Parma-kenta: 2014

Saturday, 6 December 2014

Tolkien Transactions LII

November 2014

Well, I'm back ...
After a hiatus of three months, I return with the Tolkien Transactions for the month of November 2014. This means that I have skipped the transactions for August through October, except for the few bits that I had prepared before I got too busy, and the few bits that are too good to miss out on :-)

The latter – the pieces from August through October that are too good to miss – will probably be appearing over the next couple of issues ... just because.

All the usual disclaimers apply about newness, completeness and relevance (or any other implication of responsibility) :-)

These transactions are posted on my blog, Parma-kenta (Enquiry into the books) and on the Tolkien Society web-site.

This month it has suited my purposes to sort the contents under the following headlines:
1: News
2: Events
3: Essays and Scholarship
4: Commentary
5: Reviews and Book News
6: Interviews
7: Tolkienian Artwork
8: Other Stuff
9: The Blog Roll
10: Sources

Oh, and a very merry Yule to everybody!

Joe Gilronan, 2014-11-28
First Snowfall, The Shire

= = = = News = = = =

The Tolkien Society ‘News’
Do remember to regularly check – or, even better, subcribe to – the news from the Tolkien Society. This is one of the most exhaustive sources of various news about Tolkien (and more or less related matters, including news about Peter Jackson).
Daniel Helen, Friday, 1 August 2014, ‘BBC launches online guide on Tolkien and the Great War’
The first I saw about the BBC iWonder guide on The Lord of the Rings and WWI:
Various, BBC, ‘How was The Lord of the Rings influenced by World War One?’
An elementary guide to the question raised by the title. I remain unconvinced with regards to the implications of the Nazgûl part (the latter half of part 3), but overall the guide is fine as far as it goes.

Daniel Helen, Monday, 4 August 2014, ‘Tolkien and Fantasy Online Courses returns September 2014’
About the on-line courses taught by Dr. Dimitra Fimi.

David Emerson, Mythopoeic Society, Sunday, 10 August 2014, ‘Mythopoeic Awards: 2014 Winners Announced’
Congratulations to all the winners, but of course particularly to Jason Fisher for winning the Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies with his book, Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays.

Oxford Today, Friday, 15 August 2014, ‘Farewell, Tolkien's Tree’
The story of the final defeat of the Pinus Nigra in the Oxford Botanic Garden, known for being a special favourite of Tolkien's, hit just about the turn of July, with this being released in mid-August. See also the news from the Tolkien Society on 30 July, Tolkien’s favourite tree to be cut down.

David Oberhelman, The Mythopoeic Society, Thursday, 30 October 2014, ‘Mythopoeic Awards 2015: Call for Nominations’
Members of the Mythopoeic Society have until February 1^st to nominate books for the 2015 Mythopoeic Awards. If you are not a member yet, then hurry off to http://www.mythsoc.org/join/ to join.

= = = = Events = = = =

Mythgard Institute, , ‘Mythmoot II Proceedings’
Proceedings (a mix of abstracts, full texts and videos) from the second Mythmoot.

ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, ‘Politics in Tolkien: What We Can Learn From Hobbits’
A guest lecture with Tom Shippey to be held on 15 April 2015. If you know of anyone going, or if you find a report from this event elsewhere, I would love to know about it.

= = = = Essays and Scholarship = = = =

Medievalist.net
Highlights with some Tolkien connection from November:
“The Hero’s Journey: Beowulf, Film, and Masculinity” – In her bachelor thesis from Arizona, Katherine Marie Ismeurt looks at The Hero's Journey: Beowulf, Film, and Masculinity. (2 November)

Jef Murray, 2014-11-29
Fireside Journeys

Simon Cook, Wednesday, 6 August 2014, ‘Scef or Scyld? (Tolkien's English Mythology revisited)’
Despite the obvious attraction of a theory that sets my home area at the centre of much of Tolkien's imaginative work (I do live on Zealand, a mere 15 km from the presumed site of Heorot – less than 10 miles), I do not rush to embrace Cook's theories. Or, perhaps rather, I am willing to accept them as a contributing factor in that complex network of influences and inspirations that, along with a healthy dose of original, sub-creative genius, brought about Tolkien's fiction, but I hesitate to assign a greater importance to these influences than to many of the other.

Michael Flowers, Monday, 11 August 2014, ‘In Tolkien's Genuine Footsteps’
A well-written blog/essay on Tolkien's connections to East Yorkshire and particularly the Holderness area and Roos. It is good to see these actual connections emphasised in a time where we are faced left and right with fallacious claims of connections to the Burren, to Ethiopia or to Pawnee legends – claims based on spurious reasoning. In this case, the research, however, is solid, and we still get to add details to our understanding of these connections as e.g. Michael Flowers builds on earlier research by Carpenter, Garth and Mathison.

John Garth, Wednesday, 24 September 2014, ‘Middle-earth turns 100’
In celebration of the 100 years anniversary of Tolkien's poem, The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star, John Garth writes, inspiringly as always, on the beginning and emergence of Tolkien's legendarium – adding a particular discovery about the name Lowdham that I will encourage you to read in Garth's own words.

Jonathan S. McIntosh, Monday, 3 November 2014, ‘Elvish modal metaphysics: no possible worlds?’
It's been a while since his last post, but Jonathan McIntosh has now posted an interesting question on his Flame Imperishable blog. It is, admittedly, of the rather metaphysical sort (there's a reason I like his posts so much), with some interesting (albeit tenuous) connections to certain aspects of physics (I'm thinking of various interpretations of quantum physics).
There is also an interesting connection to letter #153 in which Tolkien writes about sub-creation as “a tribute to the infinity of His [God's] potential variety” (I have quoted more from the letter in a comment to the blog post).

Simon J. Cook, Tuesday, 4 November 2014, ‘On disciplinary sin’
A meta-comment here from Simon Cook on the tendency to approach Tolkien studies from a very narrow disciplinary perspective. Simon Cook's commentary here is mainly addressed at the English literary criticism approach to reading and understanding Tolkien, but I think it is applicable also to other approaches. For my own part, I know that I am likely to exaggerate the effect of Old Norse mythology on Tolkien's work, but I am aware of it, and I think that is an important step, and next we need scholars to start looking for the evidence and ideas that would actually falsify their own theories.

Simon J. Cook, Thursday, 6 November 2014, ‘What is a Hobbit?’
This idea is intriguing, and the probability that there is something of Rhys' ideas floating around somewhere in Tolkien's Hobbits seems to me large enough to at least warrant some further study. I am, however, somewhat sceptical of the phrasing: “Did Tolkien discover Hobbits in the pages of Rhys’s writing on Welsh fairies?” to which Cook answers affirmatively. I find this an exaggeration given what also know about Wyke Smith's Snergs and Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt. It does seem likely that Tolkien had found bits and pieces in various sources, and that these combined in his mind with something of his own to become Hobbits; that is, that Tolkien discovered the Hobbits in his own mind, but that some bits of pieces of the Hobbits come from other sources, possibly including Rhys' aborigines.

= = = = Commentary = = = =

Jason Fisher, Tuesday, 5 August 2014, ‘Bad puns can be hobbit-forming’
Full marks to Jason Fisher for his ability to imagine a time when the hobbit/habit pun was still fresh. In this post he traces the pun as far back as possible, with the earliest use discovered so far being from April 1955.

Jason Fisher, Monday, 3 November 2014, ‘Jonah and the Colocynth’
Following the publication of Tolkien's translation of Jonah in Journal of Inklings Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2 (October 2014), Jason Fisher here offers the first comments, which are related to the translation of a single word. “I would always rather try to wring the juice out of a single sentence, or explore the implications of one word than try to sum up a period in a lecture, or pot a poet in a paragraph.” indeed!
See also Judith Wolfe, Friday, 1 August 2014, ‘Tolkien's Jonah Text’ and John D. Rateliff, Thursday, 20 November 2014, ‘Tolkien's Jonah’

Dwight Longenecker, Thursday, 13 November 2014, ‘Quickened to Full Life by War: Tolkien's Redemption of the Trenches’
I am not sure that I agree with everything he says, but I do find Longenecker's perspective on the relations between Tolkien's Great War experiences and his mythological vision to be interesting (admittedly some of my scepticism may be due to some simplifications – Longenecker, I think, is not writing to Tolkien students such as myself, but to a more general audience).

Michael Martinez, Thursday, 20 November 2014, ‘Silmarillion Simulations: Boldly Writing What Tolkien Never Wrote’
Michael Martinez discusses the idea of ‘what The Silmarillion might have looked like, “had Tolkien finished it”” concluding that not only were Tolkien unable to complete The Silmarillion, but we have little to guide us to where it might have gone, had Tolkien worked on it longer than he did. Amen to that! Personally I think the idea of a ‘canon’ of Tolkien's Middle-earth, however attractive, is producing more harm than good, and I would rather have people see Tolkien's work as a beautiful evolving whole.

Jane Ciabattari, Thursday, 20 November 2014, ‘Hobbits and hippies: Tolkien and the counterculture’
“Between the lines” is the title of this column ... beyond the lines might be a better name for this, but it seems to be the month for this kind of thing. Whence came, for instance, the idea that pipeweed is hallucinogenic? On the plus side is the aspect of explaining to a younger generation the fascination of the hippies with Tolkien's work, on the negative side is the apparent endorsement of the hippie reading of The Lord of the Rings.

Kelly Bulkeley, Huffington Post, Thursday, 20 November 2014, ‘Tolkien's Future Vision of Lucid Dreaming’
A commentary in a main-stream media outlet that comments on Tolkien's The Notion Club Papers is, in and of itself, interesting enough to warrant mention. Of course it doesn't hurt that the commentary appears level-headed and doesn't try to read more into Tolkien's story than the text can actually support.

Michael D.C. Drout, Tuesday, 25 November 2014, ‘How to Read J.R.R. Tolkien’
A link to Michael Drout's October 2014 lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. To be watched!

= = = = Reviews and Book News = = = =

Judith Wolfe, Friday, 1 August 2014, ‘Tolkien's Jonah Text’
The news that Tolkien's translation of the Book of Jonah, which he made for the Jerusalem Bible, will be published in the Journal of Inklings Studies in October.
See also Daniel Helen, Saturday, 2 August 2014, ‘Tolkien's translation of Jonah to be published’

Jef Murray, 2014-11-29
Sam at Caradhras

Catholic World Report, Thursday, 30 October 2014, ‘The Political Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien’
Despite warning that “Every interpreter is tempted to remake Tolkien in his or her own image.” this seems exactly what Dr. Richards is bent on doing himself in his book, The Hobbit Party. Like most (all?) other one-sided attempts at interpretative criticism, Richards' views suffer from a strong confirmation bias. This, of course, does not mean that everything that he says is wrong (most of it probably isn't); only that this interview suggests that he has never stopped to ask himself whether there might be other likely explanations than the ones he favour. Based on this interview (and some other bits and pieces) I certainly do not feel tempted to spend any money on this book.
Joseph Pearce responds to comments in the above interview on Tolkien and the idea of distributism, Thursday, 6 November 2014, ‘Distributism in the Shire: The Political Kinship of Tolkien & Belloc’
And the authors, Jay Wesley Richards and Jonathan Witt respond to Pearce's comments here, Monday, 10 November 2014, ‘Tolkien vs. Belloc on Distributism: A Response to Joseph Pearce’
Whatever one's views, a good and envigorating discussion.

Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, Monday, 3 November 2014, ‘New Tolkien Projects, Part Two’
If I wasn't conscientously writing up things chronologically, this piece would have made the top! Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond here announce that they are making a follow-up volume to the book The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, the next one to be The Art of The Lord of the Rings. Woohoo! To be published some time in 2015.

Christopher Howse, The Telegraph, Friday, 14 November 2014, ‘Tolkien and the Goths' disaster’
A review of the recent biography, Tolkien by Raymond Edwards. Howse is fairly positive of this new biography, though he doesn't say what, if anything, it adds to the knowledge available from reading the books by Humphrey Carpenter (J.R.R. Tolkien: A biography and The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien), by Christina Scull and Wayne Hammond (The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide) and by John Garth (Tolkien and the Great War). Before buying new biographical works, I think it is necessary to know what they add to our knowledge – and, frankly, if they do not add anything new (White, Grotta, ...) then I am not spending my money on them.

Shaun Gunner, Tuesday, 25 November 2014, ‘New book by Patrick Curry: Deep Roots in a Time of Frost’
A short description of the new book by Patrick Curry that has been published by Walking Tree Publishers as the 33^rd book in their Cormarë series. Also see the book's page at the publisher's site: Deep Roots in a Time of Frost: Essays on Tolkien

David Bratman, Wednesday, 26 November 2014, ‘Published Tolkien drafts and annotations in book form: a quick guide’
An excellent overview of the publications of annotated editions and drafts and associated papers for all the books Tolkien published in his life. Having just received Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond's new edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, I will have to find their 1999 edition of Farmer Giles of Ham in order to complete my set.

Project Muse: Tolkien Studies Vol. 11, Friday, 28 November 2014, ‘Volume 11, 2014’
The table of contents for volume 11 of Tolkien Studies and electronic access for the lucky people with Project Muse access to the journal.

= = = = Interviews = = = =

Alison Flood, The Guardian, Tuesday, 5 May 2009, ‘Christopher Tolkien answers questions about Sigurd and Gudrún’
This old interview was again brought to my attention recently, and I thought it was appropriate to also remind others of its existence.

Jef Murray, 2014-11-29
The Pony & the Mage

Vidya Venkatesh, The Williams Record, Wednesday, 12 November 2014, ‘Librarian found love, career through Tolkien’
A delightful interview with Tolkien scholar Wayne G. Hammond. I will not summarise – read the whole thing yourself (if you haven't yet)

John D. Rateliff, Tuesday, 25 November 2014, ‘A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT arrives’
On the arrival of an advance copy of the abbreviated version of Rateliff's History of the Hobbit, the shorter version, A Brief History of the Hobbit is aimed people who “found the size of the full version intimidating” – which presumably cannot include many of my own readers ... ;-)

Sue Bridgwater, Saturday, 29 November 2014, ‘Back to the past - Simon J. Cook on Tolkien and History’
A short review of Simon J. Cook's new e-book single, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lost English Mythology, which is out on Kindle. Sue Bridgwater finds that “Cook has opened up an insufficiently explored aspect of the development of Tolkien as a scholar and writer” and urges “anyone truly interested in Tolkien's work” to read it. Well, I have a high respect for Sue's opinion, but Cook's book was on my reading list even before this.

= = = = Tolkienian Artwork = = = =

Jef Murray, Wednesday, 8 October 2014, ‘Scatha the Wyrm’
One of the less depicted of Tolkien's great worms, it is good to see Jef Murray also tackling this.

Joe Gilronan, Friday, 28 November 2014, ‘First Snowfall The Shire’
a very nice seasonal picture from Joe Gilronan depicting Hobbit children playing in the snow and a presumably well-known staff-carrying figure in grey.

Jef Murray, 2014-11-29
The Conversation

Jef Murray, Saturday, 29 November 2014, ‘The Conversation’
A meeting of two of the Wise on the greenway a day on Mid-year's Day in SR 1418 ...
See also this eponymous sketch from Wednesday, 8 October 2014, ‘The Conversation’

Jef Murray, Saturday, 29 November 2014, ‘Fireside Journeys’
Though the fireside traveller in this case appears to be a Hobbit, I am sure that we can all recognize this mode of travelling when we find ourselves under the enchantment of Tolkien's sub-creation.

= = = = Other Stuff = = = =

Shaun Gunner, Sunday, 3 August 2014, ‘German Tolkien Seminar 2015’
On the 2015 seminar of the German Tolkien Society, with the theme ‘On Fairy-stories’.
See also Shaun Gunner, Sunday, 3 August 2014, ‘Call For Papers: German Tolkien Society Seminar’

David Bratman, Saturday, 9 August 2014, ‘Mythcon, day 1’
David Bratman's reports from MythCon. There is more Tolkien-related stuff in the reports from later parts of MythCon – see the reports from day 2, and from days 3 – 4.

BBC Radio 4, Sunday, 26 October 2014, ‘Hope in the Darkness’
The BBC Radio 4 ‘Sunday Worship’ on 26 October was broadcast from Merton College and featured also an exploration of Tolkien's life and spirituality by Pref. Alister McGrath. The bodcast is no longer available, but transcript can be found at the page.

Emil Johansson, Tuesday, 18 November 2014, ‘The Age of Characters in the Lord of the Rings’
An infographics by Emil Johansson of the LotR Project

= = = = The Blog Roll = = = =

Jef Murray, 2014-10-08
Scatha the Wyrm

= = = = Sources = = = =

New sources in November 2014

For older sources, see http://parmarkenta.blogspot.com/p/sources.html

Monday, 13 October 2014

More than a delay ...

It will not have escaped your notice that the last issue of my Tolkien Transactions that I have managed to put up covered the month of July, though it was posted towards the end of August.

Since then, silence ...

In order to be able to get back on track, I have, though not without regret, decided that my only option is to cancel any coverage of August through October. I hope that I will be able to post something for November, but this is still doubtful, so don't expect too much.

I have kept hoping that I would get the time to write up the next issue – if not today, then tomorrow ... or next week ...

But time has not materialised.

Therefore, I have had to acknowledge that I do not currently have the time to produce these issues, and if I tried to catch up with it all, it would just become increasingly impossible to find the time at all.

The main reason for this is quite simple: I am very busy at work. Since starting my new job a year ago, my manager has discovered that whatever qualities it is I use to compose my posts here, can also be used in the service of the company – and for some odd reason, she thinks that my wages pay for a priority claim. The final straw, making me give in now, has been the announcement of a major re-organisation to take effect by November 1^st, and with an internal audit to fill out the intervening time (I am in the medical device business, and our internal auditors have a reputation that makes the FDA auditors seem like your favourite kindergarten teacher ...).

In the meantime I will work on updating my sources page, so that you will be able to follow all this wonderful stuff yourselves. There are a wonderful lot of blogs and others that publish Tolkien-related stuff and who provide RSS feeds. I used to use the Google Reader to organise my RSS feeds, but after they closed that, I have switched to Feedly (www.feedly.com), which I find suits my needs (lots of feeds of various kinds, organising, tagging, saving, etc.). The advantage is that I don't have to download the feeds to each device, but I can read my feeds on my private PC, my work PC, my phone etc. and not have to worry about synchronising.

All the links in my sources section have feeds that you can subscribe to using e.g. Feedly (or another reader of your choice). Even Google News lets you set up an RSS feed for a search term, so that you can have a feed of all news-items including the word “Tolkien” ... (yes, that is quite a lot, but I skip about 95% of it anyway, since I am not particularly interested in news relating to any products licensed from Middle-earth Enterprises – formerly Tolkien Enterprises, the division of The Saul Zaentz Company that holds rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).

So, the short version: no Tolkien Transactions until the November issue, or possibly even the December issue.

Sorry!

Friday, 22 August 2014

Tolkien Transactions LI

July 2014

This is, without doubt, the most belated issue of my transactions ever. Let's hope that it will remain so in perpetuum, so I will put this on-line without further ado.

I have been busy and I shall not bore you with details, except, perhaps, to note that my wife and I had a most wonderful silver wedding anniversary in July, and that the Jubilee Banquet the Copenhagen Tolkien Society, Bri (Bree) in early August, was a most enjoyable event. Apart from that, I will merely note that all the usual disclaimers about newness, completeness and relevance (or any other implication of responsibility) of course apply :-)

This month it has suited my purposes to sort the contents under the following headlines:
1: News
2: Essays and Scholarship
3: Commentary
4: Reviews and Book News
5: Tolkienian Artwork
6: Other Stuff
7: In Print
8: Web Sites
9: The Blog Roll
10: Sources

= = = = News = = = =

The Tolkien Society, July 2014, ‘News items from July 2014’
A little film-heavy this month to my tastes, but the Tolkien Society web-site is one of the best sources for general news about matters Tolkien.

Mark Shea, Wednesday, 2 July 2014, ‘Extremely Cool New Tolkien Recording Found’
More on the recording from the 1958 Hobbit dinner in Rotterdam.

Sarah Giles, ConnectCannock, Thursday, 17 July 2014, ‘First Tolkien walk hailed a success’
A report on the first of the Tolkien-walks in Staffordshire around Great Haywood – Tavrobel of The Book of Lost Tales.

Nancy Churnin, The Dallas Morning News, Friday, 11 July 2014, ‘When J.R.R. Tolkien gave a local children's director permission to adapt ‘The Hobbit’’
Perhaps an example of what Tolkien really meant when he spoke of leaving room for other hands wielding drama ...

David Bratman, Saturday, 12 July 2014, ‘Christopher W. Mitchell’
An obituary for Christopher W. Mitchell, the former director of the Marion. E Wade center.

David Bratman, Sunday, 20 July 2014, ‘Tolkien on film’
In July it was revealed that there are two projects working on a so-called ‘bio-pic’ on Tolkien. One focusing on his early life and another focusing on his friendship with C.S. Lewis. The most intelligent commentary that I have found on this is David Bratman's linked here (make sure to read his supplement). I expect that he is completely right that this will only mean that “people concerned with getting the facts right have to spend the rest of their lives patiently explaining that It Wasn't Really Quite Like That.” – horrifying thought, and to tell the truth, I am apalled at the prospects.
And that is all I have to say on this issue – google for "Tolkien bio-pic" or some such if you want more.

Ted Johnson, Tuesday, 22 July 2014, ‘Judge refuses to disqualify Tolkien attorneys in 'Lord of the Rings' dispute’
A very short piece about the on-going legal battle – I very much doubt that the Estate is particularly interested in more money, they just wish to be able to block some of the worst excesses of commercial debasement of Tolkien.

Ali Ryland, Friday, 25 July 2014, ‘The J.R.R Tolkien legacy at Bloodstock Open Air 2014’
Sub-titled ‘How Tolkien is still inspiring the metal and rock community’ the article looks at this. The writer muses that “It is amusing to imagine what Tolkien, who died in 1973, would think of all this.” – though I am not sure that I would use ‘amusing’, I think it is curious that Tolkien's work continues to inspire music that would (presumably) lie so very far outside his range of sympathies.
See also RTÉ, Wednesday, 30 July 2014, ‘Tolkien delayed enlisting for First World War’

Mary Griffin, Birmingham Mail, Wednesday, 30 July 2014, ‘Birmingham setting which inspired JRR Tolkien named the UK's top 'hidden spot'’
The headline says it all, really ...

= = = = Essays and Scholarship = = = =

Medievalist.net
Highlights with some Tolkien connection from July:
“From Old Norse to Modern Icelandic” (1 July)
“Dreams in Old Norse-Icelandic Royal Biographies as Representations of the Dynastic Identity: The Case of the Fairhair Dynasty” (6 July)
“Man, woman or monster : some themes of female masculinity and transvestism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance” (6 July)
“Æthelstan, Anglo-Saxon King of England” (10 July)
“Making Sacrifices: Beowulf and Film” (21 July)
“Can you solve these Anglo-Saxon Riddles” (21 July)
“The Byzantine Silver Bowls in the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial and Tree-Worship in Anglo-Saxon England” (22 July)
“The Sisters of King Æthelstan” (24 July)

Simon J. Cook, Saturday, 5 July 2014, ‘The island at the heart of Tolkien's imagination’
Being a Zealander (Danish Sjællænder) myself, I was obviously very intrigued to see this post focusing of the stage of the main part of the Beowulf poem (I have grown up and still live less than 10 miles in a straight line from the supposed site of the Heorot mead hall). It is, of course, important to notice that it is not so much our island itself as its literary representation in Anglo-Saxon (and other) poems, legends etc. that sparked Tolkien's imagination. To the best of my knowledge, Tolkien never visited Denmark.

Simon J. Cook, Monday, 14 July 2014, ‘Tolkien & the Religion of the North’
Another piece by Simon J. Cook explorin the relation of Edwardian thinking about the mythoi of the ancient North. In this entry Simon Cook argues that Tolkien wanted to show how the ancient (pre-Viking age) northern mythology was separate from the classic mythology of Greece (a connection made by Edwardian scholars)

Simon J. Cook, Thursday, 17 July 2014, ‘‘Lord of the Rings’ as English Mythology’
I cannot – certainly not yet – go the whole nine yards with Simon Cook on this (Aragorn as Ing / Scyld Scefing?), but the ideas are intriguing and deserve due consideration to try to set some limits to how far it will carry.

John Garth, Tuesday, 29 July 2014, ‘Why World War I Is at the Heart of ‘Lord of the Rings’’
An excellent piece by John Garth building on his research for his book, Tolkien and the Great War (if you haven't read it, then get yourself to the nearest bookshop now!). The great tales never end, “‘No, they never end as tales,’ said Frodo. ‘But the people in them come, and go when their part’s ended.’” I hope that John Garth's part in the great unfolding tale about the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien is not about to end any time soon.

= = = = Commentary = = = =

John D. Rateliff, Thursday, 3 July 2014, ‘Jill Paton Walsh disses Tolkien’
On the appearance of Tolkien in a mystery by Jill Walsh who unfortunately lets her character describe Tolkien as “misogynist” (which, by all avaialable evidence, is untrue).
Also see the follow-up, from the following day, Three (or four) More Points about Paton Walsh

Ioan Marc Jones, Huffington Post, Wednesday, 16 July 2014, ‘Platonic Morality in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit’
A short article relating the moral discussion of the Ring of Gyges to the morality of the Master Ring in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Andrew Higgins, Thursday, 17 July 2014, ‘Travels on the OloreMalle – Mythgard Academy – Talk on Tolkien's Languages’
Andy Higgins has presented some of his research in a Mythgard Academy class, which I look very much forward to finding the time to hear (and see). Have I, by the way, complimented Andy for the brilliant common title for his bloggings on the Tolkien Society site? ‘Travels on the Olórë Mallë’ – travels on the Path of Dreams that lead to the Cottage of the Play of Sleep, or the Cottage of the Children, in Valinor. Brilliant title!

Henry Gee, Saturday, 19 July 2014, ‘A Time To Die: A Question for Tolkienists’
On the theology of Aragorn's death and the willing relinquishing of life by the good Númenóreans in general. It is an interesting question.

John D. Rateliff, Thursday, 24 July 2014, ‘Another Unfact about Tolkien’
Debunking some of the myths surrounding Christopher Lee's one tongue-tied encounter with Tolkien. I strongly believe that one of the responsibilities you have, when you have special knowledge on a topic – and even more when you are considered an authority on the topic – is to spread that knowledge and correct mistakes (see also Marcel Aubron-Bülles' ‘Things J.R.R. Tolkien has never said, done, written or had anything to do with’), so kudos to John Rateliff for joining in with this one.

Dimitra Fimi, Friday, 25 July 2014, ‘On Hobbits and Poetry: Musings on Newly Published Letters by Tolkien’
Some reflections and comments based on the recent publications of letters by Tolkien.

Lydia Smith, Tuesday, 29 July 2014, ‘Fellowship of the Ring 60th Anniversary: How the Masterpiece Reflects JRR Tolkien's WW1 Involvement’
On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, the co-inciding of the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War is too good an opportunity to miss, and as John Garth has already amply demonstrated, there are many links to be investigated between Tolkien's WWI experience and his later fiction.

= = = = Reviews and Book News = = = =

John D. Rateliff, Sunday, 6 July 2014, ‘The Shippey Festschrift’
About the book, but little about the contents.
See also, Pieter Collier, The Tolkien Library, Thursday, 24 July 2014, ‘ Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey’
where you will find a little more information about the book.

Troels Forchhammer, Sunday, 27 July 2014, ‘Tolkien Inside Anglo-Saxon Society’
My review of Deborah A. Higgens' book, Anglo-Saxon Community in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The short version: I like it.

John D. Rateliff, Sunday, 27 July 2014, ‘Tolkien Letters (WRITING Magazing)’
On the article in Writing Magazine that tells the story of, and provides brief quotations from, a conversation between Tolkien and a young girl aspiring to become a poet.

David Bratman, Thursday, 31 July 2014, ‘Tolkien Studies 11: an announcement’
The list of contents for Tolkien Studies 11 and the promise that it will soon be available. I am looking forward to this volume.

= = = = Tolkienian Artwork = = = =

Graeme Skinner, Wednesday, 16 July 2014, ‘Old Man Willow’

= = = = Other Stuff = = = =

David Bratman, Thursday, 3 July 2014, ‘library day’
A story about the frustrations you can run into when trying to research the Tolkien bibliography for the year ...

Michael Martinez, Friday, 11 July 2014, ‘What Do Tolkien Fans Want to Know Most?’
Michael Martinez' long-running Middle-earth blog (see sources) where he attempts to answer various questions, primarily story-internal, is the source of information for this interesting post on what kinds of posts that attract the most interest.

The Clare Herald, Friday, 18 July 2014, ‘Tolkien's writings linked with The Burren’
The inspiration that Tolkien found in certain Irish myths is well documented, as are his visits to the Burren after finishing The Lord of the Rings. The attempts to link features in The Lord of the Rings to the Burren have so far been spurious – not a shred of convincing evidence has been put forth. The very dubious methods employed by the Burren event (e.g. questionable auctioning methods that, in eyes, amounted to legal conning) and the undocumented claims made by people associated with the event makes me very highly dubious about these claims – to my eyes it looks like research misconduct / scientific dishonesty.

= = = = In Print = = = =

Paula Coston, Writing Magazine, July 2014, ‘Tolkien on writing ... and me’
The story of Paula Coston's conversation by letters with J.R.R. Tolkien as a young girl and aspiring poet. In the event, she is now a published novelist, but here she tells the story of her conversation with Tolkien, and includes several quotations (though brief) from the letters she received from Tolkien. Digital access to this can be bought at a reasonable price.
See also the coverage in the news section of the Tolkien Society web-site.

= = = = Web Sites = = = =

Ye Machine
The blog of historian and Tolkienist Simon J. Cook.

Graeme Skinner
The blog and digital showroom of the photos, paintings, drawings etc. of Graeme Skinner – often inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien

= = = = The Blog Roll = = = =

These are blogs you really should be following yourself if you're interested in Tolkien ...
Blogs appearing on the list below are those where the blogger has posted in July (whether Tolkien-related or not), without giving details on the posts (beyond that which is given above).

Pieter Collier, ‘The Tolkien Library’

John D. Rateliff, ‘Sacnoth's Scriptorium’
Archive of posts from July 2014

John Garth, ‘John Garth’
Archive of posts from July 2014

Marcel Aubron-Bülles, ‘The Tolkienist’
Posts from July 2014

David Bratman, ‘Kalimac's Journal’
Posts from July 2014

Jenny Dolfen, ‘Jenny's Sketchbook’
Archive for July 2014

Anna Smol, ‘A Single Leaf’
Posts from July 2014

Various, The Mythopoeic Society

Various, The Tolkien Society
Posts from July 2014

Simon Cook, Ye Machine
Posts from July 2014

Southfarthing Mathom
Archive for July 2014

Michael Martinez, ‘Middle-earth’
Archive of posts from July 2014

Bruce Charlton, ‘Tolkien's The Notion Club Papers’
Posts from July 2014

= = = = Sources = = = =

New sources in July 2014

Simon J. Cook, ‘Ye Machine’
The blog of historian Simon J. Cook, whose research into the history of late Victorian and Edwardian scholarship has given him an excellent knowledge of the ideas that helped shape Tolkien as a scholar and author.
For older sources, see http://parmarkenta.blogspot.com/p/sources.html

Sunday, 27 July 2014

Tolkien Inside Anglo-Saxon Society

A review of Dr. Deborah A. Higgens, Anglo-Saxon Community in J.R.R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings. Oloris Publishing, 2014.

Much has been written about the Anglo-Saxon sources to Tolkien’s work, and I cannot claim to have read all of it. I have, nonetheless, been looking forward to reading this book ever since I first saw it announced in December, as the book promised a more detailed view of the Anglo-Saxon cultural sources and their use within The Lord of the Rings than what I have previously seen.

I started reading the book on my smartphone, which was an error. I had previously read fiction on the phone with no problems, but though the reading application works nicely with non-fiction, I found that I too often lost the thread while reading because too little context was visible at the screen at any given time. When I finally got myself a real e-reader and started reading on that, I found that I could move on at a much greater pace and that I got far more out of my reading. Eventually I went back and read the first chapters again, this time on the bigger screen of the e-reader, and this time getting the full benefit of chapters that had initially left me somewhat unconvinced.

Given the secrecy surrounding the release of Tolkien’s Beowulf, I doubt that Oloris Publishing could have had any knowledge of the plans, but the announcement on March 19^th of the upcoming release of Tolkien’s translation and commentary could not have been better timed with the release on the 25^th of Deborah Higgens’ book (announced in December 2013) if it had been planned – serendipitous seems the word here.

In addition to the chapters found in the contents list, there are a number of sub-chapter headlines that structure the discussion. In order to give an overview of this, I give here the full contents list, including such sub-chapter headlines:

Foreword
Acknowledgements
1	Introduction
2	On Fairy-Stories and Monsters
		“On Fairy-Stories”
		“Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”
			Of Monsters and Heroes: Themes in Beowulf
			Of Monsters and Heroes: Themes in The Lord of the Rings
			Heathen and Christian Elements in Beowulf
			Heathen and Christian Elements in The Lord of the Rings
			Structural Artistry in Beowulf
			Structural Artistry in The Lord of the Rings
		Of Faërie and Monsters: The Bigger Picture
3	Tolkien Enters the Anglo-Saxon Community Through the Mead-Hall Building
		The Mead Hall: An Introduction
		The Mead Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society: Structure and Description
		The Mead Hall in Old English Poetry: Structure and Description
		The Mead Hall in The Lord of the Rings: The Culture of Rohan
		The Riders of Rohan: Tolkien's Anglo-Saxons
4	The Role of the Lord, Comitatus, and Gift-Giving within the Mead Hall
		The Function of the Mead Hall in Anglo-Saxon Society
		The Function of Mead-Hall Society in Old English Poetry (excluding Beowulf)
		The Function of Mead-Hall Society in Beowulf
		The Function of Mead-Hall Society within Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
		The Function of the Mead-Hall Feast within The Lord of the Rings
5	Lady with a Mead Cup: The Lady and Her Role as Cup-bearer, Ambassador, Wife, and Warrior
		The Lady in Anglo-Saxon Society
		The Lady in Anglo-Saxon Poetry
		The Lady as Portrayed in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
6	Conclusion
Works cited
Bibliography
Index

The general structure of the book is such that Dr. Higgens first introduces a topic, then discusses this topic with respect to the Old English culture – first with respect to Anglo-Saxon society and then with respect to its poetry – and last she discusses how Tolkien applies this in The Lord of the Rings.

Higgens starts by introducing the central idea of her book – that Tolkien partook in the community of the Anglo-Saxon scóp, shaping is new, original, story in part by manipulating older idea and elements as did the scóps of old. As a scholar, however, Tolkien also entered the Anglo-Saxon world as a critic, through its texts; Lewis’ comment that Tolkien “had been inside language” (Carpenter) may forget the fact that Tolkien was as much inside the stories of these languages, absorbing them even as he understood them and commented upon them. Higgens writes,

Tolkien hearkens back to a literary community shrouded in mystery and Faërie, from Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poetry to medieval legend. He enters that community both as a critic, examining lost elements of an heroic society, and also as an insider, who manipulates, as did ancient poets, the elements of Story to create his own great fairy-story.

The remainder of the introduction gives an overview of the lay-out of the book, introducing each chapter in turn. As my review moves on, I will introduce each chapter with a quotation from this part, so as to allow Higgens to introduce the intention of the chapter.

Chapter Two is a review of Tolkien’s two articles, “On Fairy-Stories” and “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” and their relationship to Tolkien’s place within the Anglo-Saxon literary community.

In this chapter Deborah Higgens explores Tolkien’s entry into the Anglo-Saxon literary community as a critic through his two seminal lecture-essays, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’ (Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture for 1936) and ‘On Fairy-stories’ (Andrew Lang lecture for 1938–39).

First Higgens revisits the points from Tolkien’s essays that she wishes to use in the discussion of the other aspect of Tolkien’s relation to the Anglo-Saxon literary community – that of the story-teller. Using the critical vocabulary that Tolkien develops in these two essays on his own work – even to the point of quoting his descriptions of the Beowulf poem and poet while applying them to The Lord of the Rings and its author – Higgens demonstrates how Tolkien’s analysis and understanding of the story-telling tradition is also reflected in his own stories.

With respect to the fairy-story essay, Higgens emphasises the ‘sense of reality’ that is created by Tolkien’s stories, and suggests that this is also related to Tolkien, as a cook, drawing himself from the Cauldron of Story, and picking, among other elements from the Cauldron, also from the Anglo-Saxon world that he knew so well.

One of the essential points that Higgens makes in her discussion of the essay ‘On Fairy-stories’ is that while the essay mainly deals with authored fairy-stories, most of it is also applicable to the broader group of folk-tales (a point that has also been made by Verlyn Flieger, and which I used in the paper I read at The Return of the Ring).

As can be seen from the contents list above, Higgens’ reading of the Beowulf essay is split into several sub-sections dealing with some of the major elements of the poem, discussing first the major themes in Tolkien’s critical approach and then how Tolkien applied them in his own work. Given the centrality of Beowulf to the understanding of the Anglo-Saxon world, it is fully justified to spend extra time with this essay.

Discussing first ‘Monsters and Heroes’ she notes the central role that Tolkien in his essay gives to the monsters of Beowulf, both for the story itself and for the development of the Hero, and then she compares this to his use of the monster and the hero in his own work. Moving on to ‘Heathen and Christian’ elements, Higgens notes how Tolkien took the philosophy of unyielding will from the heathen north but combined it with his ideas on the eucatastrophe (as developed in ‘On Fairy-stories’). She writes,

Tolkien used the ancient poet and his work as a rubric for his own writings. As professor of Anglo-Saxon at Merton College in Oxford, he intellectually and emotionally lived in the Anglo-Saxon world so completely that he could not but embrace it while writing his own myth.

Looking finally at ‘Structural Artistry’ the claim is that the structure of Tolkien’s own story, The Lord of the Rings, in many ways follow a similar structure to Beowulf as he himself analysed the latter. Higgens notes that while it “may not be Tolkien’s entire or only theme, yet he presents the same heroic-elegiac element in The Lord of the Rings as is present in Beowulf” and she goes on to explain the majority of The Lord of the Rings as a this kind of heroic elegy as a prelude to a dirge.

At the more concrete level, she likens Frodo’s confrontations with first the human-like wraiths (at Weathertop) and later his symbolic death to Shelob to Beowulf’s confrontations first with Grendel and in the end his death to the dragon.

Chapter Three, “Tolkien Enters the Anglo-Saxon Community through the Mead Hall,” defines the manner in which Tolkien enters the Anglo-Saxon community in its widest sense.

In this chapter, Higgens discusses Tolkien’s personal “entry into the Anglo-Saxon community”, first as a young boy and man discovering the myths and legends of the North and later through both his philological work and his work as a story-teller.

A large part of the chapter is also devoted to the physical structure of the mead hall and its construction based on archaeological evidence and poetic evidence and how Tolkien uses the idea of the hall in The Lord of the Rings, including an interesting comparison of between Heorot and Meduseld as physical structures.

Higgens approaches, but doesn’t quite reach, the integral ideas of cultural identity that Tolkien works with, and where language, stories (myth and folk-tale) combine with the physical lands and the people of the land to a unique cultural identity. See for instance this discussion at the LotR Fanatics Plaza, A Strong Sense of Place: http://www.lotrplaza.com/showthread.php?22164-A-Strong-Sense-of-%27Place%27

In the last sub-section of chapter 3, Higgens speaks of ‘The Riders of Rohan: Tolkien’s Anglo-Saxons’. With this particular subject, I had hoped to find a response to Thomas Honegger’s paper, ‘The Rohirrim: “Anglo-Saxons on Horseback”? An Inquiry into Tolkien’s Use of Sources’ in Tolkien and the Study of His Sources edited by Jason Fisher. This paper is, however, not on the bibliography, though I will greatly recommend it to anyone wishing to investigate this question.

Chapter Four, “The Function of the Mead Hall: The Role of the Lord, Comitatus, and Gift-Giving,” explores the actual function of the mead hall within Anglo-Saxon society, in Old English poetry, and in the feasts described in The Lord of the Rings.

This chapter goes through the role and function of the mead hall in various Anglo-Saxon cultural expressions and discusses how Tolkien reflects this in The Lord of the Rings. The role of the mead hall is extended to include the functions and rituals that were performed in the hall – the societal bonding that takes place in the mead hall, the feasting, gift-giving and, particularly, the comitatus bond between the Lord of the hall and his thanes. The mead hall is described as the central focal point for Anglo-Saxon society – belonging to a lord, but in a manner that I find reminiscent of Tolkien’s overall description of the role of the ruler (I find that Tolkien portrays the ruler as essentially a servant of the society as a whole – kingship is as much an obligation as a right).

Higgens points out that several elements of this mead hall society and the associated feasts and rites are reflected not only in the society of the Riddermark and Meduseld, but also in other cultures in The Lord of the Rings, not least the Elves, where we see many elements of the Anglo-Saxon mead hall culture reflected in the meetings, and not least the feasts, with Elvish rulers in both Rivendell and Lothlórien.

Chapter Five, “Lady with a Mead Cup: The Lady and Her Role as Cup-bearer, Ambassador, Wife, and Warrior,” examines the function of the wife of the lord or king as reflected in Anglo-Saxon society, Old English poetry, and in Tolkien’s incorporation of the Lady in his story.

The role of the queen, the Lady, in Anglo-Saxon society is well summarised in the title of the penultimate chapter, and once again the central role of the mead hall is emphasised with the Lady of the hall contributing to the construction of communal identity through the bonding that is a result of partaking in the communal rituals of the hall.

In Tolkien’s work, the role of the Lady is seen through both Galadriel and Éowyn, discussing how they each fulfil their roles as cup-bearers, ambassadors, wives and warriors. The character analysis of Éowyn, seeing her through the lens of the Anglo-Saxon Lady of the mead hall, is a joy to read, and adds an important chapter to the list of character studies of characters from The Lord of the Rings.

Chapter Six, the conclusion, addresses the value of ancient mead-hall culture, the decline of this culture, and the need to preserve some of its codes for our present day.

In her concluding chapter, Deborah Higgens returns to the practice of applying to himself and his own work Tolkien’s own critical comments on the poets of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and on fairy-stories in general. This technique is excellently suited to summarising, and collecting all the various threads of her discussions, and Higgens manages reasonably well with tying the threads into a firm knot.

Wherever the book stays within the main track of Tolkien’s manner of relating to Anglo-Saxon culture both as a critic and as a story-teller and myth-maker, the discussion is informative and flows quite well, though sometimes it seems to me that Higgens has more to say than what fits easily under the umbrella of Tolkien’s understanding and literary use of Anglo-Saxon culture. These side-tracks are not always as successful as the threads in the main track of the book.

I could also have wished that Higgens had chosen to respond more directly to the work of others – she mentions Tom Shippey, but not his discussion of the Anglo-Saxon elements in Rohirric culture (both in The Road to Middle-earth and in J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century), and other contributions to this topic are also ignored such as the one by Honegger mentioned earlier or Anna Smol’s entry on ‘History, Anglo-Saxon’ in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment.

The discussions of Anglo-Saxon society are interesting, and I have learned much about this from reading this book, but in terms of new perspectives on Tolkien’s work, there are, for me, two points where this book truly shines are. First when Deborah Higgens applies Tolkien’s own critical vocabulary and analysis to his own work, allowing us to understand Tolkien’s work through Tolkien’s own understanding of fairy-stories and Anglo-Saxon poetry. Secondly the character analysis of Éowyn as an example of the Anglo-Saxon Lady stands out as an important contribution to our understanding of her character.

These three, the solid introduction to Anglo-Saxon society and culture, the application of Tolkien’s own critical approach to his own work, and the character analysis of Éowyn, are ample reason for reading Dr. Higgens’ book, and fair reasons for me to recommend it warmly – though perhaps particularly to those of us whose prior knowledge of Anglo-Saxon culture is not so thorough.

Monday, 7 July 2014

Tolkien Transactions L

June 2014

All the usual disclaimers apply about newness, completeness and relevance (or any other implication of responsibility) :-)

These transactions are posted on my blog, Parma-kenta (Enquiry into the books) and on the Tolkien Society web-site.

This month it has suited my purposes to sort the contents under the following headlines:
Beowulf
News
Essays and Scholarship
Commentary
Reviews and Book News
Tolkienian Artwork
Other Stuff
Rewarding Discussions
Web Sites
The Blog Roll
Sources

= = = = Beowulf = = = =

BC, Sunday, 1 June 2014, ‘Review of JRR Tolkien - Beowulf: a translation and commentary’
As idiosyncratic a review as one could expect, but not without virtues. The idea that Tolkien's commentary on Beowulf shows Tolkien at work as philologist is intriguing, though Charlton appears to forget — or chooses to ignore — that the old-fashioned philology that Tolkien practiced was close to being an exact science: it was a matter of rules and predictability; indeed the predictability is at the very heart of the so-called asterisk-forms, which Shippey has emphasised.

Ken Raymond, NewsOK, Sunday, 1 June 2014, ‘Tolkien's 'Beowulf' battles critics’
Fortunately I do not have to try to assess the impact of Tolkien's Beowulf translation and commentary on modern Beowulf scholarship. At a guess, the new book will probably be cited more than most (if not all) other Beowulf research published in 2014, though that is, of course, not necessarily a good measure of its impact. It would seem rather unfair to expect it to revolutionise the field like his 1936 Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics – few scholars get to completely revolutionise their field twice within the same sub-branch (I've tried to think of an example in physics, but failed, though I can come up with a couple that revolutionised their field in two different sub-branches). Though this review by Ken Raymond is generally positive, it does repeat some of the misunderstandings about Tolkien's own view of his transation that also Kevin Kiernan has propounded. For an intelligent answer to these misunderstandings, I recommend reading the ‘Beowulf - Reactions and Reviews’ thread linked in the discussions section.

Medievalist.net, Monday, 2 June 2014, ‘Eight Videos about Beowulf’
It would probably take quite an effort to completely convince me that the timing of this post on Medievalist.net featuring eight videos (ranging from 1'28" to 18'30") has nothing to do with the recent release of Tolkien's Beowulf, but it doesn't really matter, does it – the videos are quite interesting. The one with professor Patrick Brian McGuire shows him in Lejre, not far from where the photos from my May transactions were taken.

MM, Tuesday, 3 June 2014, ‘In the Grokking of the Beowulf’
Some interesting notes on the dating of various lecture notes in the new Beowulf and the relation (in terms of time of composition) between various material from Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary and material from the composition of The Lord of the Rings published in The History of Middle-earth volumes VI—IX

Jim Beckerman, Wednesday, 4 June 2014, ‘New Tolkien translation music to the ears of Ramapo teacher’
Not so much a review as an interview with Yvette Kisor abour her impression of the book (I presume that most of the facts that are not in direct quotations are nonetheless supplied by Kisor). I do wonder, though, if Kisor really intends to assign all of Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary to her spring 2015 class.

Jeff Sypeck, Sunday, 8 June 2014, ‘‘Bless with a hard heart those who surround me…’’
A frank and intelligent review of the new book. Jeff Sypeck, at least as I read it, seems to suggest that Tolkien was too obsessed with conveying the meaning of the poem, and thereby lost some of its other qualities – “lest some beloved philological pebble be lost,” as he says.

Dimitra Fimi, Tuesday, 10 June 2014, ‘Dr Dimitra Fimi on Sellic Spell and Folktales’
From the Tolkien Society and Middle-earth Network Launch Party for Tolkien's Beowulf, Dr Dimitra Fimi talks about the story Sellic Spell and its character as a folk-tale.

Ben Gardiner, Harper Collins, Tuesday, 10 June 2014, ‘Designing Beowulf’
A short description of the visual design of the dust-jacket for Tolkien's Beowulf and the process leading up to it, this provides an interesting insight into one of the many processes that take place in the publishing of a book like this.

‘Greendragon’, Wednesday, 11 June 2014, ‘Tolkien's Beowulf – a review’
A review of Tolkien's translation of the Beowulf poem and of Christopher Tolkien's preface and notes (the author has not completed the rest of the book yet).

Almudena Nido, Medievalist.net, Saturday, 14 June 2014, ‘Grendel: Boundaries of Flesh and Law’
Though not related to Tolkien's Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, this article (a paper from a 2012 conference) diving into Grendel would still belong here, I think. We know how Tolkien championed the monsters of the poem as essential, and this article, takes an even closer look at Grendel, specifically.

SM, Saturday, 14 June 2014, ‘First Saturday in June’
The Southampton Tolkien Reading Group has started reading Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary in June. As usual the comments arising from their discussions are well worth reading, including a likely error in the translation (they where thy should have been).

= = = = News = = = =

Please refer to the news section of the Tolkien Society web-site: news for June 2014
News appearing on that site will only be reported here if I have something to add beyond what is said there.

Eriq Gardner, Hollywood Reporter, Tuesday, 10 June 2014, ‘Warner Bros. Wants to Disqualify Tolkien Lawyers in “Hobbit” Fight’
I suppose it will be no surprise to anyone reading this that I would like to see the rights of Saul Zaentz Co. and Warner Bros. reduced and limited at much as at all possible, and preferably revoked entirely. Reading about these incessant legal battles, however, is tiring – how on earth can it be a problem that anyone wishes for the people who know best to be heard in a case?

David Emerson, The Mythopoeic Society, Wednesday, 11 June 2014, ‘Mythopoeic Awards finalists announced’
Ooohh! Exciting! As usual I focus on the scholarly awards, and particularly the one in Inklings studies. I don't know the two books on Lewis that are among the finalists, but the Tolkien books look good. While I think that not all of the contributions to Jason Fisher's book meet the standards he sets out in his own paper, I would still say that this book is a very welcome contribution to Tolkien studies. The same is, I would say, the case with Mark Atherton's book, though I have not yet finished it. Corey Olsen's book seems to me to be aimed more at an introductory level – but it is undoubtedly a great resource for drawing in younger students who need a taste of how one can approach a beloved text with respect that increases one's appreciation rather than lowering it (as was, unfortunately, often the case with the literary criticism I was supposed to do when I went to school).

Joe Gilronan
Lake Town (13 Dwarves and a Hobbit named Bilbo)

Adi Bloom, TES Connect, Wednesday, 11 June 2014, ‘Tolkien: 'The Hobbit goes down well at school, but teaching is depressing'’
The story of a letter sent to teacher Anne Mountfield from J.R.R. Tolkien in response to a letter from one of her fourth-graders that she had forwarded to Tolkien with a covering note, thanking him for helping her (throught the means of The Hobbit) to keep her class silent and attentive. To the typed response, Tolkien added a more personal response to the teacher, showing his desire to go back and tell his own teachers of long ago what impact they had made on him. An image of the whole letter can be viewed at the auction site: Bonhams – lot 277
See also Alison Flood, The Guardian, Thursday, 12 June 2014, ‘JRR Tolkien called teaching 'exhausting and depressing' in unseen letter’ and Peter Jacobs, Business Insider, Wednesday, 18 June 2014, ‘J. R. R. Tolkien Has A Touching Message For His Former Teachers In Newly Discovered Letter’

Lynn Maudlin, Mythopoeic Society, Saturday, 21 June 2014, ‘Mythcon 46 Dates & Location Announced’
Hoping to go to the 46th MythCon next year? Then see here where you might find yourself as July turns to August in 2015 ... See also the Progress Report 2 for this year's Mythopoeic Society Conference (June 27)

Kris Swank, Mythgard Institute, Tuesday, 24 June 2014, ‘CFP: Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2015’
In this call for papers, you can also learn what the paper sessions on Tolkien will be at the 2015 Kalamazoo International Medieval Congress:

Tolkien's Beowulf (no big surprise there ...)
Tolkien and medieval Victorianism (nice title – inviting curiosity)
Tolkien as linguist and medievalist (thinking set theory, I wonder if they mean the union or the intersection here ...)

See also Kris Swank, Mythgard Institute, Wednesday, 25 June 2014, ‘Sneak Peek @ K'zoo 2015 includes Tolkien panels’ as well as the more detailed information from Anna Smol below.

Trish, Mythgard Institute, Tuesday, 24 June 2014, ‘Mythmoot III: Ever On…. Registration is open!’
On the third Mythmoot to be held in January 2015.

Idan Schneider, C-Section Comics, Friday, 27 June 2014, ‘Politically Incorrect Tolkien’
This one has been making its rounds in Tolkien circles, and it's a good enough joke to share. But though most of these more stupid accusations (Tolkien being misogynist, racist, anti-semitic, etc.) can be easily refuted and summarily rejected, we also do need to keep in mind that Tolkien did hold some views on the importance of biology (both in terms of inheritance and sex) that would be very controversial today (and which science would have severe issues with), though he was very moderate, possibly even progressive, eighty years ago.

AS, Sunday, 29 June 2014, ‘Tolkien and medievalism sessions, K'zoo 2015’
The most detailed break-down of Tolkien and related sessions at the 2015 K'zoo congress that I have seen so far. As always I regret that I am unlikely to be able to attend ... some day, perhaps.

= = = = Essays and Scholarship = = = =

Medievalist.net
Highlights from June:
“Viking Nicknames” (1 June), — Thorinn Eikinskjaldi, anyone? I wonder if a Dunlending could be called Ulf? At least one of the examples mentioned is ‘Ulf the Squint-Eyed’, which of course reminds me of the squint-eyed southener in Bree. Tolkien's work is full of nicknames, many of which follow the old Germanic forms.
“‘Warrior-women’ in Viking Age Scandinavia? A preliminary archaeological study” (3 June), — Not quite Éowyn, but almost ...
“Quid Tacitus . . . ? The Germania and the Study of Anglo-Saxon England” (6 June), — OK, so I'm a bit slow, but reading Deborah Higgens' book on Tolkien and Anglo-Saxon culture has brought it home sharply how much of our knowledge of the early Germannic tribes we owe to Tacitus.
“Anglo Saxon and Viking Ship Burial – The British Museum” (9 June), — A report from a talk at the British Museum by Norwegian archaeologist, Jan Bill, who talked about “various Viking burials and attempted to compare and contrast English and Norwegian funerary methods.”
“Demonic Magic in the Icelandic Wizard Legends” (25 June), — Oooh!
“The effects of Viking activity on Scandinavian society” (29 June), — more Troels than Tolkien, I admit, but still. It might be highly interesting also to see some research on how the popular image of Viking mythology and society influences contemporary Scandinavian societies – this might actually have a more Tolkienian angle as the presence of the old mythology in contemporary culture in the Scandinavian countries was one of the things that Tolkien mentions as something he missed in his own England.

Michael Flowers, The Tolkien Society, Monday, 9 June 2014, ‘A Hemlock by any other name…’
An excellent piece of research by Michael Flowers into the possible dating of the 1917 event that led to the fictional event where Lúthien and Beren meet and she danced for him in the woods. Looking at the flowering periods of some likely species of white umbellifers in the most likely spot (Dent's Garth by Roos), Michael Flowers argues that the event must have taken place in the latter half of May (roughly). As the conclusion is based on a number of assumptions regarding the specific species of umbellifer, the specific spot, and the exact correspondence of flowering periods in 1917 and 2014, I cannot share Flowers' confidence in the strength of his evidence, and at this time I would say that his argument opens possibilities, but that it is not strong enough to refute other possibilities.

JDR, Tuesday, 24 June 2014, ‘Lithe’
A nice little personal discovery by John Rateliff – it may be that many people knew this already, but I knew as little as John Rateliff.

DF, Friday, 27 June 2014, ‘Mythgard classes, Tolkien's Beowulf, JTR, Tolkien Companion and Kalamazoo’
Yay! Dimitra Fimi is blogging – for real! This blog-entry summarises a lot of recent news from Dimitra Fimi on Tolkienian matters, including a video of a Mythgard lecture from Fimi's course on ‘Celtic Myth in Children's Fantasy’.

= = = = Commentary = = = =

Ralph C. Wood, Monday, 2 June 2014, ‘“Sad, but Not Unhappy”: J.R.R. Tolkien's Sorrowful Vision of Joy’
Despite a few errors (a couple of which touch, I admit, fairly sore spots with me), and despite the obvious Christian agenda making me cautious, I found this opinion piece quite interesting. Filing it under ‘opinion’ emphasises the nature of applicability in this piece, which is an advantage, not least because the author's interpretation differs from Tolkien's interpretation on a number of specific points (some of which are quite central to the piece). Overall I would say that the piece, despite the inclusion of Tolkien's description of The Lord of the Rings as ‘a fundamentally religious and Catholic work;’, clearly shows that the author is unfamiliar with The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, which I think is quite a shame as that might have enabled the author to enter into a more informed dialogue with Tolkien himself on the interpretation of the text. If you read this, you should be aware that it does not agree with Tolkien's own interpretatation of his story on a number of points, but with that in mind, it is still an interesting reaction to a couple of Tolkien's stories.

MB, Sunday, 8 June 2014, ‘Not a Tolkien quote: You can only come to the morning through the shadow’
I agree wholeheartedly with Marcel that “You can only come to the morning through the shadow” is not merely incorrect, it is a distortion of what Tolkien actually wrote. So, now remember it!

DB, Wednesday, 25 June 2014, ‘Hwæt! am I going to talk about today?’
About a talk by Arden R. Smith on Tolkien's Beowulf – I'd have loved to have more details from the talk, but we can hope that they will come at some point anyway.

= = = = Reviews and Book News = = = =

JF, Tuesday, 3 June 2014, ‘New Book on Tolkien and Modernism’
An early (before reading the whole book) pre-review of Tolkien and the Modernists by Theresa Freda Nicolay. At this point Jason Fisher seems cautiously positive, with the main issue being the odd lack of earlier work on the topic in the bibliography.

H&S, Tuesday, 3 June 2014, ‘Aragorn, Part Two’
Christina Scull's review of Elizabeth M. Stephen's book on Aragorn, Hobbit to Hero: The Making of Tolkien's King. Coming after the review of Angela P. Nicholas' book, Aragorn: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Undervalued Hero in part one (see transactions for May), it is difficult not to compare the two reviews. Christina Scull seems a little less enthusiastic in this case, and uses more space to simply summarise the book's contents. In the end, I am, however, left with the impression of a book that will complement Nicholas' book quite well, for a reader who is willing to make the investment of time and effort.

The Telegraph, Tuesday, 3 June 2014, ‘Britain's best-loved children's book? Winnie-the-Pooh’
The relevant point here is of course that Tolkien's Hobbit comes in at fourth place after Winnie the Pooh, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (perhaps I ought to get hold of the latter, which I haven't read). Personally I think Tolkien's book deserves a place on such a list mainly for its incredible suitability for reading out loud.
I agree with Tolkien's own assessment of the narrator, and with Flieger's assessment (‘Tolkien on Tolkien: ldquo;On Fairy-stories,” The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. In Green Suns and Faërie: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 54–64), and I think that Tolkien's greatest mistakes with the 1960 Hobbit was that he didn't go far enough, and that he didn't go through with it.

A. A. Nofi, Saturday, 7 June 2014, ‘Tolkien and the Peril of War, by Robert S. Blackham’
A short review of Bob Blackham's 2013 book on Tolkien in WWI. Judging by this very brief review, it would appear to cover a sub-section of the grounds covered by John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War, which Bob Blackham surely knows well, and it would have been good to have a discussion of what Blackham's book adds to the knowledge that is in Garth's book, but such a discussion would probably be more at home in a review for a periodical by one of the active Tolkien and Inklings societies.

JDR, Sunday, 8 June 2014, ‘TOLKIEN'S BEOWULF (First Impressions)’
As he says, some first impressions of Tolkien's Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary that does not go into details about the contents, but looks at it at an overview level – what is actually in the book, and what is not.

JF, Monday, 9 June 2014, ‘Another new Tolkien collection from McFarland’
About a new collection edited by Brad Eden, The Hobbit in Tolkien’s Legendarium: Essays on the Novel's Influence on the Later Writings. The collection does look promising, and with some very interesting contributions by leading scholars (and also a few that I would not normally seek out), but while the title suggests a very narrow topic field, it does not seem that it has been possible to stay within that topic – several contributions (even some of the promising looking ones) appear to wander rather far from the titular topic of how The Hobbit specifically influenced the later evolution of Tolkien's legendarium.

James Hamilton, Wednesday, 25 June 2014, ‘Book Review: The Hobbit – J.R.R.Tolkien’
A nice little review of The Hobbit – perhaps not such a bad thing to remind people that there is an actual story behind those films ...

= = = = Tolkienian Artwork = = = =

Lauren Davis, Tuesday, 3 June 2014, ‘These Medieval-Style Tolkien Illustrations Are Like Nothing We've Seen’
The Tolkien illustrations by Sergei Iukhimov are of course not new, but this collection is quite nice, and as Iukhimov does not appear to have a web-site of his own, I suppose this is a way to make his work better known.

Jenny Dolfen
Imbolc

JGi, Monday, 9 June 2014, ‘We are pleased to announce we sold this original of Joe's for £1000. This is the 4th original of his we sold in the last 30 days. Get one while you can!’
Congratulations to Joe Gilronan, and it really is a very good picture!

JGi, Thursday, 19 June 2014, ‘Lake Town (13 Dwarves and a Hobbit named Bilbo).’
A new charming picture by Joe Gilronan depicting the arrival of Bilbo and the Dwarves in the vicinity of Lake Town. A slightly different take than most, but it makes for a good composition.

JD, Monday, 21 June 2014, ‘Thoughts about crowdfunding for graphic and written projects’
Upon the fully deserved success of Jenny Dolfen's Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for her Darkness over Cannae illustrated novel, Jenny Dolfen has collected a few thoughts.
Also, though it is not really Tolkien-related, make sure to check Jenny's wonderful picture, Imbolc, which she posted on 21 June on her blog!

Sergiu, Thursday, 26 June 2014, ‘Fire and Smoke’
I am not sure what Sergiu may have had in mind here, but to my eyes it would be a great illustration of Smaug – or perhaps even more of one of the dragons of the original Fall of Gondolin from The Book of Lost Tales.

= = = = Other Stuff = = = =

EJ, Saturday, 7 June 2014, ‘Character age at the time of the Hobbit’
Emil Johansson continues his commendable effort to plot and graph us through Tolkien's best-known works, here with a chart of the ages of the various characters at the time of the events of The Hobbt.

MB, June 2014, ‘Not a Tolkien quote’
In June Marcel Aubron-Bülles has added three more ‘Things J.R.R. Tolkien has never said, done, written or had anything to do with’ to his over-growing series. I am very grateful to Marcel for the work he puts into this, and I am only too happy to try to spread the word. These are all found in the quotes section of The Tolkienist's blog, as they include the non-Tolkienian quotations, ‘You can only come to the morning through the shadow’, ‘Living by faith includes the call to something greater than cowardly self-preservation’, and ‘It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit’. And let's take it one more time: THESE ARE NOT BY J.R.R. TOLKIEN! So stop passing them on as his work!

JGa, Tuesday, 17 June 2014, ‘Secrets of The Hydra: how Tolkien research uncovered lost Wilfred Owen magazines’
Though the Tolkien connection is rather tenuous (a sidetrack from his Tolkien research), the story that John Garth tells in this post is still captivating and heart-warming.

Jeanette Sears, Sunday, 29 June 2014, ‘In Tolkien's Footsteps in Switzerland’
The charming story of a journey to Switzerland following in the footsteps of Tolkien's famous 1911 trip.

= = = = Rewarding Discussions = = = =

User ‘Lord of the Rings’, The LotR Plaza, May – June 2014, ‘Beowulf - Reactions and Reviews’
A collection of intelligent responses to Tolkien's Beowulf and the reviews.

= = = = Web Sites = = = =

Dr Dimitra Fimi
Dimitra Fimi has redesigned her website, so that it now appears with a fresh and inviting look. More importantly (at least for those of us for whom contents are more important than form) there is also a blog – hopefully we will here get a bit more than just headlines for the papers and classes, perhaps even some of the insights that have earned Dr Fimi such great respect in the wider Tolkien community (nudge-nudge, wink-wink).

= = = = The Blog Roll = = = =

These are blogs you really should be following yourself if you're interested in Tolkien ...
I've just reduced the list to those who have posted in June (whether Tolkien-related or not), without giving details on the posts (beyond that which is given above).

Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (S&H), ‘Too Many Books and Never Enough’

Jason Fisher (JF), ‘Lingwë -- Musings of a Fish’

Dimitra Fimi (DF), ‘Dr Dimitra Fimi: Academic and Writer’

Pieter Collier (PC), ‘The Tolkien Library’

John D. Rateliff (JDR) -- ‘Sacnoth's Scriptorium’
NN (+NN) Tolkien-related posts in June 2014

Marcel Aubron-Bülles (MB), ‘The Tolkienist’
See archive for June 2014

David Bratman (DB), ‘Kalimac's Journal’

Jenny Dolfen (JD), ‘Jenny's Sketchbook’

Anna Smol (AS), ‘A Single Leaf’

Various, The Mythopoeic Society

Various, The Tolkien Society (TS)

Various, Southfarthing Mathom

Emil Johansson (EJ), ‘LotR Project Blog’

Michael Martinez (MM), ‘Middle-earth’

Bruce Charlton (BC), ‘Tolkien's The Notion Club Papers’

= = = = Sources = = = =

New sources in June 2014:

Dimitra Fimi (DF), ‘Dr Dimitra Fimi: Academic and Writer’
Now also with a blog, and a nice subscribable feed! Also see above.

James Moffett(JM), ‘A Tolkienist's Perspective’
Claiming to be ‘meant for beginners, and avid fans alike, to J.R.R. Tolkien’ this blog seems to me mostly directed towards the beginners (but then, I am not sure I know what would suit the ‘avid fan’).

For older sources, see http://parmarkenta.blogspot.com/p/sources.html

Regarding Pictures

All pictures that are displayed on this blog appear with the kind permission of the artist, for which I am exceedingly grateful. Please do not copy or reuse them without permission, and please recall to always give credit where it is due.

Pictures that are not my own photos, are linked to lead to the artist's page – please click through and visit their page. You support them already by showing an interest, but please consider supporting them also financially – buying some of their works, or otherwise.

The artists that have allowed me to use their images are

Tsvetelina ‘Elmenel’ Krumova

Katarzyna ‘Kasiopea’ Chmiel-Gugulska

Graeme Skinner

Before his untimely death in August 2015, I had a similar arrangement with Jef Murray.