Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

Music In Tolkien's Works And Beyond (2019), Edited By Julian Eilmann And Friedhelm Schneidewind, William Sherwood

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Will Sherwood, of Music in the Works of Tolkien and Beyond (2019) edited by Julian Eilmann and Friedhelm Schneidewind

Tolkien And The Classics (2019) Edited By Roberto Arduini, Giampaolo Canzonieri And Claudio A. Testi, Luke Shelton

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Luke Shelton, of Tolkien and the Classics (2019), edited by Roberto Arduini, Giampaolo Canzonieri and Claudio A. Testi

Ofermod And Aristocratic Chivalry In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Amber Dunai

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper explores connections between J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1953 Essays and Studies publication The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son and representations of ofermod and aristocratic “chivalry” in The Lord of the Rings. Focusing on the motivations and leadership-related decisions of Denethor and Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, this paper argues that Faramir's behavior and motivations, despite Denethor’s implications to the contrary, cannot be described in terms of ofermod regardless of the risk that his choice to reject the Ring appears to pose to Gondor. By contrast, Denethor and his son Boromir represent the pride-motivated decision-making and rash …

A Journey Down The Rabbit Hole Of The Oed In Search Of The Meaning Of “Master” Elrond, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

An editorial commentary on the use of the title “Master” to describe Elrond, with heavy reliance on the Oxford English Dictionary.

“While The World Lasted”: Eschatology In Tolkien’S 1930s Writings, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract: this is a much-abridged version of a paper that was first delivered at the New York Tolkien Conference, Baruch College, New York City, NY, June 13, 2015.

Pagan Saints In Middle-Earth (2018) By Claudio A. Testi, Jonathan Evans

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review by Jonathan Evans of Pagan Saints in Middle-earth (2018) by Claudio A. Testi

Binding Them All (2017), Ed. By Monika Kirner-Ludwig, Stephan Köser, And Sebastian Streitberger, Anna Smol

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review by Anna Smol of Binding Them All (2017), ed. by Monika Kirner-Ludwig, Stephan Köser and Sebastian Streitberger

“‘Hel-Heime!’: The Daring Love Between Men In Dome Karukoski’S Tolkien”, Christopher Vaccaro

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article briefly summarizes the homo-amorous connections between members of the T.C.B.S. in the Karukoski's film, Tolkien.

"Few Have Gained Such A Victory:" A Defense Of Boromir In The Lord Of The Rings, Kayla Beebout

Journal of Tolkien Research

Boromir’s character in The Lord of the Rings is sometimes remembered chiefly for his brief defeat by the Ring. Though this is a simple way to identify his character, it does not consider his subsequent redemption and the goodness he demonstrates in other parts of the story. This article seeks to provide a more complete portrait of the Steward’s son. The first portion examines Boromir’s words and actions throughout the story, good and bad. The second portion discusses his brief fall, including the temptation of the Ring and the significance of Boromir’s redemption. Examples of other characters’ temptations and analysis …

“Dyrne Langað”: Secret Longing And Homo-Amory In Beowulf And J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Vaccaro

Journal of Tolkien Research

“‘Dyrne Langað’: Secret Longing and Homo-amory in Beowulf and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings” investigates the close “homoamorous” relationship between Frodo and Samwise, employing a close reading of select passages from the eighth-century English poem, Beowulf. The argument begins with a clarification of terms. Afterwards, it focuses upon the cruces related to a key scene involving Beowulf’s departure and compares the intensity of the unspoken love Hroðgar has for Beowulf to the love Sam has for Frodo at the Grey Havens. Ultimately, the essay argues for a new way of reading both departure scenes.

Women & Tolkien: Amazons, Valkyries, Feminists, And Slashers, Robin A. Reid Dr.

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper reports on an early pilot project that asks women who self identify as readers or fans of Tolkien's work and/or teachers who have taught Tolkien's work, and/or scholars who have published on Tolkien's work to answer a few open-ended questions about their reasons for enjoying his work. By "women," I mean anybody who identifies as a woman. By "Tolkien's work," I mean any of his published novels, stories, poems, or academic essays. The study arises from the question that is often asked of fans of Tolkien's work: why do women so enjoy it, given the relatively minor narrative …

Who Is Tom Bombadil?: Interpreting The Light In Frodo Baggins And Tom Bombadil's Role In The Healing Of Traumatic Memory In J.R.R. Tolkien's _Lord Of The Rings_, Jane Beal Phd

Journal of Tolkien Research

In Rivendell, after Frodo has been attacked by Ringwraiths and is healing from the removal of the splinter from a Morgul-blade that had been making its way toward his heart, Gandalf regards Frodo and contemplates a “clear light” that is visible through Frodo to “eyes to see that can.” Samwise Gamgee later sees this light in Frodo when Frodo is resting in Ithilien. The first half of this essay considers questions about this light: how does Frodo become transparent, and why, and what is the nature of the light that fills him? As recourse to Tolkien’s letters shows, the light …

Eomer Gets Poetic: Tolkien's Alliterative Versecraft, James Shelton

Journal of Tolkien Research

Throughout Tolkien's professional career he dealt with a great number of texts that had varying views on the heroic, the romantic, the everyday world, and the role of Faerie. One consistent tendency among them, though, is to treat the past, and particularly Anglo-Saxon heritage, with a great deal of respect while trying to find ways to incorporate themes or ideas from that time into his own imaginative subcreations. Tolkien's use of alliterative verse serves to re-contextualize an ancient heroic ethos in a way that shows how heroism has changed, and must change, for the modern world. This paper examines Tolkien’s …

Language As Communication Vs. Language As Art: J.R.R. Tolkien And Early 20th-Century Radical Linguistic Experimentation, Dimitra Fimi

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article situates Tolkien’s “A Secret Vice” (and its accompanying notes and papers) within the cultural and intellectual milieu of the early 20th century. It claims that at the heart of Tolkien’s exploration in this material is the question of language as communication vs. language as art. It argues that Tolkien’s language invention navigates the (perceived) binary between a utilitarian aim for language invention (contemporary International Auxiliary Languages) vs. an aesthetic linguistic pursuit (contemporary Modernist and other avant-garde linguistic experimentation), by choosing a third (middle) way. It examines Tolkien's linguistic invention alongside the work of Sapir, Jespersen, Joyce, Stein, and …

Flora Of Middle-Earth (2017) By Walter S. Judd And Graham A. Judd, Martin Simonson

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review by Martin Simonson of Flora of Middle-earth (2017) by Walter S. Judd and Graham A. Judd

Beren And Lúthien (2017) By J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited By Christopher Tolkien, Douglas Charles Kane

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review of Beren and Lúthien (2017) by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, reviewed by Douglas Charles Kane

Riders, Chivalry, And Knighthood In Tolkien, Thomas Honegger

Journal of Tolkien Research

Abstract

This essay is a much extended version of the paper I gave at the IMC Leeds on 5 July 2017. It examines Tolkien’s complex attitude towards the concept(s) of chivalry and knighthood. A close reading analysis of relevant key passages from The Lord of the Rings is combined with an examination of his statements on chivalry in his scholarly works. Tolkien’s views are then related to the scholarly discourse on the key elements of chivalry, which allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of why Tolkien depicts the representatives of chivalry/knighthood in The Lord of the Rings the …

Tolkien, Self And Other: "This Queer Creature" (2016) By Jane Chance, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review, by Kristine Larsen, of Tolkien, Self and Other: "This Queer Creature" (2016), by Jane Chance.

Building Imaginary Worlds (2012) By Mark J.P. Wolf And Revisiting Imaginary World (2016) Edited By Mark J.P. Wolf, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review of Building Imaginary Worlds (2012) by Mark J.P. Wolf and Revisiting Imaginary Worlds (2016), edited by Mark J.P. Wolf, reviewed by Andrew Higgins

Neues Testament Und Märchen: Tolkien, Fairy Stories, And The Gospel, John Wm. Houghton

Journal of Tolkien Research

J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1943 claim in “On Fairy-stories” that the Christian Gospel is a fairy story which “has entered History and the primary world” stands over against significant (and widely publicized) elements of Liberal Protestant biblical interpretation of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, exemplified in Rudolph Bultmann’s 1941 essay, “New Testament and Mythology.” Tolkien’s position, which seems to have influenced C. S. Lewis and Austin Farrer, owes something to G. K. Chesterton but has yet more direct parallels in Thomas Aquinas and Gregory the Great.

Hobbits?...And What May They Be?, Michael Flowers

Journal of Tolkien Research

Hobbits…And what may they be? This study considers the possible origin of the word ‘hobbit’ on the eightieth anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Tolkien’s book - The Hobbit. It examines the most widely discussed supposed origin by contemporary commentators, and undermines its credibility. Instead, it foregrounds what was originally a medieval Welsh word widely used in agricultural circles, which Tolkien may have encountered in his youth. Proof that the word had a widespread use in a specific sector of the provincial Welsh press is amply demonstrated, and consideration is given to Tolkien’s childhood visit to …

Building Middle-Earth: An Exploration Into The Uses Of Architecture In The Works Of J. R. R. Tolkien, Johanna H. Brooke

Journal of Tolkien Research

Many aspects of Tolkien's Middle-earth have been the attention of scholarly interest since the boom of 'Tolkien studies' but an area that seems to be lacking in criticism, but is certainly full of detail and character in Tolkien's books, is architecture. This essay explores how important the creation of buildings and living spaces in Middle-earth is to the underlying messages of the tale and how the architecture of Middle-earth impacts the reader's journey.

This essay starts as we the reader does - in a hole - and explores the way that architecture is used to help explain hobbits, show their …

Tolkien And Sanskrit (2016) By Mark T. Hooker, Nelson Goering

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review of Tolkien and Sanskrit (2016) by Mark T. Hooker

Harken Not To Wild Beasts: Between Rage And Eloquence In Saruman And Thrasymachus, Dennis Wilson Wise

Journal of Tolkien Research

One of the giant gaps in Tolkien scholarship has been to miss how deeply Saruman answers the age-old antagonism between rhetoric and philosophy. Like John Milton, Tolkien cannot bring himself to trust rhetoric. It threatens the unitary truth of a divinely-revealed moral order and, ironically, Tolkien applies great rhetorical skill to convince his reader of rhetoric’s illusionary nature. In this matter Tolkien has been largely successful, since few readers (if any) question the de-privileging of Saruman’s perspective. In the process, though, I suggest that Tolkien has developed in his master rhetorician a new relationship between rhetoric (eloquence) and rage ( …

Fantasy Incarnate: Of Elves And Men, Simon J. Cook Dr.

Journal of Tolkien Research

This essay proposes the idea of incarnation as a key to unlocking Tolkien’s conception of fantasy as set out in the 'Origins' section of On Fairy Stories. Tolkien's intellectual context is explored and his conception of mythology as a blending of imagination and history examined. The essay also establishes the differences between mortal and Elvish fantasy and argues that Tolkien's Elves engage in a different kind of incarnational art than do mortals. In conclusion it is claimed that in ‘Origins’ Tolkien reworked the speculations of mid-Victorian comparative philology into an aesthetic theory of artistic creation grounded upon the notion …

"Why Is Bilbo Baggins Invisible?: The Hidden War In The Hobbit", Jane Beal Phd

Journal of Tolkien Research

Why is Bilbo Baggins invisible? This study suggests that Tolkien’s knowledge of philology, theology, philosophy, literature, history, and his own life experience all contribute to the development of the symbolic, moral, and psychological significance of invisibility in The Hobbit. On one level, Tolkien’s theology is informed by his philology, so that being invisible (or “not able to be seen”) becomes a way of symbolically representing the Augustinian concept of evil as the absence of good in the world. On another level, Tolkien’s use of invisibility in The Hobbit demonstrates his knowledge of the philosophic and literary tradition associated with the …

A Companion To J.R.R. Tolkien, Ed. Stuart D. Lee, Reviewed By Andrew Higgins, Andrew Higgins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Book review of A Companion to J.R.R. Tolkien (2014), edited by Stuart D. Lee

Contextualizing The Writings Of J.R.R. Tolkien On Literary Criticism, Sherrylyn Branchaw

Journal of Tolkien Research

This essay offers a reinterpretation of Tolkien's writings about literary criticism, which are focused on Beowulf, fairy stories, and his own works. Whereas his writings have often been taken to mean that analytic scholarship is not valid and should not be pursued, my essay takes the intellectual climate of the time into consideration and offers an alternative interpretation, according to which he did not mean to forbid these studies outright and indeed intended that scholars should continue writing them. The essay ends with a call to academics not to be discouraged by his strong language from producing analytic studies.