August 2016
I had these transactions something like 80% done before going to Oxonmoot, but couldn't get the last bit finished due to my other preparations. Now, however, I wish to get it out – to get it off my mind, so that I can work on other things (such as e.g. a report from my first Oxonmoot). This means that most entries will appear without commentary, and that there will be things I ignore simply because I haven't the time to dig out all my notes (if anything important turns up later, I will of course include it in a later issue).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: Tolkienian Artwork
7: Story Internal (Ardalogy)
8: Other Stuff
9: In Print
10: Web Sites
11: The Blog Roll
12: Sources
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| Radagast the Brown by Joe Gilronan |
News
David Oberhelman, Mythopoeic Society, Sunday, 7 August 2016, ‘Mythopoeic Awards: 2016 Winners Announced’Congratulations to all winners and finalists!
Bradley Barth, SC Magazine, Monday, 8 August 2016, ‘Lord of the spy ring: Strider APT cites Tolkien, found snooping on Russian targets’
Finally some solid evidence linking Tolkien to spying! … 43 years after his death, and spyware rather than military intelligence, but still :-) Have ‘Elansea’ turned hackers to build their otherwise non-existent case?
Tom Cowie, The Age, Thursday, 11 August 2016, ‘One ring to fool them all: court orders destruction of fake Tolkien jewellery’
In cases like this, I generally find myself siding with the Estate on moral grounds …
Events
Reports & comments on past events5–8 August 2016, San Antonio, Texas, US, ‘Mythcon 47’, The Mythopoeic Society. The 2016 theme is ‘Faces of Mythology: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern’
David Bratman, Tuesday, 2 August 2016, ‘Mythcon pre-port’
Lynn Maudlin, Mythopoeic Society, Sunday, 7 August 2016, ‘CONGRATULATIONS, 2016 Mythopoeic Award Winners’
David Bratman, Tuesday, 9 August 2016, ‘Mythcon report, part 1’ (also see part 2, part 3, and part 4)
John D. Rateliff, Saturday, 13 August 2016, ‘MythCon and the MythSoc Awards’
Info on upcoming & on-going events (as of 1 September)
26 April 2016 – 27 February 2017, Various, Staffordshire, ‘Exhibition: J.R.R. Tolkien in Staffordshire 1915 – 1918’, The Haywood Society
3–4 September 2016, Sarehole Mill, UK, ‘Middle-earth Festival’
Justine Halifax, Birmingham Mail, Wednesday, 31 August 2016, ‘Fans of Tolkien are in for a treat at Middle Earth Festival in Birmingham’
8–11 September 2016, Saint Anthony's, Oxford, ‘Oxonmoot 2016’, The Tolkien Society
24–25 September 2016, Newcastle Castle, ‘Tolkien Weekend 2016’, Time and Tide Events
Will also feature the Illuminating Tolkien exhibition of art and illustration.
16–18 June 2017, Waddow Hall, Clitheroe, Lancashire, ‘The Middle-earth Beer & Music Festival’, The Ale House Clitheroe
Essays and Scholarship
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| The Middle Earth Beer & Music Festival (B/W proof) by Tomás Hijo |
and Simon Cook, Thursday, 4 August 2016, ‘Heathen kings under a swift sunrise’
I find these two posts very interesting. There are so many things to take into consideration here, that trying to grasp these issues, I usually feel as if I was trying to hold on to too many bits and pieces, so that whenever I try to hold on to something new, I drop something that I had already gotten a hold on. Sometimes I feel convinced that there is a way to hold on to them all, while at other times, I wonder if Tolkien's own ideas are too diverse to all fit in one way. Still, discussions such as these help, so keep up the good work!
Bradford Lee Eden, Journal of Tolkien Research, Thursday, 4 August 2016, ‘A newly-discovered transcript: The 1995 Patrick Hobson Memorial Lecture of Rev. John F.R. Tolkien’
Stuart Lee, BBC Radio 4, Saturday, 6 August 2016, ‘Tolkien: The Lost Recordings’
The show that was announced last month. Still available for listening on 17 September ...
Elizabeth Hasseler, Saturday, 6 August 2016, ‘‘Do You Not Know I am a Healer?’ Royal Authority and Miracles of Healing in High Medieval Lives of Kings’
While Aragorn's healing powers, within the Tolkien's sub-creation itself, stems from his descendance from Lúthien, in external terms, they place him firmly in medieval tradition.
Anna Smol, Sunday, 7 August 2016, ‘Talks on Tolkien II: Patrick Curry on Enchantment & Hypermodernity’
Edmund Weiner, Monday, 8 August 2016, ‘Did Tolkien invent Fonwegian?’
The discussion is carried on in Edmund Weiner, Wednesday, 10 August 2016, ‘Fonwegian—a rejoinder’
This is something I would have liked to be able to address at some greater length, but maybe later …. So far, I am leaning towards Weiner's position on this: given the evidence so far, the explanation offered by Fimi and Higgins just doesn't ‘feel right’ to me (which is absolutely not a scientific argument at all!)
Anna Smol, Tuesday, 16 August 2016, ‘Talks on Tolkien II: Dimitra Fimi on Tolkien & Childhood Studies’
Sophia Cornelia Mösch, Medievalist.net, Sunday, 21 August 2016, ‘Augustine of Hippo and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period’
A 2015 Ph.D. dissertation from King's College London.
Douglas A. Anderson, Saturday, 27 August 2016, ‘Tolkien's Desks’
Commentary
John D. Rateliff, Saturday, 6 August 2016, ‘Tolkien & Burroughs, Lupoff & Green’Lynn Forest-Hill, Wednesday, 10 August 2016, ‘Last Meeting in July’
John D. Rateliff, Wednesday, 10 August 2016, ‘Ace vs. Ballantine, 1962’
Lynn Forest-Hill, Sunday, 14 August 2016, ‘First Meeting in August’
Also see the two following posts, which contain comments to this part.
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| The Battle of the Pelennor Fields by Tomás Hijo |
David Russell Mosley, Patheos, Thursday, 11 August 2016, ‘Darkness in Elfland: Tolkien on Whether Fairies Are Demons and a (Hopefully) Fuller Account of Enchantment’
Anna Smol, Friday, 12 August 2016, ‘“something has gone crack”; Tolkien on Rob Gilson & the TCBS, 100 years ago today.’
Jacob Clifton, TOR.com, Wednesday, 17 August 2016, ‘I Have Forgiven Aslan for Being Jesus, But I Still Hate Fairytales’
I am less forgiving (unable to enter the state of Literary Belief – not even by painstaking suspension of disbelief) of Lewis' Narnia books, but on the other hand, I never blamed fairy-stories as such.
Matthew Walther, The Federalist, Friday, 26 August 2016, ‘Tolkien Influenced Rock More Than The Velvet Underground Did’
Dimitra Fimi, Monday, 29 August 2016, ‘Paul McCartney's “The Fool on the Hill”, Tolkien's early drawings, and the Rider-Waite Tarot’
Lynn Forest-Hill, Tuesday, 30 August 2016, ‘Last meeting in August’
John D. Rateliff, Wednesday, 31 August 2016, ‘The Return of "Tolkienian Gloom"’
David P. Goldman, PJ Media, Wednesday, 31 August 2016, ‘Why Did Tolkien Care About the Jews?’
I wish that people would see Tolkien's comments about Dwarves and Jews for what they are. In his early Silmarillion and in The Hobbit the Dwarves are based on the Dwarves of the Old Norse mythology (their names are a dead give-away, you know). When Tolkien, while writing The Lord of the Rings added some new layers to these Nordic Dwarves (because he needed at least Durin's folk to be less avaricious and vindictive than their Norse models), he probably did so without conscious model at first, but came to realise that he had given them some certain linguistic and cultural characteristics that were reminiscent of the Jews. His comments must be seen in this light – nothing about the Dwarves that is part of their portrayal in the Silmarillion work prior to 1937 and The Hobbit can be used to indicate anything about Tolkien's thoughts about Jews. Nothing!
Reviews and Book News
Michael Straight, New Republic, 16 January 1956, ‘The Fantastic World of Professor Tolkien’On-line reprint of a 1956 review of The Lord of the Rings.
Jeffrey R. Hawboldt, Monday, 1 August 2016, ‘Tolkien Tuesday: "The Fall of Arthur"’
Andrew Higgins, Journal of Tolkien Research, Wednesday, 10 August 2016, ‘Parma Eldalamberon XXII (2015), by J.R.R. Tolkien’
John D. Rateliff, Wednesday, 17 August 2016, ‘The New Arrival (LEAF BY NIGGLE)’
Tolkienian Artwork
Tomás Hijo, Monday, 1 August 2016, ‘The Man in the Moon was drinking deep’Peter Xavier Price, Monday, 1 August 2016, ‘The Witch-king of Angmar’
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| Thorin's Song – last panel by Tomás Hijo |
Angrod in Valinor ...
Elena Kukanova, Wednesday, 3 August 2016, ‘Irmo Lórien’
Tomás Hijo, Thursday, 4 August 2016, ‘Returning to Middle Earth.’
Joe Gilronan, Friday, 12 August 2016, ‘Radagast The Brown "In search of enlightenment"..’
Tomás Hijo, Saturday, 20 August 2016, ‘The Middle Earth Beer & Music Festival’
“Proofing my latest piece, wich is for The Middle Earth Beer & Music Festival of Clitheroe, Lancashire (UK).”
Tomás Hijo, Monday, 22 August 2016, ‘The Middle-earth Beer & Music Festival’
Tomás Hijo, Tuesday, 23 August 2016, ‘Thorin's Song – last panel’
Tomás Hijo, Wednesday, 24 August 2016, ‘Thorin's Song – full print’
Elena Kukanova, Thursday, 25 August 2016, ‘Forge’
Manuel Castañón , Thursday, 25 August 2016, ‘Chartreuse’
Tomás Hijo, Thursday, 25 August 2016, ‘Good news and bad’
Tomás Hijo, Friday, 26 August 2016, ‘The most difficult block ...’
Elena Kukanova, Tuesday, 30 August 2016, ‘Ork - sketch’
Jenny Dolfen, Wednesday, 31 August 2016, ‘Calendars 2017!’
Story Internal (Ardalogy)
Michael Martinez, The Tolkien Society, Tuesday, 2 August 2016, ‘Answers to the Terence Tiller Tolkien Trivia Questions’Clever … :-)
Michael Martinez, Monday, 15 August 2016, ‘Were All the Great Elven Artifacts Evil?’
Michael Martinez, Thursday, 18 August 2016, ‘Can Melkor Ever Return?’
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| Éomer by Katarzyna Chmiel-Gugulska |
Other Stuff
Marissa Martinelli, Slate, Thursday, 4 August 2016, ‘Stephen Colbert Explains How Gandalf Is a Maia Who's Been in Arda Since Ilúvatar Cried “Eä!”’Colbert's reputation as a Tolkien lover is undoubtedly fully and richly deserved, but his reputation as a Tolkien expert is not quite as justified. Obviously he knows more than his ‘big three’ and he has paid attention to what he has read, but his knowledge is not exhaustive, and his explications are often flawed (as e.g. with details of his earlier comments on Gollum, or in the present clip, his failure to understand the nature of Gandalf's trust in providence or the nature of the Istari's recollection of their time as Maiar) – as is his Elvish, by the way: Do not adopt his pronunciation!
See also John D. Rateliff, Saturday, 27 August 2016, ‘Stephen Colbert is Brilliant (Frodo & the Ring)’
Fortunately I can see from the comments-stream that I am not the only one to be somewhat less impressed than Rateliff …
Arwen Kester, Middle-earth News, Wednesday, 17 August 2016, ‘My Own Shire: Living a Hobbit Life in the Modern World’
It is curious, interesting, and wonderful how we engage with Tolkien's work in so many different ways. For me, the Shire is a place of insular myopia and narrowmindedness – I can barely stand Sam – but for others it is a place of rest and beauty. I do not wish to imply that there is any right or wrong, but only emphasise the value and wonder of the differences.
In Print
My records show that I have received my monthly Beyond Bree, and my July issue of Amon Hen did arrive by mail in August, though I had downloaded it from the Tolkien Society web-site in July. Unfortunately, I have not had time to read these.Web Sites
‘Kip Rasmussen: Illustrator’The Blog Roll
These are blogs you really should be following yourself if you're interested in Tolkien ...Contents from these blogs will only be reported here if there is something that I find particularly interesting, or posts that fit with a monthly theme. However, you will find below links to monthly archives of posts for months where the blog has featured interesting posts with at least some Tolkien connection. In some cases you may find a headline for a post, if I wish to recommend it particularly.
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| The Man in the Moon was drinking deep by Tomás Hijo |
Archive of posts from August 2016
Douglas A. Anderson, ‘Tolkien and Fantasy’
Archive of posts from August 2016
John D. Rateliff -- ‘Sacnoth's Scriptorium’
Archive of posts from August 2016
David Bratman, ‘Kalimac's Journal’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Jenny Dolfen, ‘Jenny's Sketchbook’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Anna Smol, ‘A Single Leaf’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Edmund Weiner, ‘Philoloblog’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Various, The Mythopoeic Society
News archive
Various (Bradford Eden, ed.) Journal of Tolkien Research (JTR)
Archive of contributions for the on-going volume 2, issue 1
Various, The Tolkien Society (TS)
Archive of posts from August 2016
Simon Cook, Ye Machine
Archive of posts from August 2016
Southfarthing Mathom
Archive of posts from August 2016
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| Thorin's Song by Tomás Hijo |
Various, The Mythopoeic Society, ‘The Horn of Rohan Redux’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Sue Bridgwater, ‘Skorn’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Tom Hilman, ‘Alas, not me’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Michael Martinez, ‘Middle-earth’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Bruce Charlton, ‘Tolkien's The Notion Club Papers’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Various, ‘Middle-earth News’
Archive of posts from August 2016
Sources
No new sources in August 2016For older sources, see http://parmarkenta.blogspot.com/p/sources.html
Currently reading:
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Christopher J.R. Tolkien.
Læringsteorier: Seks Aktuelle Forståelser edited by Knud Illeris
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| The Witch-king of Angmar by Peter Xavier Price |
Fixed the broken link to the BBC show. Thank you, Trotter, for making me aware of this.
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