English Language and Literature Commons^™

Remembering And Forgetting: National Identity Construction In Tolkien’S Middle-Earth, Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

The medieval period in Europe saw the development of vernacular literatures, grown out of oral tradition and classical mythology, in which epic poems were a means of preserving culture, sharing a moral code, and offering solace in times of hardship. These epic poems, usually transcribed or translated in monastic scriptoria, were passed down through generations and enabled the sharing of memory via storytelling. In many ways, this early literature, rooted as it was in both the religious and the secular aspects of life in this time, was as much a part of the identity of the various European peoples as …

Tolkien's 'Beloved' _Pearl_, Jane Beal Phd

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract: This essay explores Tolkien’s life-long engagement with the fourteenth-century, Middle English, dream vision poem called Pearl. It examines the inspiration he took from the poem through reading, reciting, copying, editing, translating, and teaching it to undergraduate students at the University of Leeds and Merton College, Oxford University. Milestones in Tolkien’s work on Pearl include his edition of it, produced with E.V. Gordon and Ida Gordon for Oxford University Press (1953), and a metrical translation of it that he worked on from 1920s onwards, which was published with Allen & Unwin in London and Random House in New York …

Tolkien’S _Beowulf_-Poet And His Dantean Tower, Michael David Elam

Journal of Tolkien Research

J.R.R. Tolkien’s tower metaphor in “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” shows significant affinities with views of the sea presented in Dante’s Purgatorio. These affinities combine with relevant similarities between Dante and Tolkien’s view of the Beowulf-poet to show an underlying preoccupation Tolkien has about the purgation of source material and the sanctification of authors. Ultimately in Tolkien’s perspective, the Beowulf-poet’s view from the top of his tower looks ahead to the hope of eternal life promised to the Chrisitan elect.

Tolkien And Laʒamon, Deidre Dawson

Journal of Tolkien Research

In this essay I argue that the Arthurian poem that had the greatest influence on The Lord of the Rings was Laʒamon’s Brut. In a Letter to editor Milton Waldman from 1951 Tolkien expressed his regret that England lacked a mythology and stories of its own that were “bound up with its tongue and soil, ” explaining that the Arthurian world was “associated with the soil of Britain but not with English,” and that “its ‘faerie’ is too lavish, and fantastical, incoherent and repetitive.” Perhaps to rectify these deficiencies in the Matter of Britain, Tolkien began writing his own …

“‘And Númenor Went Down Into The Sea’: Tolkien, Beowulf, And The Masochistic Jouissance Of Westernesse”, Christopher Vaccaro

Journal of Tolkien Research

In Tolkien, Enchantment and Loss, John Rosegrant avers that Tolkien wrote of the downfall and destruction of Númenor in order to release a personal emotional complex (John Rosegrant, Tolkien, Enchantment, and Loss, 118-20). In this essay, I examine in greater detail the emotional power of this story and relate it to the psychological notion of primary masochism (Freud, Deleuze, Bersani) and the pleasures connected to the dissolution of the self. The Beowulf poem renders conspicuous the dependency of heroic Anglo-Saxon male subjectivity on experiences of masochistic desire and the Death Drive, the desire to be unburdened of great …

Introduction To The Special Issue On "J.R.R. Tolkien And Medieval Poets", Jane Beal Phd

Journal of Tolkien Research

This is an “Introduction” by Dr. Jane Beal to the Special Issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research on the theme of “J.R.R. Tolkien and Medieval Poets” in honor of Richard C. West.

It begins with an overview of previous scholarly work on the intersections of medieval poetry with Tolkien’s literary corpus. It explains the process of creating this special issue, which is a festschrift in West’s honor, and it gives an overview of the contents of each of the seven academic articles included in it by contributors Dr. Anna Smol, Dr. Christopher Vaccaro, Dr. Kristine Larsen, Dr. Deidre Dawson, …

Stories Of The Re-Awakening, Joseph Cecil Broadbent

Masters Theses

The Present piece takes a look at the realms of the fantastical and vital elements that help to create a best seller. The creative piece is a brief look into a hopefully soon to be published Fantasy/Science Fiction Young Adult Teenage series. Brief insights are followed by a prologue and four book beginnings to welcome the reader into its world.

Hamlet In Narnia: The Prince And The Poem In Lewis’S Chronicles Of Narnia, Sarah R. A. Waters

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

C.S. Lewis is little-known for his Shakespeare scholarship except perhaps for his lecture “Hamlet: The Prince or the Poem” for the British Academy (1942). This essay begins by discussing Lewis’s approach to the play and his desire to reenchant his audience with the play he had loved as a child, before character-criticism got in the way. It then explores how Lewis takes the Prince and the aspects he found most affective in Hamlet out of the play and explores them, imaginatively, in another world: recasting them “for children” in Narnia. The essay considers Hamlet in The Silver Chair in …

The Hag O’ The Hills: Terry Pratchett’S Tiffany Aching As Sovereignty Goddess, Eileen Donaldson

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

The Hag o’ the Hills: Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching as Sovereignty Goddess

In her book Folklore of the Disc Jacqueline Simpson argues persuasively that “Whatever is folklore on Earth finds its mirror in the reality of the disc” (14). Following her, I propose that a study of recurring images, motifs and allusions in the Tiffany books suggests that Tiffany might be considered the Discworld’s reflection of Earth’s Celtic Sovereignty Goddess. For anyone who has read the Witches books, even a superficial consideration of this statement rings true, given that the Celtic Sovereignty Goddesses were bound to the land and were …

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

Yes, this is the biggest issue of Mythlore since the 458-page Centenary Conference joint issue with the Tolkien Society in 1996. It’s still true that anything over 300 pages triggers a bump in the postage to mail the issue, but the income from our electronic subscriptions can subsidize an occasional issue over this limit—like this one—without an increase to print subscription prices.

J.R.R. Tolkien’S Utopianism And The Classics By Hamish Williams, Robert T. Tally

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

No abstract provided.

A Guidebook To Monsters: Philosophy, Religion, And The Paranormal, By Ryan J. Stark, Mark A. Brians Ii

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

No abstract provided.

Tolkien’S Lúthien: From Life To Art To Life As Art, Verlyn Flieger

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

Like other of his Great Tales, the stories of Húrin and Túrin, Tolkien’s story of Lúthien grew over time in both verse and prose, moving through various versions from a comic fairy tale with a child narrator reminiscent of Marie de France to a romance in rhyming couplets imitative of Chretien de Troyes. Christopher Tolkien gives an account of his father’s development of the story of Lúthien in Beren and Lúthien, the third and final volume in his Great Tales series.

My intent here is less sweeping but more focused. I want to dig more narrowly but also more …

Fantasy, Colonialism, And The Middle Landscape, Brian Attebery

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

Weaving together Anglo-American folklore, the Indian captivity narrative genre, and science fiction and fantasy with Midwest settings, Attebery explores the lasting influence of the pastoral chronotope of the “middle landscape” and its entanglement with colonialism and empire. Scholar Guest of Honor Address, Mythcon 53.

The Catholic Imaginations Of J.R.R. Tolkien And Oscar Wilde, Frazier A. Johnson

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

This paper uses terminology from The Catholic Imagination by Andrew Greeley to explore the influence of Catholicism on the writings of Oscar Wilde and J.R.R. Tolkien. Greeley asserts that Catholics see metaphors for the transcendent in matter, value community within a well-ordered hierarchy, and sanctify suffering—qualities that abound in the writings of Wilde and Tolkien. I begin with short biographical sketches of both authors, paying special attention to Wilde’s and Tolkien’s varied involvement with orthodox Catholicism. I then move into a discussion about both authors’ aesthetic philosophies and the similar value they see in art. Next, I detail the authors’ …

The Wart, The Wizard, And The Cathedral: Applying C.S. Lewis's Intertextuality Theory To T.H. White And J.K. Rowling, G. Connor Salter

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

Applying C.S. Lewis' metaphor of authors being cathedral-builders to understand intertextual writing (combining influences with innovation) provides a fascinating lens to understand T.H. White's Arthurian work. Exploring how White's The Once and Future King influenced J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (particularly her characters Vernon and Dudley Dursley) provides a particularly interesting example of how fantasy authors use intertextuality to create original works.

“The Company At St. Anne’S” And “The God’S Gardeners”: What C.S. Lewis And Margaret Atwood Teach Us About Caring For Our Planet, Anne-Frédérique Mochel-Caballero

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

At first sight, That Hideous Strength (1945) by C.S. Lewis and the MaddAddam trilogy (2003, 2009, 2013) by Margaret Atwood seem to have little in common. Yet, despite differences of time and place, and approach of the authors, there are startling and generative similarities between the two communities they depict, the Company at St. Anne’s and the God’s Gardeners. In considering the groups' opposition to reductionist technocracy and a shared set of principles, Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy seems to be carrying on the heart of Lewis' dystopic That Hideous Strength as effective ecological and ethical speculative fiction.

Tolkien The Playwright: Manuscript Revisions And Faërian Dramas In "The Homecoming Of Beorhtnoth", Anna Smol

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

Tolkien is not usually considered a playwright, even though his verse drama, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son,” is a unique example of the genre. It is Tolkien’s only published play and historical fiction, as well as a unique poetic - dramatic genre, a modern alliterative verse play, which Tolkien developed over many years in numerous drafts, now held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Brotherton Library in Leeds. These manuscript drafts allow us to trace Tolkien’s stage directions, which reveal that he imagined this to be a play for presentation on stage. This essay examines Tolkien’s statements …

The Rhetoric Of Temporality In C.S. Lewis’S Works: A Study Of Time In Mere Christianity And The Chronicles Of Narnia, Lorraine Nasser

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

This article explores the depiction of time in the works of C. S. Lewis, offering an analysis rooted in a reading of select passages that highlight issues of temporality in Lewis’ works. The select passages are from the following books: Mere Christianity; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Magician’s Nephew; and The Last Battle. The theoretical framework for this article is derived mainly from Aristotle’s perennial contribution to rhetoric, adopting his definition of rhetoric as: “The faculty of discovering, in the particular case, the available means of persuasion.” Moreover, this paper engages with published readership on Lewis’ …

Elmar, Aerin, And Aredhel: Female Enslavement In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Clare Moore

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

Argues that Elmar, Aerin, and Aredhel’s narratives convey experiences of female enslavement. Understanding these characters as enslaved reveals the violent nature of their experiences, necessitating an interpretation of their relationships with their husbands/enslavers as sexual assault. Their narratives reveal patterns within the legendarium connecting beauty and violence. However, these three stories also demonstrate Tolkien’s interest in portraying this kind of story and its value to the legendarium. These narratives offer a unique female perspective on loss and lived experience within the legendarium.