Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

The Personhood Of Nature In J. R. R. Tolkien’S Legendarium, Sophia Parrila

Mythcon

This paper argues that J. R. R. Tolkien’s portrayal of plants, animals, and geographical features as morally complex persons is central to the ecocentric model of environmental stewardship developed within Tolkien’s Legendarium. Tolkien’s Middle-earth writings endow non-human beings such as animals, plants, and even rivers with personhood by emphasizing their individuality, their capacity for interpersonal relationships, and their agency to make moral choices. I build on work done by critics such as Susan Jeffers (Arda Inhabited), and Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans (Ents, Elves, and Eriador) to find a practicable and inspirational environmental ethic in Tolkien’s …

The Speculative Worldbuilding Of Adál’S Blueprints For A Nation, Matthew David Goodwin

Mythcon

ADÁL’s Blueprints for a Nation is an art installation that displays artifacts from the conceptual nation of El Spirit Republic de Puerto Rico. This imaginal nation expresses the unique social and linguistic experience of Puerto Ricans living off the island, and its principle tool is speculative worldbuilding. This essay examines two of the speculative roots of Blueprints for a Nation. First, the essay explores “El Mapagraph,” the fictional map of the nation that is in the shape of a domino and that alludes to the common practice of mapping utopias and fantasy worlds. The work also makes clear by its …

Fairy Tale Retellings For The Modern World., Sarena Ulibarri, Reese Hogan, Charlotte Honigman, Wendy Nikel, Lissa Sloan

Mythcon

Fairy tales have timeless appeal for both audiences and creators, especially when they’re updated in a way that speaks to modern sensibilities or are mashed up with another genre to create something familiar yet fresh. Several authors will discuss what’s behind the impulse to retell fairy tales, as well as the challenges of transferring a traditional tale into a non-traditional setting, such as a steampunk world or a different historical setting.

Moderator: Sarena Ulibarri
Panelist: Reese Hogan
Panelist: Charlotte Honigman
Panelist: Wendy Nikel
Panelist: Lissa Sloan
Tech Mod: Joan Marie Verba.

“Long Anguish And Self-Murdering Thought”: Gollum And The Figure Of Jealousy In The Faerie Queene, Anne Acker

Mythcon

This paper argues that Gollum’s story has parallels to the story of Malbecco in The Faerie Queene, and that Gollum should be read as an exploration of jealousy and its relationship to power, represented by the Ring that Gollum covets. In Spenser’s allegory, Malbecco is cuckolded and robbed and retreats to a cave in the mountains where he is transformed into the inhuman shape of Jealousy. While The Lord of the Rings is not an allegory and should not be read as one, Smeagol’s transformation into Gollum has striking similarities to this and other strange metamorphoses of characters who …

From Malacandra To Mars: Representations Of The Red Planet In C. S. Lewis, Robert Sawyer, And Andy Weir, William Thompson

Mythcon

In his introduction to Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science, Howard V. Hendrix suggests that the long-standing fascination with the red planet emerges from an unspoken anxiety around the extinction of the species. According to Hendrix, the “fascination with the Neanderthals, like our fascination with greenhouse-blasted Venus or with Martians of the Dying Planet scenario, arises from forebodings that such scenarios present ourselves and our world as viewed—both seen and dreamed—through a funhouse mirror” (Hendrix 10).

The ongoing fascination with mars has resulted in texts that treat the red planet in strikingly different ways. …

The Philosophy And Theology Of Fairy-Stories: Fantasy, Escape, Recovery, And Consolation, Giovanni Costabile

Mythcon

In his seminal 1939 Andrew Lang lecture “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien proposed what we might term his most extensive pronouncement on his own fiction and underlying poetics, as well as an analysis of Fairy-Stories constituting a referential and authoritative statement on the matter. The importance of the subsequently published text, chiefly cited from Christopher Tolkien's posthumous edited version in The Monsters and the Critics, or, more recently, in Douglas A. Anderson's and Verlyn Flieger's critical edition, simply cannot be overstated.

In the light of such awareness, I would like to examine Tolkien's antecedents as far as his chief arguments are …

Eärendil’S Errand And “Errantry”, Janet Brennan Croft, David Bratman, David Emerson, Verlyn Flieger

Mythcon

Tolkien’s love of word play legitimizes considering the linguistic closeness of errantry, Eärendil , and errand. This leads to the points this panel will consider: Tolkien has more than once taken themes and motifs first used in a lighter story and woven them, in more serious form, into his broader legendarium; for example, The Hobbit’s Bard presages Aragorn, and its lower-case ring the centrally important Ring of the longer work. Eärendil is supposed to have been the subject of one of the great tales, but we never get it in its full form, or more comparably, in multiple forms …

This Was The World And I Was King: Land And Identity In Scottish Children's Literature Of The Golden Age, Rodney Fierce

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on Scottish cultural identity and its erasure in nineteenth-century British children’s literature as successful Scottish authors became known as British authors, and British children’s literature was canonized as the genre’s first Golden Age. Specifically, it explores the ways that Catherine Sinclair, George MacDonald, R. M. Ballantyne, Robert Louis Stevenson, J. M. Barrie, and Helen Bannerman—six popular nineteenth-century Scottish authors—maintain a sense of Scottishness in their adventure fiction. By reading the texts in the historical context of the authors’ biographies, I demonstrate that the land in their works and the benevolent colonizers allowed to control it in some …

Mythcon 51 - A Virtual “Halfling” Mythcon, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

Nothing “halfling” about it in the end, this year we are presenting fifty papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative programming for your Mythopoeic enjoyment. 2020 was a rough year for literally the whole world, and not just because we had to reschedule Mythcon 51. Many of us found ourselves turning to our favorite books for solace, not just academic interest, in the past year. We never could have expected to be hosting Mythcon 51 virtually, but already I’m thrilled about the silver linings that a virtual conference brings:

• Greater international attendance, with presenters and attendees from all over the world!
• Reduced …

The Best Children's Books Of The Year [2021 Edition], Bank Street College Of Education. Children's Book Committee

The Center for Children's Literature

Includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2020. In choosing books for the annual list, committee members consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes.

“My Brand Is Sick Girl”: Identity Formation In The Young Adult Chronic Illness Novels The Fault In Our Stars And Sick Kids In Love, Natalie Thompson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis explores the identities of the chronically ill protagonists in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz, specifically by looking at the young protagonist’s self-identity, their relationships with their family members, and the romantic relationship they have with the chronically ill male lead. John Green, who does not identify as chronically ill, writes a novel that ultimately reflects ableist ideas of the medical model of disability, which sees disability as a problem to be solved by medical intervention, and compulsory heterosexuality through the portrayal of Hazel and her relationship with …

Habla Amigo Y Entra: Tolkien And The Language Of Wonder, Martha Celis-Mendoza, Guillermo Don Juan, Aline Esperanza Maza Vázquez, Jorge De La Vega

Mythcon

This panel will deal with the way in which Tolkien's works act as a threshold to approach the works of other Fantasy authors and literary traditions. It will also consider the reception of these works and how they are perceived differently when read in different languages, as well as the impact of localization.

Moderator: Martha Celis-Mendoza
Panelist: Guillermo Don Juan
Panelist: Aline Esperanza Maza Vázquez
Panelist: Jorge de la Vega
Tech Mod: Jessica Dickinson Goodman.

Spoilers & Sequels; Bifurcated Fandoms In The Age Of Adaptation, Joseph Young, Paul Tankard, Lana Whited

Mythcon

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies launched a new era of adaptations of fantasy. The resulting adaptations—of the works of J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, George R.R. Martin, the Marvel superhero tradition and much else besides—now have fan bases often wholly separate 23 from those of their literary source texts. Rather than dwelling on what any given example gets ‘wrong’ or ‘right,’ this panel discussion will consider this bifurcation of the audience of a popular literary genre. If, as Tom Shippey suggests, fantasy deserves to be taken seriously because of its popularity, what are the ramifications of atomising the popular …

Realizing History: Tolkien And The Desire Called Marx, Robert Tally

Mythcon

In this talk, I argue that the “realization” of history is an important aim of Tolkien’s art. Tolkien’s desire to create a new mythology for England, which is well known, is in part a response to the shifting ground upon which he stood, in reaction to what Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifestohad called the “constant revolutionizing” and the “cosmopolitan character” of bourgeois society, industrial civilization, imperialism, and the rise of monopoly capital. Tolkien’s yearning for a mythic past, despite its clear nationalism and chauvinism at first, reflected a deep desire to connect his modern world with an …

Other Than Him: Superman As The Alien That Made Good, Roy Schwartz

Mythcon

When discussing depictions of the alien in American popular culture—as extraterrestrial, as strange foreigner, and as both, an otherworldly Other—the most famous example is rarely considered; SUPERMAN. Introduced in 1938, this strange visitor from another planet possesses powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men but walks among us disguised as a mild-mannered human. He’s the fantastic hiding in plain sight as the most mundane, an Other beloved as familiar, a singular being of another race who’s come to symbolize the best in humanity. And not by accident. Superman was created by two Cleveland teens, Jerry Siegel and Joe …

Back To Camelot: 21st-Century Reinterpretations Of The Arthurian Mythos, Jennifer Spirko, Scott Johnson, Bradley Mcilwain

Mythcon

With David Lowery's film, The Green Knight, headed for a pandemic-delayed opening this summer, the Arthurian mythos re-enters popular culture yet again. How do this and other recent retellings of the Matter of Britain connect our world with its roots? We'll consider not only the new film, but also such novels as Kingfisher, by Patricia McKillip; Once & Future, by A.R. Capetta; and Cursed, by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, alongside the TV series based on it. What version of Camelot and its attendant tales and heroes do today's Arthurian works present? How are they in …

Mythopoeia In American Gods, Danica Stojanovic

Mythcon

J. R. R. Tolkien coined the term mythopoeia as a philosophical concept referring to the process of artificially creating mythologies and belief systems of imaginary worlds. While building a fantasy world, one ought to consider the possibilities this world offers for religious explorations or examine how the existing pantheons weave their way into fiction and reality. To be more precise, what happens when gods lounge languidly among their supposed believers. This paper aims to examine mythopoetic tendencies, elements and powers in Neil Gaiman’s novels American Gods and Anansi Boys, a fictional duology whose protagonists are in constant cohort with various …

The Fantastic Short Story, Vicki Ronn

Mythcon

This roundtable will include a short presentation on the fantasy short story; its roots in myth, fables and fairy tales; its growth from the twentieth century to the present day; and a personal top ten list. Attendees will share their personal favorite stories and virtual and print sources to find more stories, as well as answer or discuss questions related to the genre. Some questions will include: Favorite mythopoeic short story and why? Who are some great editors or collections? Where did you discover your favorite story? Who are important authors, both past and present? Where do you see the …

Etiam Periere Ruinae: Roman Ruins, Troubled Temporality, And Hp Lovecraft's Alien Other, El Hudson

Mythcon

As Caesar, the questionable protagonist of the first-century Latin epic the Pharsalia, navigates the ruins of once-mighty Troy, the poet Lucan pauses to note that etiam periere ruinae: “even the ruins have perished.” Would that such were the case in H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time, in which an antediluvian city vexes the protagonist to nightmare. Lovecraft is notorious for his ruins: Cyclopean and/or non-Euclidean, they near-invariably contain horrors from the depths of time, lying in wait for some foolish adventurer to unleash them upon the present. Sometimes these places are simply set-dressing, but in a …

Finding And Organizing Tolkien’S Invented Languages, Eileen Marie Moore

Mythcon

The Appendices to The Lord of the Rings run the gamut from royal lineages and back stories of the Kings and Stewards of Gondor and Rohan and of Dúrin’s folk (Appendix A), Hobbit family trees (Appendix C) and a general overview of the races and peoples of Middleearth (Appendix F), to the chronology of the great events of the Second and Third Ages (Appendix B); from the Shire Calendar (Appendix D) and a detailed explication of how to pronounce the Elvish languages as well as their representation by the letters of the Tengwar and runes of the Cirth (Appendix E), …