Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

“Legato Con Amore In Un Volume”: Can Tolkien’S Ainulindalë Accommodate Divine Knowledge?, John Wm. Houghton

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien's depiction of Eru Iluvatar in the Silmarillion as coming to know the Song of the Ainur only as he hears it conflicts with ideas about the nature of divine knowledge developed by such thinkers as Ibn Sina, Maimoindes, and Thomas Aquinas--as well as with more general ideas about omniscience and eternity. Texts recently published in The Nature of Middle-earth indicate that Tolkien was aware of some of these divergences. The fact that he classifies the Ainulindalë as a "legend" in which divine thought is merely "represented" as music offers some possibilities for reconciliation with the theological tradition, but Tolkien …

Books Within Books In Fantasy And Science Fiction: “You Are The Dreamer And The Dream”, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

This chapter discusses books that exist only within works of science fiction and fantasy—what the “List of Fictional Books” on Wikipedia calls a “fictional book” and what Claire Fallon calls “invented books” in her article for the Huffpost website, “Fictional Books Within Books We Wish Were Real.”

The David Oberhelman Collection Of Science Fiction, Fantasy, And Tolkieniana At Oklahoma State University, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

In September 2020 I drove to the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Stillwater campus to see “The David Oberhelman J. R. R. Tolkien Collection” exhibit, on display on the Edmon Low Library’s second-floor mezzanine in the Lisa and Mark Snell Gallery.

Environmentalism In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, Sophie Butler

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

The theme of environmentalism within Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, while sometimes underlying, is an ever-present background to the characters and actions of Middle-Earth.The hero’s movements through nature contrasted with the criminal destruction of nature by the villains presents two clear perspectives about the treatment of nature, but Tolkien also inserts his perspective through the inclusion of Tree characters, like Ents. Trees and tree characters are an essential part of Tolkien's legendarium that help to illuminate the author's claims about environmentalism and the impacts of progress on the world. How characters interact with nature inform their ethics and point …

The Tragedy Of Krudhog The Cruel: A Horrid Tale Best Never Told At All, Eric Ramos

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

What have I to tell you, unlucky one, of this vision brought before me? Hear it here that I, Othur Lokbrok, do not speak with a voice of my own, but rather echo the Sisters Weird, come to me one night in a passion and fury beyond all earthly resemblance. Thereupon that cursed night was I, awake and trembling, for out of a dream my spirit raised itself vigilant, as hushed voices seemed to seep and slither eerily through my window. Then in the dark at the foot of my bed a dampened candle glowed red hot as three faces, …

Stigma And The Social Function Of Fate In The Story Of Túrin Turambar, Clare Moore

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper applies Erving Goffman's theories of stigma to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Children of Húrin in order to explore the social function of Túrin's fate throughout the narrative. Interpreting fate as a stigma reveals the role society plays in the tragedy of Túrin's story through the lens of a social model of disability.

"A Mind Of Metal And Wheels": Agrarian Ruralism In Joss Whedon's Firefly And J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Hines

English (MA) Theses

Both Joss Whedon's Firefly and J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings present settings that are just as much influenced by the environments in which they occur as they are by the characters who act within those environments. For J.R.R. Tolkien, it was his lived experience of having grown up in a changing England that influenced his depiction of the world, while Joss Whedon's Firefly revisits and readapts the American mythos of the Western and the cowboy and re-appropriates it to science fiction, placing the action in the far future and in space where humanity is once again exploring and …

Tolkien: Scholar And Modern Game Pioneer, Alicia Breinke

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

History can be a necessity, or necessary evil for some people when we want to comprehend real-time issues or trends. Gaming is a trend that applies to this since we often seem to be drawn in by the excitement of the graphics, music, and storylines, yet it seems like people seldomly try to uncover their origins. At the same time, though, a game’s historic foundation is essential to understand since it can help us gain a greater appreciation for these experiences. Role play games are an exceptional example of this since many renowned ones have external influences. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The …

Frodo And Sam’S Relationship In The Light Of Aristotle’S Philia, Martina Juričková

Journal of Tolkien Research

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship of the two major characters of Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam. It tries to find out whether their relationship can be regarded as friendship and what kind of friendship it is. It analyses the relationship of Frodo and Sam and its development according to Aristotle’s teaching on friendship as this was the first and most complex analysis of friendship as a social and philosophical phenomenon. This work comes to the conclusion that Frodo and Sam’s relationship can be understood as an example of perfect, …

Tolkien's Calques Of Classicisms: Who Knew Elvish Latin, What Did The Rohirrim Read, And Why Was Bilbo Cheeky?, John Wm. Houghton

Journal of Tolkien Research

In his legendarium, Tolkien presents four variants of what would be considered "classicism" in the Primary World: but the presence of all-but-immortal elves creates situations in which a classicizing devotion to ancient exemplars might not arise.

"Slain Ye Shall Be": Eschatological Morality And The House Of Feanor In Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Ashley Anteau

Honors Projects

This thesis expands on existing research and analysis of the eschatology of J. R. R. Tolkien’s invented mythology, with a critical analysis of how it relates to morality and the overarching exploration of good and evil, primarily in The Silmarillion. By analyzing Tolkien’s medieval and spiritual influences, as well as Tolkien’s unfinished works published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien, it explores the effect of the relationship between morality and mortality on the emotional core of Tolkien’s work. It offers new insights into the text by engaging especially with the often overlooked story of the sons of Feanor, and how this story …

Tolkien And The Age Of Forgery: Improving Antiquarian Practices In Arda, Will Sherwood

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article situates J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium as a literary descendent of the antiquarian projects from the 'Age of Forgery' in the 1760s. It argues that Tolkien's motivation to create a national mythology echoed those of James Macpherson and Thomas Chatterton. Drawing on previously unpublished folios from Tolkien's undergraduate notebooks, it showcases his familiarity with the two forgers, their feigned literary heritages, and British antiquarian practices in the eighteenth century. It further argues that Tolkien improved on Macpherson's and Chatterton's antiquarian methodologies by marrying the oral tradition with the written word in The Book of Lost Tales, The Hobbit, and The …

Translating Tolkien. The Thin Line Between Translation And Misrepresentation. An Italian Case-Study, Marcantonio Savelli

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article deals with the translation of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. It investigates the possibility that translation may represent a potential weapon, in the hands of tolkien's patronizing critics, to transform "from the inside", id est through misrepresentation, what could not be incorporated or "normalized" “from the outside”, i.e. by traditional criticism. The basis for these considerations is a case-study related to the Italian context. Recently (2019), the previous Italian translation of The Lord of the Rings was withdrawn from the market by the publisher, in order to replace it with a different one. The way in which this …

The Tale Of The Old Forest: The Damaging Effects Of Forestry In J. R. R. Tolkien’S Written Works, Katrine L. A. Hjulstad

Journal of Tolkien Research

The Old Forest is more often than not considered a wholly villainous woodland, and yet in a letter to the Daily Telegraph (1972), J. R. R. Tolkien claimed that he ‘take[s] the part of trees’ in all his works. Verlyn Flieger takes issue with this claim in her essay ‘Taking the Part of Trees’, as it seems to suggest that Tolkien’s Hobbits in the Old Forest were no better than the Orcs in Fangorn. Here it is argued that Flieger’s interpretation forgets that Tolkien intended The Lord of the Rings to appear as the Hobbits’ writings and recollections, and shows …

'Where Many Paths And Errands Meet': Travel Writing In The Lord Of The Rings, Will Glover

Journal of Tolkien Research

In this paper I examine The Lord of the Rings through the lens of genre criticism. I take issue with the commonplace characterisation of the work as an ‘epic’ or a ‘romance’, a tendency that has restricted interpretations of the work and tied criticism of it too exclusively to that of medieval literature. I argue that the work should be viewed as a modern novel: an open-ended and capacious text comprised of numerous generic traditions, including the previously overlooked genre of travel literature. After establishing a working definition of travel writing, I analyse The Lord of the Rings's paratextual …

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 …

“‘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.

Enchantment: A Teleology, Nathanael S. Toth

Senior Honors Theses

Despite the highly developed nature of his fictional world, Middle-earth, Tolkien never formally laid out a tabulated magic system for his fantasy creation. Nevertheless, unlike many stories by others in the fantasy genre, the magic he does include is far from just a shallow, world-building mechanism. Instead, it encapsulates the core theme of his fiction and the purposes which Ilúvatar (the God of Middle-earth) has given to the story’s many characters.

This paper will examine the nature and function of this magic from many angles: the identification of good magic with art and evil magic with domination; the delineation between …

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 …

Of The Silmarils And The Ring: J. R. R. Tolkien's Fiction And The Importance Of Creation And Art, Michael Hartinger

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

J. R. R. Tolkien embodies the opposing ideals of Enchantment and the Machine in the Silmarils and the One Ring respectively. These created objects oppose each other just as Tolkien’s ideals of art do. Enchantment is art’s ideal, it's purpose is to glorify and enrich the beauty of reality through subcreation. The Silmarils exhibit the delight of making and perceiving beauty. Whereas the Machine is art’s shadowy reflection that utilizes apparatuses or devices rather than personal talent in order to coerce others and reality itself. Overall Tolkien's aesthetic theories reflect many fears surrounding modern attitudes toward weaponizing art. Tolkien supplies …

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 …

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 …

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

The Horse And The Heroic Quest: Equestrian Indicators Of Morality In Lancelot, Don Quixote, And Tolkien, Kirsten G. Rodning

English MA Theses

There is a strong connection in Don Quixote and the works of Chretièn de Troyes and J.R.R. Tolkien between a character’s moral decisions and the way that said character treats his horse or horses. The Horse and the Heroic Quest: Equestrian Indicators of Morality in Lancelot, Don Quixote, and Tolkien studies the moral factors that affect the way heroic characters are revealed to readers and how these morals relate to the ways in which characters interact with horses. This ecocritical study focuses on the protagonists in Chretièn’s Lancelot, Cervantes’s Don Quixote, and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and …

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 …

Review Of Higgins, Anglo-Saxon Community In J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Carol A. Leibiger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Longinus To Tolkien: A Theory Of The Fantastic Sublime, Seth Wilson

English Department Theses

As concepts, the fantastic and the sublime share much in common. Both have the power to take a reader outside the scope of his or her own worldview and experience, and both share the paradoxical power to both elevate and humble the human spirit. So it is surprising that few scholars have explored the intersection between these two constructs, and none has attempted to systematically explore how this intersection operates in the context of literary theory. This thesis endeavors to build a theoretical framework for the fantastic sublime by exploring its constituent parts. First, I examine the contribution of the …

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 ( …

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.

Bones Of The Soup An Exploration Of J.R.R. Tolkien's Methodology, Devan Bierbrauer

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.