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Blood On The Snow, Soot On The Carpet: Belief As Pedagogy In Terry Pratchett’S Hogfather, Michael A. Moir Jr.

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, children largely refuse to conform to the ideas that adults form about them as a class. While the adults of the Discworld seem to regard childhood as a time of innocence and wonder, the children who inhabit Pratchett’s universe show themselves to be violent, cynical, manipulative, and naturally skeptical of any phenomena which they cannot directly sense. As such, when the beloved seasonal figure of the Hogfather, a former Winter Solstice deity transformed over time into a gift-giving fat man with a taste for sherry and pork-pies, is assaulted by entities who want to make …

The One Ring Of King Solomon, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien source criticism has long been looking for the source of the One Ring in the wrong places. Neither the historical ispiration from World War II and the Atomic Bomb nor the proposed literary influences such as the Ring of the Nibelungs, Wagner's Ring, or the several examples of invisibility rings found in world literature may suffice to explain the complexity of Tolkien's unique creation. Nonetheless, the same cannot be said so easily with regards to another possible source once we survey the richness of the related legends: it is the fabled signet ring of King Solomon.

Goddess And Mortal: The Celtic And The French Morgan Le Fay In Tolkien’S Silmarillion, Clare Moore

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Few characters change more in their depiction throughout ‘traditional’ Arthurian literature than Morgan le Fay, who transitions from the benevolent and supernatural Queen of the Isle of Apples to the mortal sister of King Arthur with a complicated relationship to her brother and his court. These two versions of the Arthurian enchantress are represented in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini and the French Vulgate Cycle, and they parallel two of Tolkien’s prominent female characters in The Silmarillion: Lúthien and Aredhel. Establishing parallels between Monmouth’s Morgen and Tolkien’s Lúthien demonstrates both a connection to the Celtic tradition and a departure …

Death, Hope, And Wholeness In Owen Barfield’S Fairy Tales, Tiffany Brooke Martin

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article discusses Owen Barfield's unpublished and published fairy tale writings, and why his works and ideas (e.g., death, hope, and wholeness) are valuable to consider for children and adult readers, though he is not as well known as other Inklings or mythopoeic writers. Some of the fantasy texts include The Silver Trumpet and "The Child and the Giant."

Gunslinger Roland From Yeats’S Towers Came(?): A Little-Studied Influence On Stephen King’S Dark Tower Series, Abigail L. Montgomery

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This essay has two major goals. Its general aim is to join the growing body of scholarship that takes Stephen King’s work seriously as literature in its own right and in conversation with other, traditionally canonical, works. This essay specifically does so by examining the apparent, though unreferenced, influence of William Butler Yeats’s poems “The Tower” and “The Black Tower” on King’s longest, strangest, most challenging and most self-referential work—the Dark Tower series. King references Yeats elsewhere in his fiction, and a rich, non-linear intertextuality connects the Dark Tower series to much of the rest of King’s work. Taking this …

Tolkien Studies: An Annual Review V. Xiii. Eds. Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger, And David Bratman; North Wind: A Journal Of George Macdonald Studies V. 35. Ed. John Pennington; And Vii (Seven): Journal Of The Marion E. Wade Center V.33. Ed. Marjorie Lamp Mead, Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

J.R.R. Tolkien And The 1954 Nomination Of E.M. Forster For The Nobel Prize In Literature, Dennis Wilson Wise

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Wise speculates on the involvement of J.R.R. Tolkien in the group nomination of E.M Forster for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954; he discusses not only the politics behind the nomination but reads Forster’s Howards End and A Passage to India in the light of the tension between Tolkien’s interests in nationalism and inter-racial cooperation.

Where Fantasy Fits: The Importance Of Being Tolkien, Richard C. West

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Scholar Guest of Honor speech, Mythcon 45. In his wide-ranging and conversational meditation on “Where Fantasy Fits,” the conference theme, West places Tolkien within a broad fantasy tradition but concentrates most closely on the decades preceding The Hobbit and following The Lord of the Rings, bearing out Garner Dozois’s observation that “[a]fter Tolkien, everything changed” for genre fantasy. Of particular interest is West’s discussion of science fiction works and authors appreciated by Tolkien and Lewis.

Reviews, Emily E. Auger, Carl Badgley, Nicholas Birns, Joe R. Christopher, Janet Brennan Croft, Troels Forchhammer, Scott Mclaren, Holly Ordway, Harley Sims

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

C.S. Lewis, Poetry, and the Great War 1914-1918. John Bremer. Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher.

Collected Poems. Hope Mirrlees. Ed. and intro. Sandeep Parmar. Reviewed by Nicholas Birns.

Fantasy, Art and Life: Essays on George MacDonald, Robert Louis Stevenson and Other Fantasy Writers. William Gray. Reviewed by Scott McLaren.

C. S. Lewis and the Middle Ages. Robert Boenig. Reviewed by Holly Ordway.

Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century: Essays on New Adaptations. Edited by Lynnette Porter. Reviewed by Janet Brennan Croft.

Dancing the Tao: Le Guin and Moral Development. Sandra J. Lindow. Reviewed by Carl Badgley.

Hobbit Place-names: A Linguistic …

Perilous Shores: The Unfathomable Supernaturalism Of Water In 19th-Century Scottish Folklore, Jason Marc Harris

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Discusses the origin and significance of water superstitions and the varied array of water creatures in 19th-century Scottish folklore; compares these folkloric elements to similar stories from Norway to Benin to ancient Greece.

"That Most Unselfish Man": George Sayer, 1914-2005: Pupil, Biographer, And Friend Of Inklings, Mike Foster

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

An appreciation of Inkling George Sayer, author of Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times, widely regarded as one of the best biographies of Lewis. Includes personal reminiscences of his friendship with Sayer, as well as of Sayer’s friendships with Tolkien and Lewis.

The Anatomy Of A Friendship: The Correspondence Of Ruth Pitter And C. S. Lewis, 1946-1962, Don W. King

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Chronological study of the friendship between Pitter and Lewis, illustrated with excerpts from their letters to each other and from Pitter’s poetry. Includes her transcript of a conversation about where the Beavers got the ingredients for the lunch they fed the Pevensie children.

Three Bridge-Builders: Priest-Craft In Till We Have Faces, David W. Landrum

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Investigates Lewis’s portrayal of priests and the divine in Till We Have Faces.

Roy Campbell And The Inklings, Joe R. Christopher

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Traces the history of poet Roy Campbell’s contacts with the Inklings, particularly Tolkien and Lewis.

Hermetic Imagination: The Effect Of The Golden Dawn On Fantasy Literature, Charles A. Coulombe

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an English expression of the Nineteenth-Century occult revival in Europe. Dedicated to such practices as ceremonial magic and divination, it valued these more as gateways to true understanding of reality than for their intrinsic merit. The Golden Dawn’s essentially Neoplatonic world-view is reflected in the writings of such some-time members as W.B. Yeats, Arthur Machen and Charles Williams.

Tolkien As A Post-War Writer, Tom Shippey

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The Lord of the Rings, though unique in many ways, is only one of a series of fantasies published by English authors before, during, and just after World War II, works united in their deep concern with the nature of evil and their authors’ belief that politics had given them a novel understanding of this ancient concept. This paper sets Tolkien in this contemporary context and considers what has been unique in his understanding of the modern world.

King Arthur In The Marketplace, King Arthur In The Myth, Cath Filmer-Davies

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Recounts and criticizes various contemporary examples of the use of the Arthurian mythos for commercial or political purposes. Applauds the rehabilitation of the myths by Stephen Lawhead.

Whose English?: Language In The Modern Arthurian Novel, Lisa Padol

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Analyzes the use of language, mood/tone, vocabulary, syntax, idioms, metaphors, and ideas in a number of contemporary Arthurian novels.

Dark Mirrors: The Scholar Guest Of Honor Address From The 1993 Mythopoeic Conference, Jane Yolen

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Scholar Guest of Honor speech, Mythcon 1993. In exploring the “thesis that fantasy is as much of its time as beyond it,” Yolen examines various prejudices in a number of noted Victorian to modern fantasies for children.

A Forgotten Children's Fantasy: Philip Woodruff's The Sword Of Northumbria, William A. S. Sarjeant

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Gives a brief biographical sketch of the author and describes his historical fantasy novel. Illustrations.

An Inklings Bibliography (48), Joe R. Christopher, Wayne G. Hammond

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Entries 42–59 in this series are written by Hammond (Tolkien material) and Christopher (Lewis and other material). See Hammond, Wayne G., for one later entry in this series.

Stone Towers, Carl F. Hostetter, Patrick Wynne

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Proposes “Celtic and pre-Celtic origins for certain linguistic and legendary elements in a corpus whose sources” have been sought in Germanic myth and legend.

The Many Faces Of The Hero In The Lord Of The Rings, Stephen Potts

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Guest of Honor address at Mythcon 22. Reviews various definitions and characteristics of the hero according to several folklorists and psychologists. Discusses Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, and Sam as heroes according to these definitions.

Reviews, Paula Disante, Nancy-Lou Patterson, David Bratman, James E. Pearson Jr.

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The 1991 J.R.R Tolkien Calendar. Illus. by John Howe. Reviewed by Paula DiSante.

The Land of Narnia. Brian Sibley, Illus. by Pauline Baynes. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson.

The Tale of the Rings of Power. Thomas Peterson. Reviewed by David Bratman.

The Cosmic Trilogy. C.S. Lewis. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson.

The Passionate Intellect: Dorothy L. Sayers' Encounter with Dante. Barbara Reynolds. Reviewed by James E. Pearson Jr. .

"A Myth For Angle-Land": J.R.R. Tolkien And Creative Mythology, Sarah Beach

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines Tolkien’s desire to create “a mythology for England,” particularly as distinct from Britain. Traces the evolution of the connections between Tolkien’s mythology and Primary World counterparts.

Halfe Like A Serpent: The Green Witch In The Silver Chair, Nancy-Lou Patterson

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Contends that The Silver Chair presents “a complete feminine structure [...] in which the prevalent symbol of woman receives full expression.” This full expression is achieved with the Green Witch as the villain and Jill Pole as the heroine.

Bright-Eyed Beauty: Celtic Elements In Charles Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien, And C.S. Lewis, Nancy-Lou Patterson

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Traces the influence of Celtic style and themes, though sometimes denied by Tolkien, Lewis, and Williams, on their works.

Missives To Mythlore, Stanley Hoffman, Nan Bruade, Iver Rogers, Marty Helgesen, Patrick Strang, Peter Kreeft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Missives To Mythlore, Lloyd Alexander, Ann Early, Karen Rockow, Pat Strang, C. S. Kilby, Nan Braude, Alpajpuri, Claire Howard

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.