Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Deconstructing Turok: The Kiowa Dinosaur Hunter In Comics And Film (1954-2014), Marc Dipaolo

Faculty Articles & Research

The Dell and Gold Key Comics series Turok: Son of Stone (1954 ­ 1982) were groundbreaking in their introduction of a Native American protagonist who starred in his own adventure series instead of serving as the marginalized sidekick of a white male adventurer.

Have You Tried Breaking Up?... We Did And This Is What We Found, Phillip Joe Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Abstract: This presentation is targeted primarily toward new repository administrators. During early projects on the Digital Commons platform in 2016 we uploaded full-issue PDFs for some titles. Soon we uploaded the Administrative Issues Journal and Mythlore with links to each article of the issue homepage. The difference in usage numbers of journals with full-issue PDFs to those that are broken down to the article level is huge. The result is that we returned to break up the full-issue items down.

In this presentation Phillip Fitzsimmons will show usage reports showing the low numbers of items presented as full-issue PDFs with …

Mythology In Children's Animation, David L. Emerson

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

In recent years, there have been several animated films, ostensibly for children yet appreciable by adults as well, which have made attempts to incorporate various mythologies of the world into their settings and plots. There is considerable variation in the amounts of mythology included, from offhand mentions to integral components of the story. There is also a wide range of the degree of faithfulness to the mythologies being depicted. This note gives an overview of some of the most well-known and readily available animations from 1992 to 2017, and show how the mythologies of many different cultures are represented. Some …

Mirkwood, John V. Orth

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

Contrary to the repeated assertion that it was William Morris who in 1888 first adapted Mirkwood from Old Norse, Sir Walter Scott had in fact used the name seventy-five years earlier in his 1814 novel Waverley.

Extreme Minimalism In The Lord Of The Rings, Pierre H. Berube

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

Notes two key moments of minimalistic style in The Lord of the Rings.

Innocence In Lewis’S Perelandra And Twain’S King Arthur’S Court, S. Dorman

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

Comparing the innocent characters, especially The Green Lady and Sandy, respectively, in Perelandra and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court

In Memoriam: Jared Lobdell, Richard C. West

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

Personal reminiscences of the scholar and author.

The Fabulous Journeys Of Alice And Pinocchio: Exploring Their Parallel Worlds By Laura Tosi With Peter Hunt, Bianca L. Beronio

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

Tosi is frank concerning the challenges presented to “say something new” about the tales of Alice and Pinocchio, yet while there has been much separate study and criticism on the subjects of these iconic children’s characters, there has been no scholarly study of each text through the lens of the other (Tosi 1). Tosi discusses the impact of the Alice books and Pinocchio on a broader, global audience by introducing an idea put forth by Italian novelist Italo Calvino, namely that “classics are those books which come to us bearing the aura of previous interpretation and trailing behind them the …

Girl Warriors: Feminist Revisions Of The Hero's Quest In Contemporary Popular Culture By Svenja Hohenstein, Maria Alberto

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

Svenja Hohenstein’s 2019 Girl Warriors: Feminist Revisions of the Hero’s Quest in Contemporary Popular Culture is a timely, readable, and well-researched intervention into ongoing conversations about adaptation, representation, and characterization in literature and films about young heroines embarking on quests. Hohenstein focuses on the heroines of three texts –Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games, and Merida of Brave – as examples of the “feminist quest heroine” (14) and reads primary, secondary, and tertiary texts about them in order to assert that “retellings of quest stories can reflect upon and offer insights …

The Pleasures Of Metamorphosis: Japanese And English Fairy Tale Transformations Of "The Little Mermaid" By Lucy Fraser, Bianca L. Beronio

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

Lucy Fraser employs her vast knowledge of Japanese and English literature and pop culture to present an intertextural and cross-cultural analysis in her book The Pleasures of Metamorphosis: Japanese and English Fairy Tale Transformations of “The Little Mermaid.” Fraser accomplishes this daunting task by approaching the various English and Japanese interpretations that adapt and subvert Andersen’s fairy tale not only through transcultural parallel readings, but through the framework of pleasure, which Fraser argues can “bring together texts that might otherwise be separated by differences in language, background, time period, genre, and medium and by the borders of ‘high’ …

Marvelous Geometry: Narrative And Metafiction In Modern Fairy Tale By Jessica Tiffin, Felicia Jean Steele

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

Book review of Marvelous Geometry: Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale by Jessica Tiffin.

Justice In Young Adult Speculative Fiction: A Cognitive Reading By Marek Oziewicz, Zachary Dilbeck

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

Presented is a review of Justice in Young Adult Speculative Fiction: A Cognitive Reading by Marek C. Oziewicz.

Shapers Of American Childhood: Essays On Visionaries From L. Frank Baum To Dr. Spock To J.K. Rowling, Edited By Kathy Merlock Jackson And Mark I. West, David Lenander

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

No abstract provided.

War, Myths, And Fairy Tales, Edited By Sara Buttsworth And Maartje Abbenhuis, Felicia Jean Steele

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

No abstract provided.

Gods And Robots: Myths, Machines, And Ancient Dreams Of Technology By Adrienne Mayor, Emily E. Auger

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

This review briefly describes and assesses the chapter by chapter content of the book and the author's discussion of the imagining of robotics and artificial intelligence by the ancient Greeks in the art and literature.

The Fame Of C.S. Lewis: A Controversialist's Reception In Britain And America By Stephanie L. Derrick, Chad Chisholm

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

In her book The Fame of C.S. Lewis, Stephanie Derrick seeks to examine the question of Lewis’s continuing popularity and influence for later generations of readers. Based on her doctoral dissertation and eight years of research in the United Kingdom and United States, Derrick's book is a compelling and controversial read. Derrick discusses the life of Lewis, perceptions of him during his lifetime, and his posthumous reception as a writer. Derrick claims that we have to turn our gaze beyond Lewis to understand why he continues to be read long after he (and many of his lesser known contemporaries) …

The Echo Of Odin: Norse Mythology And Human Consciousness By Edward W.L. Smith, Emily E. Auger

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

This review briefly describes and assesses the chapter by chapter content of the book and the author's argument regarding the content of Norse mythology as representing a map of human consciousness.

H.P. Lovecraft: Selected Works, Critical Perspectives And Interviews On His Influence, Edited By Leverett Butts, Perry Neil Harrison

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

No abstract provided.

Fantastic Creatures In Mythology And Folklore: From Medieval Times To Present Day By Juliette Wood, Tiffany Brooke Martin

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

No abstract provided.

Doors In: The Fairy Tale World Of George Macdonald By Rolland Hein, Joseph Young

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

No abstract provided.

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."

Blowing The Morte: The Rites Of Manhood In William Rayner's Stag Boy, Christophe Van Eecke

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

William Rayner’s young adult novel Stag Boy (1972) is often discussed in surveys of children’s literature as a classic title, but it has received little probing critical attention. This article argues that the novel uses its narrative of a boy’s psychic association with a giant stag as an allegory for the transition from boyhood into manhood. In a detailed close reading of the novel, and following the model of the love chase of medieval romance, it is shown how the author borrows key elements from folklore (the shaming ritual of the stag hunt), myth (Herne the Hunter), and quest romances …

“What Man Am I?” The Hero’S Journey, The Beginning Of Individuation, And Taran Wanderer, Liam Butchart

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

Norman Holland's entreaty to refocus psychoanalysis toward self-knowledge animates this study. Focusing on Lloyd Alexander's Taran Wanderer (part of the Chronicles of Prydain), the novel's location at the crossroads of human psychological development and myth is examined using Jung's concept of individuation and Campbell's Hero's Journey in order to extract an underlying thematic question. The lessons learned from answering this question, in turn, teach us more about ourselves, illustrating the value of psychoanalysis both to the study of mythopoeic literature and to ourselves.

Dobby The Robot: The Science Fiction In Harry Potter, Emily Strand

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

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke has famously argued that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” This paper starts by exploring a few general ways in which science fiction influences Harry Potter, then focuses attention on one key element of science fiction which Potter quite clearly appropriates: the classic trope of the robot or created servant. First, using close textual analysis, the paper traces the robot trope and its accompanying features from its origins in Golem legends and in Shelley's Frankenstein, through classic works of science fiction, including Čapek’s R.U.R., Asimov’s I, Robot, Heinlein’s …

A Sense Of Darker Perspective: How The Marauders Convey Tolkien’S “Impression Of Depth” In Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Katherine Sas

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

With the full introduction of the Marauders characters (James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew) into the Harry Potter series in The Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling shifted away from the storybook tone of the first two volumes to something darker and widened the scope of her story in depth and breadth. This paper examines how Rowling uses these characters to create what J.R.R. Tolkien called the “impression of depth” in her fictional world. While contrasting Rowling’s specific techniques with Tolkien’s, this paper argues that Rowling scales this literary device down to meet her young hero (and …

Pyramids In America: Rewriting The “Egypt Of The West” In Rick Riordan’S The Kane Chronicles Series, Heather K. Cyr

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

In this paper, I examine the use of well-known American landmarks in Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles (2010-2012), a set of Children’s Fantasy novels that place Ancient Egyptian mythology in the modern world. With reference to the author’s more famous Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (2005-2009), this essay focuses on specific American landscapes in the first novel of the Egyptian mythology-inspired series, The Red Pyramid, arguing that Riordan’s use of Ancient Egyptian-inspired structures reflects the overall ethos of the text. On one level, Riordan’s use of modern American landmarks signals that new stories using old myths have just …

The Talking Beasts As Adam And Eve: Lewis And The Complexity Of "Dominion", Jean E. Graham

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

Although critics have used the Talking Beasts of Narnia along with Genesis as support for human “dominion” over animals, such usage is not altogether warranted. In The Magician’s Nephew, the roles of Adam and Eve are distributed among various characters, including the Talking Beasts. Thus they are not “mere” animals but are the Narnian equivalent of human beings, evolving in an accelerated evolutionary process similar to the normal-speed evolution Lewis describes for the human species in The Problem of Pain.

Doubles At Work: The Three Rovers In J.R.R. Tolkien's Roverandom., Jennifer Marchant

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

In this essay, I explore the protagonist’s two doubles in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Roverandom, concluding that they serve as companions, representations of alternative selves or lives, and catalysts to his spiritual development.

The Child’S Voyage And The Immram Tradition In Lewis, Tolkien, And Pullman, Kris Swank

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

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Philip Pullman have all written children’s fantasies derived from the medieval Irish immram, or voyage tale, best known from the voyage tales of the Irish figures, Saint Brendan and Mael Duin. William Flint Thrall defined the immram as “a sea-voyage tale in which a hero, accompanied by a few companions, wanders about from island to island, meets Otherworld wonders everywhere, and finally returns to his native land." In Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952), Lucy and Edmund Pevensie are joined by their ill-mannered cousin Eustace on a voyage to a number of …

An Unexpected Poet: The Creative Works Of Dr. Robert E. Havard, Sarah B. O'Dell

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

Despite the incredible wealth of Inklings scholarship, little critical attention has been paid to the lesser-known members of the circle, including physician and writer Robert E. Havard (1901—1985). Dr. Havard has been noted as a “skilled and prolific writer” (Glyer 12) who was “well-read and keenly interested in the processes of literature and in theology” (Sayer 151). Yet, Inklings scholarship has long been limited to his appendix to Lewis’s The Problem of Pain and several memoirs on fellow Inklings. When asked regarding his own writing during a 1984 interview with Lyle W. Dorsett, Havard remarked that “I have never written …