Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Perilous Wanderings Through The Enchanted Forest: The Influence Of The Fairy-Tale Tradition On Mirkwood In Tolkien's The Hobbit, Marco R.S. Post

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

Considers the roots of Mirkwood in European fairy tale traditions, using Basile’s Pentamerone as a typical example, and how Tolkien adapted and rejected traditional features of the perilous wood to suit his thematic and stylistic needs as a story-teller.

Reviews, David Bratman, Joe R. Christopher, Janet Brennan Croft, Bradford Lee Eden, Andrew Higgins, Tiffany Brooke Martin

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

Stories About Stories: Fantasy and the Remaking of Myth. Brian Attebery. Reviewed by David Bratman.

The Body in Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on Middle-earth Corporeality. Edited by Christopher Vaccaro. Reviewed by Janet Brennan Croft.

Critical Essays on Lord Dunsany. S.T. Joshi, ed. Lanham MD. Reviewed by Tiffany Brooke Martin.

History, Guilt, and Habit. Owen Barfield. Reviewed by Bradford Lee Eden.

In the Nameless Wood: Explorations in the Philological Hinterland of Tolkien's Literary Creations. J.S. Ryan. Edited by Peter Buchs. Reviewed by Andrew Higgins.

The Letters of Ruth Pitter: Silent Music. Edited by Don W. King. Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher.

A Spenserian In Space: The Faerie Queene In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, Paul R. Rovang

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

Explores the influence of The Faerie Queene, one of the works C.S. Lewis was particularly involved with as a scholar, and the literary and Biblical traditions it drew upon, on Lewis’s Ransom trilogy and in particular on Perelandra. Ransom is identified with the Red Cross Knight.

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

No abstract provided.

Peter S. Beagle's Transformations Of The Mythic Unicorn, Weronika Łaszkiewicz

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

Traces the development of Beagle’s unicorns through the novel The Last Unicorn and three other stories, paying particular attention to how and why Beagle adapted and rejected certain distinguishing features of traditional unicorn lore and legend.

Cults Of Lovecraft: The Impact Of H.P. Lovecraft's Fiction On Contemporary Occult Practices, John Engle

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

Examines a particularly troubling use of fiction: the adoption of an author’s work, against his own intentions, as a quasi-religious text for cultic practices. Lovecraft’s mythos is thus observed in the process of deliberately being made into a worship tradition by occult and Satanic practitioners, in spite of the author’s personal scientific rationalism.

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.

Political Institutions In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying About The Lack Of Democracy, Dominic J. Nardi, Jr.

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

Alexei Kondratiev Student Paper Award, Mythcon 45. Examines traditional political structures, theories of how they work, and how they play out in Tolkien’s Middle-earth among fantastic races and landscapes. Especially intriguing is the way in which the immortality of some races and individuals affects the power balance.

Toying With Fantasy: The Postmodern Playground Of Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels, Daniel Luthi

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

Attempts to discover exactly how Terry Pratchett manages to get away with violating the rules of the fantasy tradition laid out in Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories.” Pratchett consistently revels in the absurdity of Discworld as a concept, breaks the fourth wall, and disrupts Tolkien’s proviso against satirizing magic itself; and yet the Discworld sails on, imperturbable. Pratchett’s concept of narrative imperative is discussed as one of the keys to the success of his invented world.

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

No abstract provided.

Tolkien In Love: Pictures From Winter 1912-1913, Nancy A. Bunting

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

Makes a case for examining Tolkien’s work as an amateur visual artist as key to understanding the important stresses and changes in his life over the winter months of 1912–1913, as he anticipated reuniting with Edith Bratt after their forced separation.

Subverting Mythopoeic Fantasy: Miyuki Miyabe's The Book Of Heroes, Grzegorz Trebicki

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

Introduces us to Miyuki Miyabe, who deliberately rings changes on Tolkien’s concept of sub-creation in his thought-provoking The Book of Heroes, a story that turns the virtues of storytelling itself on their heads.

Divine Surgeons At Work: The Presence And Purpose Of The Dream Vision In Till We Have Faces, Erin K. Wagner

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

Studies the metamorphosis of Orual, the main character of C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces, under the “divine surgery” of the dream-visions sent by the gods.

Artemis At Ragnarok: E.R. Eddison's Queen Antiope, Joseph Young

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

Building on his paper in Mythlore #117/118, calls for a change in critical attitudes towards E.R. Eddison, revealing a deep philosophical and spiritual foundation at the base of the lush, glittering surface of the Zimiamvia trilogy. A careful unraveling of mythological references and evidence from previously unpublished Eddison letters at the Bodleian back up his conclusion.

The Art Of Detection In A World Of Change: The Silver Chair And Spenser Revisited, Charles A. Huttar

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

Reflects on mutabilitie in the Narnian tale; weaves together an examination of the characteristics of the classic detective tale, Spenser’s Two Cantos of Mutabilitie, and the plot and style of Lewis’s novel into a satisfying whole.

Reviews, Sharon L. Bolding, Janet Brennan Croft, Kazia Estrada, Mike Foster, Bonnie Gaarden, Jon Garrad, Melody Green, Perry Neil Harrison, T. S. Miller, Holly Ordway, Christopher Tuthill, Joe R. Christopher

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

George MacDonald: Divine Carelessness and Fairytale Levity. Daniel Gabelman. Reviewed by Bonnie Gaarden.

The Gender Dance: Ironic Subversion in C.S. Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy. Monika B. Hilder. Preface by Matthew Dickerson. Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: In a Modern English Version with a Critical Introduction. John Gardner. Reviewed by Perry Neil Harrison.

Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal. Joseph Campbell. Reviewed by Christopher Tuthill.

The Riddles of the Hobbit. Adam Roberts. Reviewed by Jon Garrad.

The Modern Literary Werewolf: A Critical Study of the Mutable Motif. Brent A. Stypczynski. Reviewed by Sharon L. …

Pillaging Middle-Earth: Self-Plagiarism In Smith Of Wootton Major, Josh B. Long

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

Examines the fraught concept of “self-plagiarism” in Tolkien’s works. Self-plagiarism or self-borrowing is something more than just repeating themes and motifs throughout one’s literary career, and Long details examples of scenes, dialogue, character traits, and so on echoing from one work to another, with particular attention to The Lord of the Rings and Smith of Wootton Major.

From Children’S Book To Epic Prequel: Peter Jackson’S Transformation Of Tolkien’S The Hobbit, Frank P. Riga, Maureen Thum, Judith Kollmann

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

Makes the case that Jackson’s sometimes controversial screenwriting decisions actually echo Tolkien’s own abortive attempt to revise and change The Hobbit to bring it into line with the mood and milieu of The Lord of the Rings.

"They Have Quarreled With The Trees": Perverted Perceptions Of "Progress" In The Fiction Series Of C.S. Lewis, Deborah Klein

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

Uses the tools of eco-criticism to read Lewis’s attitudes towards nature, hierarchy, and the changes wrought by technological progress in the Narnia books and the Cosmic Trilogy.

Tolkien's Faërian Drama: Origins And Valedictions, Janet Brennan Croft

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

Attempts to define the characteristics of faërian drama through the way it changes the lives of dreamers such as Scrooge, the Pearl poet and Sir Gawain, and Smith of Wootton Major.