Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Reading, Rending, And Queering The Web Of Story With The Lens Of “Con-Creation” And Process Theology, Cameron Bourquein, Nick Polk

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Recent scholarship has addressed the connected problems of Tolkien as “Author/Author(ity)” and the exclusivist readings of Tolkien’s work that follow this construction (Chunodkar, Emanuel, Reid). This “constructed Tolkien” seems to parallel common readings of his Legendarium’s own Creator God, Eru—understood as the monolithic “Author” of Ea. Yet “subcreation” within Tolkien’s narrative and extra-narrative works is routinely exhibited not as monolithic but rather as literally (and figuratively) multivocal, and hence inherently queer.

In this paper Cameron will propose that the Legendarium can be read through the lens of “con-creation” (the total choice-making activity of all rational beings) both internally as events …

Our Flag (And Spaceship) Means Queer: Monstering The Majority Culture, Sara Brown, Kristine Larsen

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Although the television series Our Flag Means Death presents on the surface as a romantic comedy, it is enhanced by mythic elements that infuse the narrative with a clear sense of the fantastic. Here, the pirates exist in a Secondary World that openly draws upon the Primary (both in terms of historiography and legend); hence 18th-century piracy and British colonialism can interact seamlessly with human-to-animal-transformations (paying homage to the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone) without seeming either disconcerting or anomalous – all co-exist comfortably in Faerie. OFMD both inverts and deconstructs mythopoeia; the Primary World myths of the Gentleman …

The Unicorn Trade: Towards A Cultural History Of The Mass-Market Unicorn, Timothy S. Miller

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

As genre fantasy congealed around a Tolkienian core in the middle decades of the 20th century, two fantastical creatures emerged as the dominant emblems of the form: the dragon and the unicorn. Either one might serve to adorn genre labels on the spines of library books, or act as the colophon for a publisher’s fantasy line. Dipping in and out of touchstone texts in the fantasy tradition such as Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn and Michael Bishop’s Unicorn Mountain, this essay will commence a preliminary exploration of the wider mass cultural adoption of one of these two creatures, …

Vol. 48 No. 11 - Whole No. 352, Jason Fisher

Mythprint

Mythprint is the monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local and written discussion groups.

Useful Little Men: George R. R. Martin's Dwarfs As Grotesque Realists, Joseph Rex Young

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

No abstract provided.

Letting Sleeping Abnormalities Lie: Lovecraft And The Futility Of Divination [Article], Carol S. Matthews

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

By way of divinatory dreams, astrology, geomancy, or other means, the Lovecraft quester discovers that universe is more deeply frightening than anything he could possibly have imagined. Lovecraft’s lack of faith in divination practices, not because of their inefficacy, but rather due to his conviction that humans lack the essential capacity to understand their lowly place in the universe, is ironically not shared by many of his admirers and followers, who have created magical and divination systems galore since Lovecraft’s demise.

Tolkien's Dialogue Between Enchantment And Loss, John Rosegrant

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

Examines the tension between the theme of loss underlying so much of the content of The Lord of the Rings, and the enchantment of the form of the work; the balance between the two generates a melancholy beauty that brings readers back to the book over and over again. Tolkien’s own biography is used as an example of this balance of loss and enchantment playing out in real life.

Song As Mythic Conduit In The Fellowship Of The Ring, Cami Agan

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

Explores the complex layering of history and legend that convey Tolkien’s themes across a wide array of genres within the legendarium, reinforcing the sense of depth of time Tolkien hoped to achieve even within The Hobbit.

Mythcon 30 - Bree & Beyond: Exploring The Fantasy Worlds Of J.R.R. Tolkien And His Fellow Travelers, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

Whether this is your first fantasy-related conference, or your fourth or your thirtieth-a thousand welcomes to you all. Whether you come here from elsewhere in the midwest, or the west coast, or strands afar remote--be assured that you are very welcome. Your conference committee has organized this little gathering, at bottom, for the fun of it not that the chores necessary to make it possible have always been fun, but such is our goal for the conference: intelligence and fun, scholarship and joy. We are delighted that you have come to contribute to this and to share in it.

Tolkien's Elvish Craft, Dwayne Thorpe

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

This paper examines “fusion”, the basis of artistry, in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Fusion takes place in descriptive passages, in the characters’ perception and in the language Tolkien uses. Fusion works toward the purpose of Tolkien’s fiction, which is to be found in the Christian views of earth and escapism, especially as expressed by sea-longing.

Where Do Elves Go To? Tolkien And A Fantasy Tradition, Norman Talbot

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

The departure of the Elves from Middle-earth haunted Tolkien’s imagination, but it has also fascinated many other writers before and since. After Kipling and Tolkien, the twin pivots in recent literary ideas about Elves, the destiny of the Elves is being treated in more and more diverse ways. But Hy Braseal is so hard to imagine, given the Americas in this century: how can the people of the starlight still “go west”? Most go “in” instead, into humanity or into places (and computer programs) with that special Elf-friendly charge.

Encounter Darkness: The Black Platonism Of David Lindsay, Adelheid Kegler

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

Characterizes Lindsay as a “belated symbolist” whose characters are “personifications of ontological values.” Uses Neoplatonic “references to transcendence” but his imagery and technique do not suggest a positive view of transcendence.

From Belbury To Bernt-Arse: The Rhetoric Of The Wasteland In Lewis, Orwell And Hoban, Kath Filmer

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

Analyzes the rhetorical modes used in mythopoeic literature, using as examples 1984, Riddley Walker, and That Hideous Strength. Focuses on the rhetorical use of the image of the wasteland in these novels.

Et Cetera, Marshall University

Et Cetera

Founded in 1953, Et Cetera is an annual literary magazine that publishes the creative writing and artwork of Marshall University students and affiliates. Et Cetera is free to the Marshall University community.

Et Cetera welcomes submissions in literary and film criticism, poetry, short stories, drama, all types of creative non-fiction, photography, and art.

The Rags Of Lordship: Science Fiction, Fantasy, And The Reenchantment Of The World, Peter Lowentrout

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

Sees a movement at the leading edges of our culture away from the desacralized world and back toward the mythic. Sees the genres of science fiction and fantasy providing aesthetic windows to the sacred. Along with science and religion, they participate in a resynthesis of our culture’s assumptions, pointing toward individuality within fundamental unity and broader notions of causality.