English Language and Literature Commons^™

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

No abstract provided.

How Trees Behave-Or Do They?, Verlyn Flieger

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

Flieger takes as her departure point a passage on tree-spirits in one of the manuscripts for “On Fairy-stories,” and considers the development of Tolkien’s ideas about more-or-less enspirited trees throughout his oeuvre. Begins with the earliest appearance of Old Man Willow in the Tom Bombadil poems, progressing through his maturation as an idea in The Lord of the Rings. Pays special attention to Treebeard and the Huorns, and ends with the birch tree in Smith of Wootton Major.

Listening As Heroic Action In L'Engle's A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Cara-Joy Steem

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

Examines the theme and spiritual functions of listening in the third Murry family novel, A Swiftly Tilting Planet: as participation in an interconnected universe, as embracing humility, as a witness to cosmic community, and as a sacrificial act. Connects these ideas to her larger theological and interpersonal themes.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Fanfiction, And "The Freedom Of The Reader", Megan B. Abrahamson

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

Student paper award, Mythcon 2013. Abrahamson makes a particularly convincing case for the validity of fanfiction by applying Tolkien’s own statements about the “dominion of the author,” the “Cauldron of Story,” and subcreation to the issue. Discusses Tolkien’s experiences with early fanwork and his own use of sources as an author.

Tolkien's Devices: The Heraldy Of Middle-Earth, Jamie Mcgregor

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

Studies a set of images Tolkien deploys with great skill to represent essential thematic elements of the opposition between forces of the Alliance and the Enemy. These include the organic and natural symbols of Gondor, Rohan, Dol Amroth as opposed to the Eye of Mordor and White Hand of Isengard. McGregor’s observations on Saruman’s choice of imagery are particularly valuable in showing how Tolkien revealed the wizard’s attempts to play both sides even at the symbolic level.

Theological Reticence And Moral Radiance: Notes On Tolkien, Levinas, And Inuit Cosmology, Catherine Madsen

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

Madsen pulls together three exceedingly disparate elements—the theology of loss and obligation of the Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas; the way the Inuit peoples of the Arctic regions relate to the hardships and challenges of their physical and spiritual worlds; and incidents of self-sacrifice in Tolkien—into a challenging and rewarding whole.

The Hobbit And The Father Christmas Letters, Kris Swank

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

Traces the mutual influences of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and the letters he wrote to his children in the person of Father Christmas. Similar themes in Roverandom and The Book of Lost Tales are also discussed. She tracks the development of several motifs that appear throughout, like irascible wizards, playful elves, invented languages, impudent bears, and fireworks.

Reviews, Damien Bador, Gregory Bassham, Joe R. Christopher, Janet Brennan Croft, Hugh H. Davis, Melody Green, Holly Ordway, Robert T. Tally Jr

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

The International Relations of Middle-earth: Learning from The Lord of the Rings. Abigail E. Ruane and Patrick James. Reviewed by Robert T. Tally Jr

Moments of Grace and Spiritual Warfare in The Lord of the Rings. Anne Marie Gazzolo. Reviewed by Damien Bador.

The Wizard of Oz as American Myth: A Critical Study of Six Versions of the Story, 1900-2007. Alissa Burger. Reviewed by Hugh H. Davis.

Plain to the Inward Eye: Selected Essays on C.S. Lewis. Don W. King. Reviewed by Holly Ordway.

Tolkien's Poetry. Ed. Julian Eilmann and Allan Turner. Reviewed by Joe R. Christopher.

The …

Unruly Catholics From Dante To Madonna: Faith, Heresy, And Politics In Cultural Studies, Marc Dipaolo

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

"During the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church went through a period of liberal reform under the stewardship of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. Successive popes sharply reversed course, enforcing conservative ideological values and silencing progressive voices in the Church. Consequently, those Catholics who had embraced the spirit of Vatican II were left feeling adrift and betrayed. In Unruly Catholics from Dante to Madonna, scholars of literature, film, religion, history, and sociology delve into this conflict–and historically similar ones–through the examination of narratives by and about rebellious Catholics.

Essays in Unruly Catholics explore how renowned Catholic literary figures …

Contributors, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

And Of Our Mother, David Sparenberg

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Mythcon 44 - Green And Growing: The Land And Its Inhabitants In Fantasy, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

How does mythopoeic literature address the relationship between the land and its inhabitants, between the wild and the cultivated? What are their respective moral values, their dangers, and delights? Tangled forests, majestic trees, the ordered fields, the carefully tended gardens; or untamed, wild beauty: each offers a different kind of bounty to those who would live off the land. What role do advocates and protectors of the land play in fantasy literature, particularly as personified in characters such as Yavanna, Radagast, Sam Gamgee, and, of course, Tom Bombadil?

Friday, Shane Clack

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Summer Valley, Tannara Young

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Mythic Circle #35, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Gwenyth E. Hood

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Poseidon And Queen Cassiopea, Joe R. Christopher

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Mind Has Mountains, Joanna Michal Hoyt

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Persephone Rising, Seth Leeper

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Dream Of Death & The Way Of The Shaman, David Sparenberg

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Eye, Ryder Miller

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Pale Wanderer, Alexander Dove Lempke

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

The Night Of The Wolf-Riders, Dag Rossman

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Mistress Of The Solstice (Excerpt), Anna Kashina

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Kurdénras, Alexander Dove Lempke

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Myself To Myself, Scathe Meic Beorh

The Mythic Circle

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Janet Brennan Croft

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

No abstract provided.

Sméagol And Déagol: Secrecy, History, And Ethical Subjectivity In Tolkien's World, E. J. Christie

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

Uses the characters Sméagol and Déagol as jumping-off points to explore issues of secrecy, surveillance, propaganda, and censorship that were increasingly coming to the fore during World War I and the inter-war years. Although significant issues in their own right, these trends also point to a growing individual privileging of self-concealment and discretion over openness and intimacy, a process that dehumanized and eroded the social fabric. The Ring crystallizes these concerns into a single object, and Gollum’s relationship to it especially creates a tangle of themes of revealing and concealing. Also discusses Tolkien’s peculiar talent for “creation from philology” building …

Of Spiders And Elves, Joyce Tally Lionarons

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

A stimulating look at the parallels and contrasts between imagery associated with spiders and Elves, especially female elves, in Tolkien’s legendarium, and how this imagery of light and shadow, spinning and weaving, climbing and descending, also underpins themes of sexuality and fertility in Middle-earth.

"The Inner Consistency Of Reality": Intermediacy In The Hobbit, Nicholas Birns

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

Especially concerned with Bilbo’s characterization, unusual in children’s literature, as middle-aged, but also addresses other issues of world-building and story structure that reinforce this motif of “starting in the middle”: maps, the sense of the past, racial characteristics and relations. Birns draws interesting contrasts with the Alice in Wonderland and Oz books.