Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Two-Headed Beast: Notes Toward The Definition Of Allegory, Nan Braude

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

The author provides a literary history of the concept of allegory going back to Homer, describing “allegorism” and “typology” as the two divisions of allegory, distinguishing allegory from symbolism and conceit, exploring modern attitudes toward allegory, and briefly examining the use of allegory and symbol in Tolkien, Lewis, and Williams.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Beyond The Fields We Know, Lois Newman

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Discussion of the career and writings of Lord Dunsany, precursor of Tolkien and a great influence on H.P. Lovecraft in particular. Emphasizes Dunsany’s unique literary style, inventive and opulent, and focuses primarily on Tales of Three Hemispheres and The King of Elfland’s Daughter.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Impact Of Charles Williams' Death On C.S. Lewis, Rolan M. Kawano

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Recounts the beginnings of the friendship of Lewis and Williams and Williams’s later association with the Inklings until his death following complications from surgery in May 1945. Discusses the effect of his death on C.S. Lewis’s thoughts about mortality and reprints his poem “On the Death of Charles Williams.”

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

A High And Lonely Destiny, Gracia Fay Ellwood

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Examines the recurring motif of people, both real and fictional, who believe they possess magical powers and a destiny that places them above normal human moral concerns and connections. Beginning with the biblical Simon Magus and continuing through the many tales of Merlin, Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, and Adolf Hitler, and ending with Tolkien’s Saruman, Ellwood traces this complex to inner hunger and self-deception, and notes how some characters, such as Gandalf, escape this destiny through their sense of connection with others.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Surprising Joy: C.S. Lewis' Deep Space Trilogy, Ethel Wallis

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Examines Lewis’s definitions of Joy in The Pilgrim’s Regress and Surprised by Joy, then shows how Joy is depicted and used throughout the Space Trilogy.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Lure Of The Ring, Alexis Levitin

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Discusses letters from a group of typical Lord of the Rings fans about why they enjoy the book. Concludes thoughtful readers respond to the timeless struggle of good and evil and the deeper moral messages of the work.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Archetypes Of The Mother In The Fantasies Of George Macdonald, Nancy-Lou Patterson

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

A study of the Wise Woman, Mother, or Grandmother figure throughout George MacDonald’s fantasy. Discusses how MacDonald is better understood through Jungian rather than Freudian analysis. Places imagery associated with these figures in their mythological, symbolic, and religious contexts, and examines both the beneficial and deadly aspects of the anima as shown in their actions.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Three Good Mothers: Galadriel, Psyche, And Sybil Coningsby, Laura A. Ruskin

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Examines the imagery and functions of the Mother archetype in world mythology and the characters of Tolkien’s Galadriel, Lewis’s Psyche, and Williams’s Sybil.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Farewell To Shadowlands: C.S. Lewis On Death, Kathryn Lindskoog

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Examines death as portrayed in many of Lewis’s fictional and apologetic writings, and particularly in the Chronicles of Narnia. Discusses Lewis’s attitudes toward his own impending death as expressed to friends and his brother Warren.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

On The Natures & Histories Of The Great Rings, Virginia Dabney

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Primarily Middle-earth studies rather than criticism. Reviews the history of the great rings, bringing together information from various parts of LotR Appendices (The Silmarillion not yet available at this time). Speculates on the linguistic roots of the names of the three Elven rings and the possibility that the seven Dwarven rings may have had associations with the alchemical metals and the nine rings for Men with the planets.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Structure And Aesthetic Of Tolkien’S Lord Of The Rings, Randel Helms

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

Describes five “laws” underlying Tolkien’s Middle-earth and how the action of The Lord of the Rings proceeds logically from them: the cosmos is ultimately providential; the result of an action is influenced by its intent; moral and magical laws are as important as physical laws; states of mind influence physical reality; and experience is the realization of proverbial truth or romantic convention.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Tolkien, Lewis, & Williams, C. S. Kilby

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

A brief, early history of the Inklings: their primary members, their similarities in outlook, and their basic writings.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Inklings And King Arthur: J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Willams, C.S. Lewis, And Owen Barfield On The Matter Of Britain Ed. Sørina Higgins, Jared Lobdell

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

No abstract provided.

2020 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Pugs: The Terrible Truth, Hadley Krewall, Tee Kesnan

Student Research

For centuries, pugs have been bred for their large eyes and squished in face, also known as "brachycephalic (squashed nose/flat-faced)," unknowingly creating man-made health complications that now affect their day-to-day life. The Kennel Club states that “50% of pugs have significant breathing problems and only 7% to 15% of pugs breathe like a normal dog.” In her poster presentation, Hadley Krewall hopes to share her interesting research findings on the serious health issues that pugs face, and the ways to stop the breed from continuing to reproduce. The presenter also hopes to address what the Kennel Club and even the …

Book Review: An Encouraging Thought: The Christian Worldview In The Writings Of J.R.R. Tolkien By Donald T. Williams, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Donald T. Williams begins his book An Encouraging Thought: The Christian Worldview in the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien with the sentence, “I first read The Lord of the Rings in the summer of 1968, the summer between my junior and senior years of high school.” (p. 8 Kindle) This autobiographical fact launches the slim volume that shares Williams’s early discoveries that J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian whose Christian worldview is expressed throughout The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and “On Fairy-Stories.”

Deconstructing Turok: The Kiowa Dinosaur Hunter In Comics And Film (1954-2014), Marc Dipaolo

Faculty Articles & Research

The Dell and Gold Key Comics series Turok: Son of Stone (1954 ­ 1982) were groundbreaking in their introduction of a Native American protagonist who starred in his own adventure series instead of serving as the marginalized sidekick of a white male adventurer.

Have You Tried Breaking Up?... We Did And This Is What We Found, Phillip Joe Fitzsimmons

Faculty Articles & Research

Abstract: This presentation is targeted primarily toward new repository administrators. During early projects on the Digital Commons platform in 2016 we uploaded full-issue PDFs for some titles. Soon we uploaded the Administrative Issues Journal and Mythlore with links to each article of the issue homepage. The difference in usage numbers of journals with full-issue PDFs to those that are broken down to the article level is huge. The result is that we returned to break up the full-issue items down.

In this presentation Phillip Fitzsimmons will show usage reports showing the low numbers of items presented as full-issue PDFs with …

Mythology In Children's Animation, David L. Emerson

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

In recent years, there have been several animated films, ostensibly for children yet appreciable by adults as well, which have made attempts to incorporate various mythologies of the world into their settings and plots. There is considerable variation in the amounts of mythology included, from offhand mentions to integral components of the story. There is also a wide range of the degree of faithfulness to the mythologies being depicted. This note gives an overview of some of the most well-known and readily available animations from 1992 to 2017, and show how the mythologies of many different cultures are represented. Some …

Mirkwood, John V. Orth

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

Contrary to the repeated assertion that it was William Morris who in 1888 first adapted Mirkwood from Old Norse, Sir Walter Scott had in fact used the name seventy-five years earlier in his 1814 novel Waverley.

Extreme Minimalism In The Lord Of The Rings, Pierre H. Berube

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

Notes two key moments of minimalistic style in The Lord of the Rings.

Innocence In Lewis’S Perelandra And Twain’S King Arthur’S Court, S. Dorman

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

Comparing the innocent characters, especially The Green Lady and Sandy, respectively, in Perelandra and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court

In Memoriam: Jared Lobdell, Richard C. West

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

Personal reminiscences of the scholar and author.

The Fabulous Journeys Of Alice And Pinocchio: Exploring Their Parallel Worlds By Laura Tosi With Peter Hunt, Bianca L. Beronio

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

Tosi is frank concerning the challenges presented to “say something new” about the tales of Alice and Pinocchio, yet while there has been much separate study and criticism on the subjects of these iconic children’s characters, there has been no scholarly study of each text through the lens of the other (Tosi 1). Tosi discusses the impact of the Alice books and Pinocchio on a broader, global audience by introducing an idea put forth by Italian novelist Italo Calvino, namely that “classics are those books which come to us bearing the aura of previous interpretation and trailing behind them the …

Girl Warriors: Feminist Revisions Of The Hero's Quest In Contemporary Popular Culture By Svenja Hohenstein, Maria Alberto

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

Svenja Hohenstein’s 2019 Girl Warriors: Feminist Revisions of the Hero’s Quest in Contemporary Popular Culture is a timely, readable, and well-researched intervention into ongoing conversations about adaptation, representation, and characterization in literature and films about young heroines embarking on quests. Hohenstein focuses on the heroines of three texts –Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games, and Merida of Brave – as examples of the “feminist quest heroine” (14) and reads primary, secondary, and tertiary texts about them in order to assert that “retellings of quest stories can reflect upon and offer insights …

The Pleasures Of Metamorphosis: Japanese And English Fairy Tale Transformations Of "The Little Mermaid" By Lucy Fraser, Bianca L. Beronio

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

Lucy Fraser employs her vast knowledge of Japanese and English literature and pop culture to present an intertextural and cross-cultural analysis in her book The Pleasures of Metamorphosis: Japanese and English Fairy Tale Transformations of “The Little Mermaid.” Fraser accomplishes this daunting task by approaching the various English and Japanese interpretations that adapt and subvert Andersen’s fairy tale not only through transcultural parallel readings, but through the framework of pleasure, which Fraser argues can “bring together texts that might otherwise be separated by differences in language, background, time period, genre, and medium and by the borders of ‘high’ …

Marvelous Geometry: Narrative And Metafiction In Modern Fairy Tale By Jessica Tiffin, Felicia Jean Steele

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

Book review of Marvelous Geometry: Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale by Jessica Tiffin.

Justice In Young Adult Speculative Fiction: A Cognitive Reading By Marek Oziewicz, Zachary Dilbeck

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

Presented is a review of Justice in Young Adult Speculative Fiction: A Cognitive Reading by Marek C. Oziewicz.

Shapers Of American Childhood: Essays On Visionaries From L. Frank Baum To Dr. Spock To J.K. Rowling, Edited By Kathy Merlock Jackson And Mark I. West, David Lenander

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

No abstract provided.

War, Myths, And Fairy Tales, Edited By Sara Buttsworth And Maartje Abbenhuis, Felicia Jean Steele

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

No abstract provided.