Monthly Archives: November 2016

CFP: Romances in Middle-earth

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Calls for Papers, Tolkien

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Tolkien in Vermont conferenceThis call for papers comes from Chris Vaccaro, one of the organizers of the annual Tolkien at UVM Conference in Burlington, Vermont.

14th Annual Tolkien at University of Vermont Conference
Saturday April 8th, 8:30am-5:30 p.m.

Theme: Romances in Middle-earth

Organizers of the Tolkien at UVM Conference are now accepting abstracts for the 2017 conference until the February 1st deadline.

We welcome papers on every topic but will give priority to those addressing the theme. Tolkien wrote that he had the romances of William Morris in mind when writing The Lord of the Rings. We also know he was inspired by the Arthurian romances of England, Wales, and France. Tolkien’s own interlacing narrative style is very much derived from this medieval genre (while also anticipating the Post-modern). Additionally, Tolkien wrote of numerous romances of great intensity and poignancy within his narrative framework. Papers might consider these within the context of miscegenation, gender fluidity, or the homo-erotic, or they might explore other areas of interest.

Please submit abstracts by the February 1st deadline to Christopher Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu

New! Tolkien Symposium in Kalamazoo

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Conferences, Tolkien

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Western Michigan University LibrarySomething new is coming to Kalamazoo, the site of the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies, which usually includes a number of sessions related to Tolkien. Every year the Congress organizers have been whittling down the sessions sponsored by the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group (and others) so that what was once a conference with around 8 panels on Tolkien has been reduced to 3 or 4 in recent years. To increase the number of Tolkien sessions, Brad Eden, the Tolkien at Kalamazoo organizer, has had a cunning plan!

Just as the Tolkien Society holds a one-day seminar the day before the start of the International Medieval Congress in the UK, so too the Tolkien at Kalamazoo group will hold an afternoon symposium before the official opening of the medieval conference at Western Michigan University.

The theme is Tolkien Anniversaries. Brad’s description follows:

2017 is the 125th anniversary of the birth of J.R.R. Tolkien, the 100th anniversary of The Book of Lost Tales, the 80th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit, and the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Silmarillion.  In order to celebrate all of these anniversaries, a one-day symposium will be held on Wednesday, May 10, from 1-5 p.m. in the library at Western Michigan University, prior to the start of the 2017 International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS).

Lodging will be available in January for Wednesday evening through the ICMS website.  I hope that all of you attending ICMS will be able to come in one day earlier for this symposium.

 

If anyone has any questions, please contact Brad Eden at brad.eden@valpo.edu.

The schedule of speakers:

1:00-1:30 p.m.
Kristine Larson, Ragnarok and the Rekindling of the Magic Sun

1:40-2:10 p.m.
Sandra Hartl, The Ainur and the Greek Pantheon: From The Book of Lost Tales to The Silmarillion

2:20-2:50 p.m.
Christopher Vaccaro, Christian Neoplatonic Mythopoeia: Alain de Lille’s De Planctu Naturae, Anticlaudianus, and Tolkien’s Legendarium

3:00-3:30 p.m.
Michael Wodzak, An Auto-Ethnographic Study of Bilbo’s Party

3:40-4:10 p.m.
Andrew Higgins, Mapping Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales: Exploring ‘I Vene Kemen’ (‘The Ship of the Earth’)

4:20-5:00 p.m.
Victoria Holtz-Wodzak, ‘On Golden Grove Unleaving’: Tolkien, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Inscape of Middle-earth

You can find abstracts of the papers here.

In addition, several sessions on Tolkien will take place as part of the official International Congress on Medieval Studies program. More details on these panels will follow later.

 

 

 

Feed me!

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by in Uncategorized

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Starving blogMy starving blog is crying for food! It seems incredible to me that the flow of posts has completely dried up since August. But piles of work this semester combined with increasing eldercare responsibilities have taken all the time that I could stay awake every day. Luckily, there’s a lull in the action — a couple of conference announcements are on their way!