Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
I’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
Dr 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?
In 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
Tolkien’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
An 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
There 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
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?
Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic work on the Old English poem
Talk to the Dragon: Tolkien as Translator
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.
”Beowulf” and the Influence of Old English on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
The 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
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.
Male Friendship in The Lord of the Rings: Medievalism, the First World War, and Contemporary Rewritings
I 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
The 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
It 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
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.”
Riddles, Runes and Tolkien in the “At-Risk” 8th Grade Classroom
The 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
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?
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.
The Treatment of Mythology in Children’s Fantasy
Fantasy 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
I 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
“A Fragment Detached”: The Hobbit and The Silmarillion
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.
The Mythology of Magic in The Hobbit: Tolkien and Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book “Story of Sigurd”
This paper was part of the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions.
Recreating Beowulf’s “Pregnant Moment of Poise”: Pagan Doom and Christian Eucatastrophe Made Incarnate in the Dark Age Setting of The Lord of the Rings
The following chapters will explore how Tolkien fuses themes and imagery from the pagan Norse apocalyptic myth of Ragnarök with Christian apocalyptic imagery and themes in a recreated Dark Age historical setting to create The Lord of the Rings.
