Modern Literature Commons^™

Towards An Ethos Of Discussing In-Corporeal Gender In Fantasy Literature: Part I – A ‘Feminine’ Eldil And A ‘Masculine’ Vala, Luke Shelton

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people engaged with others on social media in ways that they had not before. During this time, I was excited to see many new interpretive communities begin and to listen to the kinds of conversations these groups would have about Tolkien. One such conversation that stuck out to me was the way in which I saw some fans interpret Tolkien’s description of the physical characteristics of the Valar. I also happened to be reading through C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy when I saw many of these conversations. I felt that there were several …

I'D Rather Be A River Than A Man: The Trans Jewish Golem/ Trans Inequity, Intersectional Ritual, And Jewish Tikkun Olam (Healing Of The World), Dean Leetal, Valerie Estelle Frankel

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

I'd Rather Be a River than a Man: The Trans Jewish Golem Dean Leetal

This critical commentary revisits the Jewish story of the Golem and reads it as a transgender text. Some say that the Golem inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a story famously interpreted by Susan Stryker as an allegory for her own trans experience: living on the edge of society, her humanity debated, defined by a morally questionable medical establishment. But there are important differences between Frankenstein and the Golem. The Golem is brought to life through language, particularly the Hebrew word ‘emet,’ and is an animated clay tasked …

A Queer Reading Of Octavia Butler’S Kindred, Marietta Kosma

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Throughout Octavia Butler’s Kindred the author raises numerous tensions around the notions of accessibility, disability, equality, and inclusion, exposing the crisis of black futures. My analysis focuses on the way that queerness informs the protagonist Dana’s experiences in the context of slavery, her positioning in the contemporary discourse of neo-liberalism, and her positioning in the prospective future. Very few scholars perceive Dana’s subjectivity as an actual state of being that carries value both materially as well as metaphorically. The materiality of queerness has not constituted part of the larger discourse of the American slave system. By examining how Butler renders …

Sauron, Seduction, And The Queering Mechanism Of The Ring, Mercury Natis

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

It has often been argued that Sauron is barely present in the Lord of the Rings, existing as a villainous presence on the margins of the narrative. This paper will argue that Sauron is actually present throughout the entire narrative, as manifested in the Ring, and through the Ring’s presence as a queering device. The Ring acts out Sauron’s seduction mechanism, a defining character trait as portrayed in the Silmarillion. It is this seduction mechanism that allows the Ring to act as a queering agent throughout the narrative. Ring-lust is inherently queer as it projects a male-presented character’s seductive powers, …

Asexualities, Aromantics, And Autists In Epic Fantasy By Tolkien And Goddard, Robin Anne Reid, Rory Queripel

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

The Mariner (and his wife): Rethinking Aldarion’s (A)sexuality Rory Queripel

“Aldarion and Erendis” (Unfinished Tales) is a rare example in Tolkien’s work of a marriage gone severely awry. Many readings of the tale apportion blame to Aldarion, who is seen as “unwilling” to make the marriage work (Fitzsimmons, 2015), cruel and unfeeling towards Erendis, who herself is characterised as resentful and unaccepting (Rosenthal, 2004). However, these readings rely on an assumption of a cisheteronormative and, more importantly, allosexual relationship between the couple.

This paper proposes an alternate view of Aldarion and his role in the story, suggesting the possibility that …

Closeted Gays Take Hide, A Lamia Has Been Untied: Bbc Merlin And Queer Experiences Beyond Queer Joy, Anna Caterino

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

A decade after its finale, online fandoms have started labeling Merlin (2008-2012) as “date your bully 101” (theroundbartable), a story written by people “giving each other blowjobs while they talk about how much they deserve servants” (vhagarswattle). In light of the most recent models of queer representation, such takes are to be expected. Even so, Merlin is not a mere case of “hoyay” (Kohnen 201-2012) nor does it engage in queerbaiting or use the “Bury Your Gays” trope. The text is tied to the socio-political landscape of the late 2000s which serves as foundation for the show’s tragedy and, although …

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 …

Gazing Queerly: The Art And Text Around Saruman’S Non-Normativity, Christopher Vaccaro

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

The queer is often defined by its relation to normativity. Michael Warner’s The Trouble with Normal situates queerness in opposition to normalcy, even gay normalcy. Karma Lochrie’s Heterosyncrasies: Female Sexuality When Normal Wasn’t deconstructs a monolithic hetero-normativity. Within the fantasy genre, protagonists frequently reside in a queer relation to normative communities. J. R. R. Tolkien quite often depicts his major characters within his mythopoeic framework as in some way outside of the normal; they’re often odd, fringe outsiders in relation to the larger community to which they are a part. The texts of his legendarium present this queerness fairly clearly—so …

Tolkien’S Queer Landscape: Three Papers On Middle-Earth’S Heterotopias, Will Sherwood, Marita Arvaniti, Mariana Rios Maldonado

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

The following papers will explore Tolkien’s queer landscapes of Middle-earth: from Arda’s highest peaks and hidden underbellies, to her liminal, fae places, using the lens of Michel Foucault’s heterotopias.

Marita Arvaniti will introduce the panel and discuss Tolkien’s Faerian Drama and its relationship to the much-maligned Tom Bombadil episode, focusing on the queer figure of Tom Bombadil himself and his heterotopic domain.

Mariana Rios Maldonado will analyse the Barrow-downs, Dead Marshes, and Paths of the Dead as symbolic sites of death created during harrowing moments in the history of Middle-earth. These are no-places: spaces of Otherness containing the evil and …

Welcome And Announcements, The Mythopoeic Society

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Join us for a screening of the Welcome and Announcements video in the 'Track 1' room, and have a cup of coffee before we get started!

The Holy Thorn Of Glastonbury And The Two Trees Of Valinor, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

An old wooden church in Glastonbury rose on the site of the Abbey church taking its place after a fire burnt it. This old church is traditionally considered to have been the eldest church in England, founded by Joseph of Arimathea after landing upon the British shore. Such a legend, probably spread after the Norman Conquests by the Abbey monks who needed to fund the monastery, also relates that Joseph planted his staff upon the highest hill in Glastonbury, and the staff grew branches and roots, transforming into a wonderful thorn tree which, unlike common thorns, bloomed twice a year, …

When Language Fails: A Critical Analysis Essay Of Kathryn Stockett’S The Help:, Evan Mccreary

Black Album Mixtape

A critical analysis essay of Kathryn Stockett's New York Times Bestselling book, The Help, and it's subsequent film adaptation, and how in recent years, particularly following the murder of George Floyd, the story has been used as a classroom tool for teaching students about racism and its effects. Written by a Black student in a primarily white school community, this essay was written as an antithesis to the ideology that the book and movie exceed their intended intentions of being a beneficial teaching tool to youth.

Decolonizing World Civilizations Ii: 1500 A.D. To The Present, Juliana Nalerio

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Signifying And The Feeling Of Differences, Samuel Weber

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

What does Werner Hamacher's concept of archiphilology have in common with Saussure's view of intralinguistic， differential function in language? Perhaps the way in which the indefinite of language itself “slowly defines itself，” both in response to past acts of appropriations， and appealing for new signifieds the meaning of which can only be seized and unseized over time. Several of Kafka's short stories illustrate how literary works play out the same tension within what can be called a “progressive and digressive” narrative， warding off any internal principle of closure or conclusiveness while continuing to require endings and answers. Holderlin's “Remarks on …

Guest Editor's Overview, Yue Zhuo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

No abstract provided.

From ‘Afrofuturist Comics’ To ‘Zombies In Comics’: Inclusive Comics Cataloging From A To Z, Steven W. Holloway, Allison Bailund, Carole Sussman, Deborah Tomaras

Libraries

No abstract provided.

The American West, 1899–1936: Prose, Poetry & Drama, Harriet Monroe, Michael R. Hill, Lindsay Atnip

Zea E-Books Collection

This comprehensive volume presents Harriet Monroe’s (1860–1936) previously unexplored love affair with the American West, an infatuation that blossomed in three interrelated genres: prose, poetry, and drama. Known internationally as the founder and influential editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, here Monroe is revealed as a prolific author with a passion for the people, scenery, and environments she encountered during western escapes from her constricted urban life in Chicago. Monroe’s western travels were transformative. Originally schooled in the literary and artistic traditions of Europe, Monroe became increasingly convinced of the fundamental importance of the American West as the …

Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), Molly Mcclain

History: Faculty Scholarship

This is a brief biography of Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), an Anglo-Indian writer who achieved fame at the start of the age of mass-market fiction. She was part of a community of women working in and around Bloomsbury.

Sibelius’S Scaramouche: A Comparative Production History Of A Tragic Pantomime, 1913–1977, Karl E. Toepfer, Eija Kurki

Open Educational Resources

The book describes the historical context for the Scaramouche tragic pantomime created by Poul Knudsen and Jean Sibelius in 1913. The pantomime had numerous productions in various European countries between 1922 and 1977, and the book examines all of them according to all available evidence. The text explains the historical and cultural significance of the pantomime and how it uniquely explores a dark and complex intersection of female sexuality, marriage, and class control of erotic desire. The authors examine all productions of Scaramouche from the premiere production in Copenhagen in 1922 to the last major production in Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany …

Word Reimagined: Analyzing Fanfiction's Transformative Force And Relationship With The Young Adult Literary Landscape, Megan Louise Reaves

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In exploring the reciprocal relationship between fanfiction and Young Adult (YA) literature, this thesis investigates how these two forms of storytelling, influenced by authors such as Marissa Meyer and Rainbow Rowell, have profoundly impacted the literary landscape. Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles series and Rainbow Rowell's novels Fangirl and Carry On serve as prime examples of this dynamic interaction. Drawing from the rich traditions of oral storytelling and folklore, fanfiction and YA literature have undergone significant development and popularity, particularly in the twenty-first century, thanks to technological advancements and the rise of online communities. This thesis contends that despite their …