Digital Commons Network^™

The Mariner (And His Wife): Rethinking Aldarion's (A)Sexuality, Rory M. Queripel

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

“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, and cruel and unfeeling towards Erendis, who herself is characterised as resentful and unaccepting. 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 he is asexual and/or aromantic (i.e., he does not experience sexual …

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

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Saruman is an example of a an outsider character in relation to the normative communities in The Lord of the Rings; he serves as a repository for a stigmatized eros, a non-normative desire, a repressed sexuality, and even an orcish sadomasochism simmering just below the narrative’s surface. This paper examines the representation of this queer relationship in several artists’ depictions of Saruman, focusing in particular on three works by Donato Giancola.

Myth, Murder, And Mayhem: Discerning The ‘Other’ In Our Flag Means Death, Sara Brown

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

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 …

Cruising Faërie: Further Notes On Queering Faith In Fantasy Literature, Taylor Driggers

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

In Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature (2022), I argue that fantasy affords sexually marginalized people the ability to re-vision Christian theology in queer ways, thanks to its fixation on strange bodies, its longing for other worlds, and the ways in which both of these may reflect back on theological narratives of incarnation and salvation. Yet this project raises further questions that remain unresolved: namely, how might the framework of Christian theology constrain, as well as illuminate, queer imaginaries? If fantasy allows us to envision livable lives for ourselves as unruly bodies, just what forms of relating may those lives entail? …

"Something Mighty Queer" [Introduction], Alicia Fox-Lenz, Grace Moone, Leah Hagan

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Recounts the origin of the conference theme and introduces the contributors.

The English And The Welsh: Tolkien’S Rewriting Of History In The Legendarium, Alexander Retakh

Journal of Tolkien Research

Early legendarium is often called a "mythology for England," while Tolkien's later tales have been described as mythologies for Britain (by Dimitra Fimi) or Englishness (by Thomas Honegger). Later legendarium still contains fictional versions of English-like peoples, the Hobbits and the Rohirrim. Their construction leads to a re-construction of elements of English history in the subcreation, that often produces fictional analogs not only of the English but of the Welsh. How Tolkien described contacts between the English and their closest neighbors reveals his idea of Englishness (his own national identity) and its place in the narrative.

This article traces appearances …

Uncovering Maria Edgeworth’S Strategic Political Influence Through Her Unpublished Letters, Autumn G. Hall

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) was one of the most prolific Anglo-Irish novelists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While Edgeworth’s novels are regularly discussed among Regency-era scholars, researchers have rarely considered her letters and correspondence, especially in relation to her role in contemporary politics. During my time on the Maria Edgeworth Letters Project team, I researched Edgeworth’s previously unpublished letters, which provided a unique view of her strategic political correspondence network. Through her writing, Edgeworth was able to voice her thoughts while also remaining publicly complacent with restrictive societal norms imposed on women. In my article, I argue that through her …

Materiality Of Traumatic Experience And The Limits Of Representation In Hassan Bani Ameri’S Gonjeshkha Behesht Ra Mifahmand (Sparrows Understand Heaven), Maryam Ghodrati

Emerson Authors, Researchers, & Creators

This paper examines the materialization of trauma as both a narrative and embodied phenomenon in Hassan Bani Ameri’s 2006 novel, Gonjeshkha Behesht ra Mifahmand, using contemporary narrative and trauma theory. The postmodernist narrative, told from the perspective of a photojournalist, reconstructs events surrounding the death of a celebrated Iran-Iraq War commander. I argue that traumatic truths resist full integration into conventional frameworks of understanding, evident in the novel’s non-linear, fragmented narrative and its shift from visual realism to confessional surrealism in an ending that challenges traditional storytelling and historical documentation. By vividly simulating the sensory processing of traumatic memories, the …

Review Of: Born Amish: Life Before The Ex-Communication—Ann Stoltzfus Taylor, Amy Schlabach

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

The account begins on the night of the author’s birth. Ann Stoltzfus Taylor was the first child born to her parents, Gid and Lizzie Stoltzfus, a well-known Amish couple living near Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Stoltzfus Taylor gives us a brief history of the home she grew up in, as well as introducing us to her family. Various aunts, uncles, and grandparents are described, along with memories associated with each person. She writes about her great-grandfather, nicknamed “Wild Gid,” who apparently was not a model Amishman. The chapter ends with a few stories of tragedies and stories of fun and bonding with …

Review Of: A Road Less Travelled; Going Back To My Roots; And Traveling Solo But Never Alone—Christopher Petrovich, Robert Alexander, Danny Kohlar, Darrell Yoder

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

People that are interested in joining the Amish or Mennonites are often referred to as “seekers.” And such they are, though in a sense we are all seekers, looking for that better country. It is a mistake to think that all seekers are the same, for their personalities, motivations, and “position on the road” are all different. [First paragraph.]

The Nameless Enemy: How Do You Solve A Problem Like “Mairon”?, Cameron Bourquein

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper analyzes Sauron’s “original” name, “Mairon,” in its various contexts (textual, temporal, and linguistic) and then applies it to a reading of the character in order to produce a “capsule characterization” or “minimyth” for the Lord of the Rings himself. The name “Mairon” appears only in a note to a single entry in a list of Eldarin roots, not published until 2007 in the journal Parma Eldalamberon. This niche location suggests one of the many ways in which this name is marginal: typographically, linguistically, narratively, and historically (as in the Secondary World). The name appears to have been …

The Songs Of The Spheres: Lewis, Tolkien And The Overlapping Realms Of Their Imaginations (2024), Edited By Łukasz Neubauer And Guglielmo Spirito, G. Connor Salter

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by G. Connor Salter, of The Songs of the Spheres: Lewis, Tolkien and the Overlapping Realms of their Imaginations (2024), edited by Łukasz Neubauer and Guglielmo Spirito

‘Keeping It Real’ Goes Wrong: Deconstruction Of Masculinity In The Work Of Jay-Z And Kendrick Lamar, Leo Mcmahon

Theses and Dissertations

Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar use their latest albums, 4:44 and Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, to address the wake of damage their behaviors have caused. On a personal level each artist apologizes to their wife for infidelities, but along the way they deconstruct performances of masculinity that have dominated popular hip-hop music since the late 1980's. Highlighting the pressure the music industry puts on hip-hop artists to perform a hyper-sexual, hyper-violent masculinity, I argue that the artists join the genre of African-American autobiography to reveal the inauthentic performances of 'realness' in hip-hop. Posturing as representatives of African-American men, …

Chaucer’S Complaint To His Purse And Authority In The World, Paul A. Olson

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Chaucer’s Complaint to His Purse concerns more than the poet’s financial need under the new Lancastrian administration. It speaks to the limits of Henry IV’s royal authority and, through irony, to the limitations of Chaucer’s purse’s power. Underlining royal limits, Chaucer petitions the king as one who holds office through election and line but not con-quest, which is Henry’s position on his office as well. In speaking iron-ically of the purse’s authority, the poet addresses the gold that the mon-arch might grant him as if it constituted a human or divine patron, but he does so in a hierarchy of …

Gen Z Sexual And Gender Fluidity In Us Scripted Television, Traci B. Abbott

English and Media Studies Faculty Publications

This essay addresses the rise in sexual and gender-fluid characters in scripted US television targeting the Gen Z audience (born 1997–2012), based on their moniker as the “queerest” generation, with over 20% of younger US and international respondents identifying as LGBTQ in polls, the majority as sexually fluid (bi/pansexual) or non-binary (genderfluid/genderqueer). By analyzing six series (2019–2023) marketed as “authentically” Gen Z, I argue this shift invests in Gen Z’s “hip” attitude towards such fluidity the same way Caldwell argues that 1990’s diversification of the televisual audience produced a “programming agenda…that cultivates and rewards distinction in ethnic, racial, and class …

Parnassus 2025: Hephaestic Voices

Parnassus

No abstract provided.

The Best Board Books Of The Year [2025 Edition], Bank Street College Of Education. Children's Book Committee

The Center for Children's Literature

Please enjoy our annotated list of the very best board books for ages zero to four that were published in 2023 and 2024.

The Place Where Souls Rest: Tolkien, Immortality, And Neurodivergence In Frieren: Beyond Journey’S End, Andrew Mayer

4610 English: Individual Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien

No abstract provided.

The Makings Of A Nation: Nobility And Tyranny In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Sean Swiatek

4610 English: Individual Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien

No abstract provided.

Tolkien And Hume's Problem Of Evil, Ethan Thomas

4610 English: Individual Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Pets: Navigating Infancy, Early Development, And Eventual Loss/ Exploring The Mutual Human-Animal Bond Through Children’S Board And Picture Books With Critical Anthropomorphism, Mary Teresa Woodcock

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

Pets are powerful elements of picture books. Alongside our animal companions, we navigate infancy, early childhood and adulthood, and better understand our relationships and life itself. Critical anthropomorphism allows us to represent our relationship to our animal companions ethically in the written and illustrated text. This paper acknowledges an array of primary and scholarly texts about animals and their roles in human experience as a foundation for my three book projects “A Colorful Night for Cat,” “Grandma, Sam, and Me,” and “Tired Old Socks.” I work to portray animal companions authentically, showing how both humans and animal companions benefit from …

Ethereal, Nickolas Strohm

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Creation Myth, Sarah Lee

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Betty Should Have Shot Those Birds, Sarah Lee

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Art Along The Pages, Lily A. Soto

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Cruel Fate, Pieper Gabbard

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Civil Blood, Civil Hands, Jessica Conatser

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Half A Pillow Gone Cold, Jessica Conatser

Allusions

No abstract provided.

Reading Secondhand Books Makes Me Sad, Mikaela Westlund

Allusions

No abstract provided.

My Day Is Rain / My Life The Sun / Shining On My Face, Mikaela Westlund

Allusions

No abstract provided.