Digital Commons Network^™

“Perilous And Fair” In “A Bleak, Barren Land”: A Feminist Responds To Dylan Lee Henderson’S Essay, Robin A. Reid

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

Dylan Lee Henderson’s 2023 essay in Mythlore (vol. 42, no. 1) titled “A Bleak, Barren Land’: Women and Fertility in The Lord of the Rings,” claims that “many feminist scholars [since 1971] have condemned Tolkien’s depiction of women as inadequate and denounced Tolkien himself as a misogynist” (88). In my response, I argue that Henderson’s essay reduces a fifty-plus year history of scholarship (much of it by feminists) exploring the complex, contradictory issues of Tolkien’s female characters to a single negative stereotype. I described that stereotype in my 2015 essay in Perilous and Fair (Croft and Donovan) in my conclusion …

What Will We Do With The Christmas Pudding?: Joy Davidman, William Lindsay Gresham, And "Christmas In The Workhouse", Gabriel C. Salter, Clark Sheldon

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

The poem "Christmas in the Workhouse" archived in William Lindsay Gresham's papers at first appears to be a random transcript in his files. Exploring the work's publication history and Gresham's contributions to War Poems of the United Nations, a book edited by his second wife Joy Davidman, suggests that in fact "Christmas in the Workhouse" is part of the larger story of how they informed each other's work in the 1940s.

Weaving Wikipedia’S Middle-Earth Web, Ian F. Alexander

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

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth fantasy writing has become extremely popular, and has been extensively studied by scholars. Part of the demand for information on the subject is met by Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with a large readership. I have extended its coverage of Middle-earth subjects to more than 200 Good Articles, divided roughly equally between in-universe subjects such as “Aragorn” and more scholarly subjects such as “Heroism in The Lord of the Rings”. Each article is required to stand alone as a notable topic in its own right, as demonstrated by its citations to reliable sources. Other sites like Tolkien Gateway …

St. Jack’S Experiment House For Juvenile Delinquents: Responding To Aslan’S Breath By Matthew Dickerson, Gabriel C. Salter

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

Matthew Dickerson raises an important point in his latest book "Aslan's Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia" that Lewis offers a theologically problematic example of combating evil when his heroes terrorize the bullies at Experiment House at the end of The Silver Chair. Exploring Dickerson's point, and particularly how Lewis pairs vengeance with saitre in this scene, challenges readers to see that Lewis' work for children is often more transgressive than it appears, not unlike the concerns raised about Roald Dahl's vengeful punishment scenes. Extending the popular Dahl vs. Lewis discussion shows how they both may be read as …

"Better To Reign In Hell": Ambivalence And Orcs In The Lay Of The Children Of Húrin, Matthew Thompson-Handell

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

A remarkable passage in Tolkien's incomplete Lay of the Children of Húrin, describing the Orc-band after its capture of Túrin, provides an echo of Milton's assembly of fallen angels in Book I of Paradise Lost. The description of the Orc-band also hints at the kind of ambivalence which has often been ascribed to Milton's portrayal of Satan. This in turn provides a connection with recent work on humanity in Tolkien's depiction of the Orcs.

Interview With Professor John Mckinnell Concerning Tolkien’S Lectures On Beowulf, Łukasz Neubauer

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

Professor John McKinnell attended his classes on Beowulf as a student in the early 1960s. The interview sheds more light on Tolkien as a lecturer.

Alan Garner’S Elidor: The “Anti-Narnian Fantasy”?, Laura N. Van Dyke

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

British fantasy writer Alan Garner has referred to his novel Elidor as "THE anti-Narnian fantasy," though he says this was done unconsciously. In this article, I explore why Garner positioned his work as the antithesis to C.S. Lewis's fantasy novels, and argue that in many ways it in fact complements rather than contradicts the vision Lewis conveys.

The Bright Sword And Its Sharpness: Swords, Symbolism, And Medievalism In The Lord Of The Rings, Gavin S. Davis

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

Swords are paradoxical objects that hold in tension both aesthetic beauty and repulsion, and how one goes about resolving this paradox has much to say about one’s personal ideology. This paper investigates Tolkien’s representation of swords in The Lord of the Rings as ideologically loaded objects with shifting symbolic significance between the cultures of Rohan, Gondor, and Hobbits. These changes in significance produce three kinds of medievalism, shaped by differences in their interaction the cultural imagination of the medieval sword. Through the Rohirrim, Tolkien provides a medievalism of spectacle—an idealized world of valor to be marveled at from the safe …

Book Culture And Narrative In Martin’S A Song Of Fire And Ice, Maria Damkjær

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

What do books represent in G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? This article examines their role as objects and their limitations within a narrative obsessed with loss of knowledge. Books, which are handled, lost, found, read, or destroyed, are both a shorthand for a fantasy world’s material culture, but also a metafictional nod to the reality of the reader. Contemporary fantasy authors, I posit, are both fascinated by texts, and also troubled by their limited chance of survival over the very long periods that the genre tends to sketch. Deep time is hostile to book knowledge, and …

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Beowulf: Rowling’S Beowulfian Allusions, Analogues, And Inversions, Mark-Elliot Finley

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

In this essay, I suggest Rowling’s Goblet of Fire literarily echoes the Old English epic poem Beowulf, while simultaneously updating the medieval epic to reflect the novel’s place within the modernized, Christian-influenced fantasy tradition. While cursory popular links have been made between the Old English epic with Rowling’s novel, this essay presents a sustained dialogue between Beowulf and Goblet of Fire. Both heroes engage in one-to-one combat (Beowulf with Grendel and Harry with Voldemort), venture into an unknown watery abyss (Beowulf diving into Grendel’s mother’s underwater cave and Harry rescuing Ron and Gabrielle from the merpeople in Hogwarts’s …

Pandemic Mythmaking: Covid-19 And Mythological Symbolism In Indian Folk Art, Ishani Anwesha Joshi, Sathyaraj Venkatesan

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

Through a comprehensive analysis of Durga Bai Vyam’s “Samura Manthan” and Rupsona and Bahadur Chitrakar’s “Corona Rakshasa,” this article aims to investigate how mythological stories and themes have been used in the Indian context in folk art during the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation will offer insights into how artists have leveraged mythological symbolism to infuse their works with richer layers of meaning, thereby engaging readers in a deeper exploration of the pandemic’s impact on society and the human psyche. By close-reading the aforementioned paintings, this study aims to illustrate the evolving visual representation of cultural narratives …

Feasting At The Threshold: Eucharistic Eroticism And Homonationalism In Diane Duane's The Tale Of The Five, Taylor Driggers

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

Diane Duane’s ongoing fantasy series The Tale of the Five (1979–present) is set in a world marked by constant bodily transgressions and surprises, where a human and dragon can occupy the same body and become lovers and a one-night stand can bring one face-to-face with God. This essay will argue that Duane’s series articulates eroticism in a manner comparable to Linn Marie Tonstad’s (2016) queer re-visioning of transubstantiation and bodily and spiritual transformation through the Eucharist. Acts of eating and drinking serve to highlight how characters’ pansexual, polyamorous relations with each other and the love of the Goddess spill over …

Modelling The Fear Of God In C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia, Brett Roscoe

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

This article employs insights from cognitive approaches to literature to study how The Chronicles of Narnia evoke a religious affect known in the Christian tradition as the “fear of the Lord.” It first does what Guillemette Bolens calls a "kinesic analysis" of the books, focusing on the gestures, movements, and facial expressions related to the fear of Aslan, and then it interprets this fear in the context of Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy, a book C. S. Lewis claims had a large influence on him. Lewis, like Otto, was concerned with religious experience, specifically with how his …

The Liberty To Bind Oneself: Chesterton And The Oath Of Fëanor, Matthew Mckenna

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

This paper does two things. First, it reads the oath of Fëanor in The Silmarillion through the lens of Chesterton’s philosophy of oaths, and suggests that Tolkien was speculatively influenced by Chesterton on this topic. It accomplishes this by an exposition of Chesterton’s philosophy of vows followed by an in-depth exposition of the oath of Fëanor throughout The Silmarillion. Its thesis is that the oath of Fëanor works according to the mode of Chesterton’s philosophy of oaths, that is, the oath compels the oath-taker to act. Viewing the oath of Fëanor through the framework of Chesterton’s philosophy of oath …

The Middle-(Un)Man Of Desire: A Girardian Reading Of Perelandra, Clinton Manley

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

The French polymath René Girard presents a compelling argument that all desire is mimetic. According to Girard, we don’t actually know what we want; instead, we imitate the desires of others. These models of desire act as mediators, indicating what objects or ways of being are worth pursuing. For Girard, desire exists in this middle place between a subject, a model, and an object. He famously argues that all great literature leverages an awareness of mimetic dynamics; the greater the work, the more mimetically perspicacious the author.

Given Girard’s theory, we would expect the greatest fantasy authors to erect their …

Divinity And The Void In Chinese And Thai Translations Of The Ainulindalë, Eric Reinders

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

This article treats Chinese and Thai translations of the opening lines of the Ainulinalë, not to evaluate their fidelity to the original, but to explore the surplus meanings inherent in those languages. From a close reading of the first line emerge several new variations, including a new reading of the name Eru in Chinese, and a changed linguistic register of the Thai version. In each case there is some attempt to resolve the paradox of Eru as primal deity and Tolkien’s use of lower-case “he”—which one would expect to be “He.” Lacking capital letters, the Chinese and Thai translators use …

An Aspirational Cultus? Tolkien Fandom At The Borders Of Belief, Tom Emanuel

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

This paper draws upon fan studies, sociology of religion, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s theory of sub-creation to theorize the religious implications of Enyalië (Quenya: remembrance), the emotionally charged graveside memorial which closes the U.K. Tolkien Society’s annual gathering in Oxford. Employing a framework of religion as sacred worldbuilding, the author argues that Enyalië is best understood as the “secondary liturgy” of the “secondary faith community” that is Tolkien fandom. The paper concludes that Tolkien’s fiction, his community of devoted fans, and the lineaments of religious ritual have combined, in Enyalië, to produce a fan practice which troubles the boundaries …

No Ragnarök, No Armageddon: Pagan And Christian Interpretations Of The Lord Of The Rings, Matthew Thompson-Handell

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

Critical responses to The Lord of the Rings from its publication up to 1981 (the year in which The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien was first published) often considered pagan and Christian elements in the work. To the extent that pagan and Christian views were opposed to each other, such opposition is grounded to a greater extent in the ambiguity present in The Lord of the Rings (at least in terms of its theology or world-view), than in any contradiction in the work. The distinction between ambiguity and contradiction is important, especially in the context of the significance of contradiction in …

Editorial, Janet Croft

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

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Ophthalmic Care For Medicaid Patients In Tennessee, Rupert Congmon

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Prior AAO data has determined that 93.8% of Tennesseans live as close or closer to an ophthalmologist than to their nearest Walmart. This study intends to analyze access to care for patients in Tennessee’s Medicaid program (TennCare). TennCare comprises four different health plans administered by three different Managed Care Organizations (MCOs): UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Wellpoint (formerly Amerigroup), BlueCare, and TennCare Select, the latter two being administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. In the vulnerable population receiving TennCare coverage, there are concerns about care across various specialties. This project aims to quantify ophthalmologist access for TennCare patients. Tennessee ophthalmology practices were …

Neuroplasticity Of Sympathetic And Serotonergic Pathways To Improve The Recovery Of Cardiovascular Activity After Spinal Cord Injury, Aubreigh Morgan

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) can severely impair bodily function, making early intervention crucial for recovery and preventing further damage. Injuries at or above the sixth thoracic (T6) vertebra impair neural cardiovascular regulation, leading to bradycardia, reduced blood flow, and hypotension. This is important because early intervention and participation in physical therapy are critical for recovery of motor function after SCI, and impaired cardiovascular regulation limits participation. Brainstem regions, including the raphe nuclei, contain serotonergic neurons with axons that project to the spinal cord and release serotonin (5-HT), a neurotransmitter essential for regulating heart rate, blood pressure, and motor control. SCI …

Healing In The Highlands, Olivia Rogers, Bindiya Srinath, Noorayn Shaikh, Elisabeth Denis

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

This alternative break allowed students to learn about the disaster of Hurricane Helene and provided important insights into community response. While many students were from an impacted area, this experience allowed all students to understand the lasting effects of the disaster in our region. This service learning experience taught students how they can continue to help the community after the alt break whether through service or advocacy.

Community-Engaged Learning In Geosciences At "Erwin Fish Hatchery", Rezaul Bari Ishan

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Since 2017, ETSU Principles of Hydrology course has included a 5-6 week-long field research project that engages students in an authentic field research experience with community partners. Building on this tradition, in October 2024, geosciences students from ETSU partnered with the Erwin National Fish Hatchery to meet the hatchery’s need for a detailed water quality assessment. They focused on two natural springs—critical water sources for hatchery operations—examining their hydrologic behavior and water quality, specifically whether they share an origin and how rainfall influences turbidity. Using ISCO water samplers, YSI probes, water level loggers, and turbidity meters, students tracked water levels …

Caregiver Adversity And Mental Health Predicting Children’S Healthy Psychosocial Functioning Data Are Fully Collected:, Emily Hatcher

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

In this study we aimed to explore the impact of both caregiver and child adversity, alongside caregiver mental health, on children’s psychosocial outcomes. While existing literature highlights the role of childhood adversity in predicting later psychosocial difficulties, less is known about the combined influence of caregiver adversity and mental health on children’s functioning. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relative contributions of caregiver adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), child ACEs, and caregiver anxiety and depression to children’s mental health, as measured by the Pediatric Symptoms Checklist (PSC-17). Data were collected from 148 caregivers (N = 148), predominantly white and female, …

In Vivo Evaluation Of Cromolyn Sodium Topical Gels For The Treatment Of Atopic Dermatitis, Adela Adu Agyemang

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Cromolyn sodium (CS) is a mast cell stabilizer used for asthma and mastocytosis, with potential for treating atopic dermatitis (AD). Despite clinical support for its efficacy in AD, no commercial CS formulations are available. This study assessed the efficacy of a formulated CS gel for AD through in vivo testing in a mice model, comparing it to a topical corticosteroid. Two 4% CS gels were formulated using sodium oleate and sodium caprylate as enhancers. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (1.5%) was the gelling agent, and propylene glycol served as the base. In vitro permeation studies (24 h, porcine ear skin, 37°C) showed that …

Effects Of Ph On Products Yield Of One-Electron Oxidation To Guanine Derivatives, Abdul-Kadir Ibrahim

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

One-electron oxidation plays a major role in oxidative DNA damage in biological cells. Guanine, the most oxidizable DNA base, has been the major focus of studies on oxidative damage to DNA initiated by one-electron oxidation (OEO). Recently, the Roginskaya group has discovered a novel type of products of dGuo· dimerization, D1 and D2, formed as a result of oxidation reaction of 2´-deoxyguanosine (dGuo), initiated by OEO. A proposed reaction mechanism assumes recombination of the two dGuo· radicals and further hydrolysis of the resultant intermediates to form diastereomers of D1A and D1B along with their oxidized product D2. The oxidation of …

Exploring Transitions In Prenatal Maternal Tobacco Use: Evidence From The Prams Data, Chukwubuikem Arize

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality, with smoking during pregnancy posing significant risks to the mother, fetus, and child. Limited research exists on transitions in tobacco use during pregnancy. This study aims to identify factors associated with behavioral shifts, including transitions from exclusive cigarette smoking to dual use or from non-smoking to smoking or e-cigarette use. This study utilized national data from Phase 8 of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) (2016–2021; N=216,035). Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analyses examined sociodemographic, health system, and geographic factors influencing transitions in tobacco use behaviors among …

Management Of A Patient In Septic Shock With Necrotizing Fasciitis And Diabetic Ketoacidosis, Avery Conkin

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Each year over 1.7 million adults in the United States develop sepsis with 350,000 of those patients dying or being discharged to hospice. Sepsis is broken into four tiers: systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, severe sepsis, or septic shock. These tiers define the severity of the patient’s condition. This case report details a patient presenting to the emergency department in septic shock and discusses the management of his condition. A 58 year-old white male presented with altered mental status, bradycardia, hypotension, and leg wounds. On presentation, he appeared gravely ill and his last known well was 2 days prior. On …

Establishing A Mouse Model Of Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Using Video-Eeg-Ecg Monitoring, Raina Desai

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and permanent disability. Patients with TBI are at an increased risk of developing post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE), and it has been estimated that PTE may account for up to 20% of symptomatic epilepsy cases in the general population. The process of epileptogenesis is defined as the mechanism by which a brain insult starts a cascade that culminates in the development of spontaneous seizures. Following TBI, the occurrence of seizures has been categorized as immediate (< 24 h), early (days), or latent (weeks). These immediate and early seizures are considered to reflect the severity of the injury itself, whereas the latent seizures are thought to result from maturation of epileptogenic pathology. The specific objective of this pilot study was to establish a protocol for video-EEG-ECG of mice following TBI to determine latent PTE development. Mice underwent surgery and EEG-ECG electrodes were placed immediately prior to TBI via controlled cortical impact. We initially chose 2 depth levels of injury (1mm and 1.5mm). We determined that 1.5 mm led to a high mortality rate, leading us to proceed with 1 mm. Currently, we have detected (and verified) seizures in two of four mice at 4 weeks post injury. An additional 8 mice have been EEG analyzed, with potential seizures detected via EEG in five out of eight (awaiting verification). We found that there was post-ictal Atrial-Ventricular block in one mouse. We also observed large fluctuations in heart rate during seizure free periods. Further analysis of ECG recordings is ongoing. Overall, our goal is to establish a 50-60% PTE development rate in our model for future applications. Our findings on ECG abnormalities mimic those observed in other models of epilepsy, suggesting that neuro-cardiac interactions in TBI warrant deeper investigation.

Forecasting Lung And Colon Cancer Mortality Trends In Jamaica And The U.S. Using Multivariate Time Series Analysis, Shanice Douglas

Dr. Jay W. Boland Research Day

Lung and colon cancers are among the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with significant variations across different healthcare systems. This study applies multivariate time series modeling and forecasting to analyze lung and colon cancer mortality trends in Jamaica and the United States, examining each cancer type separately within each country and comparing trends between the two regions. The research employs Vector Autoregressive Moving Average (VARMA) models to assess the interdependence between lung and colon cancer mortality from 1960 to 2014 within Jamaica and the U.S. Multivariate forecasting will be performed separately for both countries to evaluate country-specific trends for …