enjoyable paper given on the topic of medievalism and the predominance of a European perspective in almost all fantasy literature. Young examined three authors who were moving away from the traditional telling of fantasy by subverting the typical pseudo-medieval narrative or by moving away from European cultures towards embracing Eastern, Aztec and other non-European worlds. -
Oxford Tolkien Spring School launched
Posted on January 25, 2013 | No CommentsOrganised by Oxford University's Faculty of English Language and Literature where Tolkien taught for most of his career, the spring school is aimed at those who have read some of Tolkien’s fiction and wish to learn more. -
Tolkien’s Cauldron: Northern Literature and The Lord of the Rings
Posted on December 14, 2012 | No CommentsTolkien was a scholar of Old Norse literature and much of his work in the Lord of the Rings is informed by his knowledge of old Norse mythology, Eddic poetry, and saga. Tolkien's use of these sources enriched this complex story of Middle-earth. -
The Influence of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Masculinist Medievalism
Posted on December 14, 2012 | No CommentsTolkien, unlike other influential critics or popular fantasy writers, shapes perception of the Middle Ages from both the top down and the bottom up. -
Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Posted on December 14, 2012 | No CommentsI'm here not to pander to the fandom, but be brutally honest as a Tolkien lover: The Hobbit was just not that good. In fact, dare I say it, *gasps!*, it wasn't good at all. -
The Hobbit; an unexpected theological journey
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsDr Alison Milbank of the University of Nottingham's Department of Theology and Religious Studies, offers her insights into J.R.R.Tolkien and his famous novel. -
Why Study J.R.R. Tolkien?
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsIn order to write a fantasy novel you have to commit to metaphysics - you have to create a world, that world has to have a certain consistency, it has to have ontology, what is being in that world, what is it ethics in that world - and Tolkien is particular interested in these metaphysical questions. -
Tolkien’s Imaginary Languages
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsTolkien's extensive knowledge of world languages both ancient and modern lent itself to his creation of the artificial languages that add so much realistic depth to his fictional writing -
INTERVIEW: Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsAn interview with author Nancy Brown on her latest medieval offering: "Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths". -
Language and Legend in the Fantasy Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien
Posted on December 12, 2012 | No CommentsThere was something so real in the languages that he created, and critics wanted to find the inspirations behind Tolkien‘s worlds. Elves, dwarves, men, hobbits, and various other creatures occupied the pages of his books, but the languages he created were complex and had real elements in them. Examples of his invented languages were those spoken by the Elves, Sindarin and Quenya. -
Horses of Agency, Element, and Godliness in Tolkien and the Germanic Sagas
Posted on December 12, 2012 | No CommentsWhat 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? -
Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
Posted on December 11, 2012 | No CommentsJ. R. R. Tolkien's classic work on the Old English poem -
Talk to the Dragon: Tolkien as Translator
Posted on December 11, 2012 | No CommentsWhen 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. -
”Beowulf” and the Influence of Old English on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
Posted on December 11, 2012 | No CommentsThe Lord of the Rings is set in the fictional but incredibly vast and detailed universe of Middle-Earth. Tolkien has put great effort in developing an impossibly gigantic realm peopled by many diverse races. Of the immeasurable number of characters and locations present in Tolkien’s work, many bear a name deeply rooted in Old English. -
A Single Leaf: Tolkien’s Visual Art and Fantasy
Posted on December 10, 2012 | No CommentsWith 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. -
Male Friendship in The Lord of the Rings: Medievalism, the First World War, and Contemporary Rewritings
Posted on December 10, 2012 | No CommentsI would like to present this research about male friendships in the First World War and to discuss how Tolkien’s work reflects what we see in other writers who represented their experiences in the First War -
The Hobbit: “sales are not very great” wrote Tolkien
Posted on October 16, 2012 | No CommentsThe Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, was one of the most popular novels of the 20th century, but a letter by the author just after the book was published reveals that sales were initially slow and that a second printing may not happen. -
The Hobbit – 75 years old and still going strong
Posted on September 22, 2012 | No CommentsIt took a review by a ten-year old boy to convince a publisher to print it, but on September 21, 1937, the first edition of The Hobbit hit the bookstores. -
J.R.R. Tolkien: Did You Know? Windows on the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien
Posted on September 21, 2012 | No CommentsTolkien 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." -
Riddles, Runes and Tolkien in the “At-Risk” 8th Grade Classroom
Posted on September 21, 2012 | No CommentsThe Hobbit, perhaps more so than Lord of the Rings, is clearly indebted in part to Old English literature and culture, notably in its use of runic writing in the map illustrations and in the story itself, and in the important role of riddles in Bilbo’s confrontation with Gollum -
The Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on Popular Culture
Posted on September 20, 2012 | No CommentsThis 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?
Posted on August 23, 2012 | No CommentsI 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. -
The Treatment of Mythology in Children’s Fantasy
Posted on June 26, 2012 | No CommentsFantasy stories trace their roots back to far older tales: the myths and legends of various cultures, which grew from oral storytelling in the days when myths were the only explanation for the mysterious workings of the real world. -
Byte-Sized Middle Ages: Tolkien, Film, and the Digital Imagination
Posted on June 5, 2012 | No CommentsI wish to examine in historical perspective how and why this modern visual/cinematic understanding of Tolkien’s Middle-earth in particular, and consequently of the Middle Ages in general, has come to rely upon and be shaped by a shared stock of stylized referents related to the virtual reality of computers
