The summer conference season is in full swing. A couple of weeks ago, Leeds was the site of the Tolkien Society’s one-day seminar, hosted by Anna Milon, followed by the International Medieval Congress sessions on Tolkien, organized by Dr. Dimitra Fimi. Dr. Fimi did an amazing job keeping up with each presentation, posting notes on what was being said. You can catch a glimpse of each presenter’s main points by looking at Dr. Fimi’s Facebook post: Tolkien at IMC Leeds 2018 round-up. If you scroll down on her Twitter feed, @Dr_Dimitra_Fimi, you’ll also find notes from the Tolkien Society Seminar talks as well.
Tolkien at Leeds 2018 closing dinner
All of the presentations in Leeds were given to packed audiences, to the point that people had to sit on the floor in some sessions, and a few of the later panels had to be moved to larger rooms. Lots of interest in Tolkien! We’re hoping that the same number of sessions will be approved for next year’s IMC conference. (The Tolkien Society Seminar, on the other hand, will be suspended for next year, as attention will be focused on the big Tolkien 2019 conference in Birmingham later in the summer.)
From Leeds in the UK, Tolkien conference activity now moves to Mythcon 49 in Atlanta in the US, from July 20 to 23, with the theme “On the Shoulders of Giants.” The keynote speakers are Dr. Robin Anne Reid, the scholar guest of honour, and Donato Giancolo as the artist guest of honour. The Mythcon 49 Schedule page includes a list of speakers and topics. “What do you do with a drunken hobbit?” — you have to be there to find out!
As is my annual custom, I’m posting a list of sessions on Tolkien and on medievalism to be held at The International Congress on Medieval Studies on May 10 – 13. Conference organizers have announced that the print program has been damaged in a flood, so mailing of copies will be delayed, but the full program is posted online here.
Of course, you should always double check my list against the final program. And don’t forget that in addition to the official ICMS panels, the Tolkien Seminar will take place on Wednesday May 9 with a full day of presentations and entertainment.
Sessions devoted entirely to Tolkien
Thursday 10:00 a.m.
Session 21 SCHNEIDER 1255 Tolkien and the Celtic Tradition
Sponsor: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Presider: Judy Ann Ford
“Queer” Border, “Hidden Kingdom”: Perceptions of Wales in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Work. Dimitra Fimi, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.
Bran and Brendan, and Eriol and Ælfwine. Kris Swank, Pima Community College
The Development of Imagery from “The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun” in The Lord of the Rings. Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College
Thursday 1:30
Session 49 VALLEY 3 STINSON LOUNGE “Eald Enta Geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition Sponsor: Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School
Organizer: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School
Presider: Michael A. Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.
The Classical Origins of Tolkien’s Elvish Language Invention. Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
“Sing, Muse, the Wrath of Boromir, Denethor’s Son”: The Workings of Thumos and Lofgeornost in J. R. R. Tolkien. Dennis Wilson Wise, Univ. of Arizona
Tolkien’s Classical Beowulf. Jane Chance, Rice Univ.
Friday 1:30
Session 264 BERNHARD 209 Medievalism and Environmentalism in Tolkien’s Works Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
Smaug’s Hoard, Durin’s Bane, and Agricola’s De re metallica: Cautionary Tales against Mining in Tolkien’s Legendarium and the Classical Tradition. Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
The Franciscan and Dominican Roots of Tolkien’s Environmentalism. Victoria Holtz Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.
Friday 3:30
Session 321 BERNHARD 209 Tolkien’s Re-envisioning of the Medieval Lay: The Lay of Beren and Luthien and the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Brad Eden
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, Breton Lays, and Gwerziou. Matthieu Boyd, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.
Tolkien’s Lays: Songs of Love, Faith, and Devotion? Aurelie Bremont, Centre d’Etudes Medievales Anglaises (CEMA), Univ. de Paris–Sorbonne
Matiere de Terre de Milieu: Jean Bodel’s Formula and Tolkien’s Legendarium. John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
Saturday 12:00 noonTolkien at Kalamazoo Business Meeting Bernhard 210
Sessions that include papers on Tolkien
Saturday 1:30
Session 407 FETZER 2020
Studies in Honor of Charles D. Wright I: Old English Poetry
Sponsor: Program in Medieval Studies, Univ. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
Organizer: Dabney A. Bankert, James Madison Univ.
Presider: Paul Battles, Hanover College
The Digressions in the Old English Andreas. Thomas D. Hill, Cornell Univ.
Into the Jaws of Hell: Swallowing and Damnation in Old English Poetry. Jill Hamilton Clements, Univ. of Alabama–Birmingham
The Wisdom Tradition and Irish Learning in CCCC 41. Tiffany Beechy, Univ. of Colorado–Boulder
“Éala éarendel”: Old English Euphony and Tolkien’s Hidden God. Alfred Kentigern Siewers, Bucknell Univ.
Saturday 3:30
Session 498 BERNHARD 213
Teaching Boethius (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: International Boethius Society
Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Presider: Philip Edward Phillips
Boethius and a Pedagogy of Imagination. Anthony G. Cirilla, Niagara Univ.
Boethius and the Biology of Desire. Sarah Powrie, St. Thomas More College
Teaching the Consolation of Philosophy in Prison. Brandy N. Brown, Rhodes College
The Consolation of Philosophy for Honors Freshmen. Kenneth C. Hawley, Lubbock Christian Univ.
Intellectual Relevance of Boethian Studies in the First Quarter of the Twenty-First Century. Noel Harold Kaylor Jr., Troy Univ.
Tolkien and Boethius: Chance Meetings and Doomed Heroes. Brian McFadden, Texas Tech Univ.
Sessions on medievalisms
Session 20 SCHNEIDER 1245 De Musica Vulgari Eloquentia
Sponsor: Musicology at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Anna Kathryn Grau, DePaul Univ.; Cathy Ann Elias, DePaul Univ.; Daniel J. DiCenso, College of the Holy Cross
Presider: Anna Kathryn Grau
“Gode is the lay, swete is the note!”: Music as a Liberal Art in Sir Orfeo. Tiffany Schubert, Univ. of Dallas; Matthew Brumit, Univ. of Mary
“Gaudete”: A Case of Musical Medievalism in Contemporary England. Jacob Sagrans, Independent Scholar
Music and Musicians, Sacred, Profane and Imaginary, in the Luttrell Psalter. Marijim Thoene, Independent Scholar
Session 60 FETZER 2030 Medievalism and the Rediscovery of Medieval Art
Organizer: Thalia Allington-Wood, Univ. College London
Presider: Imogen Tedbury, Courtauld Institute of Art/National Gallery of Art
Antiquarian Aesthetics and the Revaluing of Medieval Art in Early Modern Britain. Dustin M. Frazier Wood, Univ. of Roehampton
Anonymous Immortality: Chasing Down the Ghosts of Patrons Past. Lynley Anne Herbert, Walters Art Museum
Living in the New [New] Middle Ages. Matthew Reeve, Queen’s Univ. Kingston
Session 107 FETZER 2030 Architectural Medievalism
Presider: Elizabeth Emery, Montclair State Univ.
Southwark Cathedral’s East End: A Faithful Restoration?. Regina Noto, The Clark Art Institute
Between Memory and Phantasy: Re-building Frankfurt Old Town. Esther Laura Heeg, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Tracing Medieval Stones. Kaarel Truu, Estonian Academy of Arts
Session 119 SCHNEIDER 1330 The “Medieval” in Popular Culture
Presider: Audrey Becker, Marygrove College
Constructing Demons: The Origins of Normalizing Portrayals of Marginalized Groups as Threats. Karra Shimabukuro, Univ. of New Mexico
Dice Rolling for Racism: White Supremacy and Role Playing Games. Donald Burke, Cerro Coso Community College
The Cult of the Lady: Arthurian Medievalisms in The Witcher 3 and Total War: Warhammer. Kyle Dase, Univ. of Saskatchewan
Session 123 SCHNEIDER 1350 “Lesser” English Arthuriana
Organizer: Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, Univ. of Northern Colorado
“Muse on My Mirrour”: Precarious Reflections and Reform in The Awntyrs off Arthure. William Biel, Univ. of Connecticut
The Redemption of the Arthurian Queen: How the Depiction of Guinevere as a Nun in British Art and Literature of the Nineteenth Century Complicates our Understanding of British Medievalism and Its Intersection with Discourses of Gender. Ellie Crookes, Macquarie Univ.
“She was recouered of that that she was defoylyd”: Recuperating Dame Ragnell’s Lute. Crystal N. Beamer, McMaster Univ.
Heroism Both Lesser and Greater: De-Romanticizing Aristocracy in “Sir Percyvell of Gales” Randy Schiff, Univ. at Buffalo
Session 153 BERNHARD 106 Theorizing the Problematic Medievalisms of Dungeons & Dragons and Popular Fantasy Narrative (A Panel Discussion)
Sponsor: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Organizer: Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Presider: Ilan Mitchell-Smith
A panel discussion with Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.; Edmond Chang, Ohio Univ.; Robert Rouse, Univ. of British Columbia; and Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyoming.
Session 269 BERNHARD BROWN & GOLD ROOM Monstrous Medievalism: Toxic Appropriations of the Middle Ages in Modern Popular Culture and Thought Sponsor: Monsters: The Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory and Practical Application (MEARCSTAPA)
Organizer: Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach
Presider: Larissa Tracy, Longwood Univ.
White Nationalism, Scottish Identity, and the Declaration of Arbroath. Mark P. Bruce, Bethel Univ.
The Problem of Loki, Again: Norse Mythology as a Battleground for Separatism or Inclusion. Ali Frauman, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington
“Celtic” Crosses and White Supremacism. Maggie M. Williams, William Paterson Univ./Material Collective
Session 312 SCHNEIDER 1355 Contemporary Medieval Poetry II: Forms and Histories Sponsor: Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, King’s College London
Organizer: Josh Davies, King’s College London; Clare A. Lees, King’s College London
Presider: Josh Davies
O Cadoiro: Falling into Medieval Galician-Portuguese Love Lyric. Harriet Cook, King’s College London
Unthought Medievalisms and the Survival of Lyric Forms: The Case of the Alba. Marisa Galvez, Stanford Univ.
Contemporary British Poetry and the Earliest Medieval Cultures in Britain and Ireland. Clare A. Lees
Session 348 FETZER 1005 Medievalism, Racism, and the Academy (A Roundtable) Sponsor: Fellowship of Medievalists of Color (MOC); International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Wan-Chuan Kao, Washington and Lee Univ.
A roundtable discussion with Colleen C. Ho, Univ. of Maryland; Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, California State Univ.–Long Beach; Matthew Vernon, Univ. of California–Davis; Kavita Mudan Finn, Independent Scholar; and Pamela J. Clements, Siena College.
Session 357 SCHNEIDER 1120 Towards a Medieval Transgender Studies Sponsor: Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS)
Organizer: M. W. Bychowski, Case Western Reserve Univ.
Presider: Micah Goodrich, Univ. of Connecticut
That Detestable, Unmentionable, and Ignominious Vice: Trans Women and Sex Work in Cross-Cultural and Cross-Temporal Perspectives. Alina Boyden, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
Trans Knights, Then and Now. Ced Block, Independent Scholar
Radical Pedagogy and New Medievalisms: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and the Medieval Imaginary. Nicholas Hoffman, Ohio State Univ.; Joy Ellison, Ohio State Univ.
The Future of Medieval Transgender Studies. M. W. Bychowski
Session 374 SCHNEIDER 1330 Medievalisms and Marguerite Porete: The Mirror of Simple Souls in the Age of #Resistance Sponsor: International Marguerite Porete Society
Organizer: Robert Stauffer, Dominican College
Presider: Robert Stauffer
The Legacy of Marguerite Porete as Symbol of Resistance. Danielle Dubois, Univ. of Manitoba
Silence as Resistance in the Life of Marguerite Porete and in The Mirror of Simple Souls. Jonathan Juilfs, Redeemer Univ. College
The Pseudo-Mulier in an Age of #Resistance: Dismantling the Organism in The Mirror of Simple Souls. Jessica Zisa, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara
The West Remembers (Its Premodern Self). Matthias D. Berger, Univ. Bern
Mother Earth, Plough Monday and the Re-invention of the Germanic Farming Community: Wartime Agro-politics and Its (Mis)use of Anglo-Saxon Fertility Rituals. Karel Fraaije, Univ. College London
Session 424 SCHNEIDER 1280 King Arthur 2017 (A Roundtable) Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Ann F. Howey, Brock Univ.
A roundtable discussion with Susan Aronstein, Univ. of Wyoming; Kathleen Kelly, Northeastern Univ.; Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan Univ.; Christine Neufeld, Eastern Michigan Univ.; Abby Ang, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington; and Ann Martinez, Kent State Univ.–Stark.
Session 462 SCHNEIDER 1120 “Can These Bones Come to Life?” II: Issues of Authority in Reconstructing, Reenacting, and Recreating the Past (and in Medieval Studies) Sponsor: Societas Johannis Higginsis
Organizer: Kenneth Mondschein, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies/Anna Maria College
Presider: Karen Cook, Hartt School, Univ. of Hartford
Experimental Archaeology as Fieldwork. V. M. Roberts, York Univ.
Crowd Sourcing Culture: The Death of Expertise. Michael A. Cramer, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY
The Perception of Legitimacy: How Culture Wars Hurt (or Help) the Authority of Academic Medievalism. Kenneth Mondschein
Session 476 SCHNEIDER 1280 The New “Dark Ages” Sponsor: International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Organizer: Amy S. Kaufman, Independent Scholar; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.
Presider: Usha Vishnuvajjala
Religion, Science, and Conspiracy Theories: The Flat Earth in the Middle Ages and Today. Shiloh Carroll, Tennessee State Univ.
Not as Sexy as We Thought: Echoes of the Dark Ages in Modern Sexual Conduct for Women. Amy Burge, Cardiff Univ.
Medievalism, Medievalists, and Conditional Reproductive Justice. Rebecca Huffman, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor
A Dark Stage for the Dark Ages: Medieval Theatre as Protest (Then and Now). Carol L. Robinson, Kent State Univ.–Trumbull
Session 501 VALLEY 3 ELDRIDGE 309 Medievalism: A Manifesto (A Panel Discussion) Organizer: Daniel T. Kline, Univ. of Alaska–Anchorage
Presider: Daniel T. Kline
A panel discussion with Michael Evans, Delta College; Alexandra Garner, Univ. of Oregon; Jane Glaubman, Cornell Univ.; Lauryn S. Mayer, Washington & Jefferson College; Usha Vishnuvajjala, American Univ.; and with respondent Richard Utz, Georgia Institute of Technology.
Session 507 FETZER 1045 Teaching Medieval Studies with/without Objects and Collections (A Roundtable) Sponsor: Material Collective; TEAMS (Teaching Association for Medieval Studies)
Organizer: B. Joy Ambler, Dwight-Englewood School
Presider: Danielle B. Joyner, Southern Methodist Univ.
Architectural Medievalism and Undergraduate Research: Learning about Two Pasts through One Building. Jennifer Borland, Oklahoma State Univ./Material Collective
Objects in the Medieval History Classroom. Kelly Gibson, Univ. of Dallas
Manuscripts in the Undergraduate Non-Specialist Curriculum: Students Find Their “Inner-Medievalist”. David T. Gura, Hesburgh Library, Univ. of Notre Dame
Making Multimodal Miscellanies at a Public, Urban, Minority-Serving Institution. Katharine W. Jager, Univ. of Houston–Downtown
The Use, Disuse, and Abuse of Objects: Some Thoughts on Libraries and Pedagogy. Anna Siebach-Larsen, Rossell Hope Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center for English, Univ. of Rochester
Session 533 FETZER 1045 How to Engage Now: Medieval Studies and Public Discourse in 2018 (A Roundtable) Sponsor: Material Collective
Organizer: Luke Fidler, Univ. of Chicago; Nancy Thompson, Material Collective/St. Olaf College
Presider: Luke Fidler
Craftivism as Public Medievalism: Re-Constructing Medieval Textile Work. Marian Bleeke, Cleveland State Univ.
All the Chaucer That’s Fit to Print. Amy Goodwin, Randolph-Macon College
Fuck This Shit: How Can You Not Say Something?. Eileen Joy, Punctum Books
Turning Academic Articles into Web and Magazine Articles. Peter Konieczny
This week, I received word from the International Medieval Congress in Leeds that my proposal has been accepted for one of the Tolkien sessions organized by Dr. Dimitra Fimi. My paper, “Tolkien’s Typological Imagination,” will be part of the first session on Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism on July 2nd. We were only allowed a 100-word proposal, a difficult exercise in condensing ideas, and this is the best I could do:
In The Lord of the Rings, Sam suddenly recognizes that Frodo’s possession of Galadriel’s star-glass connects them to Eärendil’s history: “Why, to think of it, we’re in the same tale still!” Here, Tolkien dramatizes the link between “the memory of the past and the foreshadowing of the future that resides in all things” (Notion Club 178). Eärendil is the type of a sacrificing hero, reenacted by Frodo later in the course of linear time. I propose to discuss such examples of Tolkien’s typological imagination and how it shapes concepts of memory and history in his work.
Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism I. July 2, 11:15 – 12:45
Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism II. July 2, 14:15-15:45
“New” Tolkien: Expanding the Canon. July 2, 16:30 – 18:00
Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches, I. July 3, 14:15-15:45
Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches, II. July 3, 16:30 – 18:00
Tolkien in Context(s): a Round Table Discussion. July 3, 19:00 – 20:00
With the one-day Tolkien Society Seminar that usually precedes this conference, there should be plenty of talks on Tolkien to enjoy at the beginning of July in Leeds. I’ll post full details after the official IMC program comes out in a few months.
These sessions will be co-sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Studies and the Tolkien Studies areas:
Bruce E. Drushel, Ph.D. Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Studies
Department of Media, Journalism, & Film
Miami University
Oxford OH 45056
drushebe@miamioh.edu
Robin Anne Reid, Ph.D. Tolkien Studies Department of Literature and Languages
A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429
Robin.Reid@tamuc.edu
We wish to organize at least one paper session and one roundtable for the conference. PCA allows presenters to participate in one paper session and in one roundtable.
Submit a title and 100-word abstract with a working bibliography, a mailing address, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address to both area chairs by September 28, 2017. Please indicate clearly whether your proposal is for the paper session, or for the roundtable. If you wish to participate in both, you must submit two different proposals.
Presentations may focus on any aspect of textual production, audience reception, or textual coding that challenge established categories of gender and sexuality including but not limited to:
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans* or queer readings of Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts;
Readings that focus on non-normative but not clearly marked expressions of gender and sexuality in Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts;
Transformative or derivative works that queer Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts;
Intersectional queer readings of Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts;
Queer Theories/Theorists and Tolkien studies (including historical and biographical aspects as well as fiction and scholarship).
Plans for a Queer Tolkien Studies anthology (co-edited by Robin Anne Reid, Christopher Vaccaro, and Stephen Yandell) will be discussed at the PCA sessions.
This message comes from Brad Eden, organizer of the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions at the International Congress on Medieval Studies. In addition to the Congress sessions, Brad is once again organizing a one-day Tolkien seminar on the Wednesday before the Congress starts. His call for papers follows; Brad writes:
****
I have tentatively arranged with the First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo (345 W. Michigan Ave., two blocks from the Radisson Downtown) to hold a one-day Tolkien Seminar similar to the one we held in the WMU Library last year on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 from 12 noon to 7 p.m. prior to the IMC Congress. This is a call for papers for this seminar; technology will be available for Powerpoint. In addition, instead of holding a Tolkien Unbound this year, the culmination of this seminar will be Eileen Moore’s song cycle performance of Maidens of Middle-earth VIII: Women of the Edain.
Please send you paper proposals to me no later than Monday, October 16. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks. Brad
This call for papers comes from Dr. Dimitra Fimi, the organizer of the Tolkien sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, which will be held July 2-5, 2018.
IMC Leeds 2018 – Call for Papers on J.R.R. Tolkien
I am seeking abstracts for sessions on J.R.R. Tolkien for the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2-5 July 2018, under the following themes:
‘New’ Tolkien: Expanding the Canon – paper session This session will focus on recent works by J.R.R. Tolkien, posthumously published and authorized by the Tolkien Estate. Many of these volumes include Tolkien’s translations or creative retellings of medieval material. Papers can focus on (but are not restricted to) The Fall of Arthur (ed. Christopher Tolkien, 2013), Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary (ed. Christopher Tolkien, 2014), The Story of Kullervo (ed. Verlyn Flieger, 2015), A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages (ed. Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins, 2016), The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (ed. Verlyn Flieger, forthcoming, 2017) and The Tale of Beren and Lúthien (ed. Christopher Tolkien, 2017).
Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism – paper session J.R.R. Tolkien’s “secondary world” unfolds in an immense depth of time. This sense of depth is inherent in The Lord of the Rings and is apparent in scenes such as the Council of Elrond, during which Elrond himself reminisces about events that took place thousands of years previously. What is more, it is not a literary device: Tolkien spent most of his lifetime inventing an extended mythology that detailed the history of his imaginary world over millennia, including a cosmogonic myth and a great number of interrelated legends and tales. This session will explore time in Tolkien’s legendarium with an emphasis on memory. Papers can focus on topics such as the value, nature, means, or trauma of remembering and/or forgetting the past in Middle-earth, the role of memory in shaping the future, memorials and monuments, the fictitious transmission of the legendarium (via texts or orally), and remembering and forgetting as part of Tolkien’s “secondary world infrastructures” (Wolf, 2012) such as timelines, genealogies, languages, cultures, etc. (This is not an exclusive list.)
Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches – paper session This session will accommodate wider topics and new approaches to Tolkien’s medievalism, ranging from source studies and theoretical readings, to comparative studies (including Tolkien’s legacy).
Tolkien in Context(s) – round table discussion This round table discussion provides a forum to explore different approaches to Tolkien’s work via various frameworks and contexts, from Tolkien’s medieval scholarship and his social/historical/intellectual milieu, to worldbuilding, the wider history of fantasy literature, and including Tolkien in an academic curriculum (the list is not exclusive).
If you are interested, please submit a paper/round table contribution title and abstract to Dr Dimitra Fimi (dfimi@cardiffmet.ac.uk) by 31st August 2017.
Length of abstracts: 100 words
(Papers will be 15-20 minutes long while round table contributions will be 10-12 minutes long)
With your abstract, please include name and details of contributor (affiliation, address, and preferred e-mail address).
Organizer Robin Reid has sent out a call for papers for the Tolkien Studies area at the 2018 Popular Culture Association conference, to be held March 28-31 in Indianapolis, IN, US.
Below is a copy of the CFP, also available for download here: PCA 2018 CFP [pdf]
PCA/ACA 2018 NATIONAL CONFERENCE TOLKIEN STUDIES AREA CFP J.W. MARRIOTT INDIANAPOLIS DOWNTOWN, INDIANAPOLIS, IN MARCH 28-31, 2018
The Tolkien Studies Area welcomes proposals for papers or sessions in any area of Tolkien Studies (the Legendarium, adaptations, reader reception and fan studies, source studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, literary studies, medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing) from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective. Sessions are scheduled in 1½ hour slots, typically with four papers or speakers per paper session. Roundtables may have five-seven speakers. Currently proposed sessions we are especially interested in filling are: Queer Tolkien Studies and The Future of Tolkien Studies.
To submit your paper or panel proposal, go to http://ncp.pcaaca.org and follow the instructions for creating an account and making your submission. ALL submissions must be made through the conference submission site.
For individual papers, please submit a title and 100-word abstract with a working bibliography. For roundtables or complete paper sessions, please submit titles and abstracts for all papers, along with a paragraph describing the central theme and the names of chairs, participants, and respondents (if any). For each participant, please provide a mailing address, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address.
Key Dates:
Jul 1. Database Opens for Submissions
Oct 1. Registration Opens
Oct 1. Deadline for Paper Proposals
Oct 15. All Sessions Entered into the Database by Area Chairs
Nov 15. Early Bird Registration Rate Ends
Dec 1. Preliminary Program Available
Dec 15. “Drop Dead” Date: Participants Not Registered Removed from Program
Jan 1, 2018. Final Program to Publisher
It seems as if the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions just finished up for this year, and here we are already with next year’s calls for papers. You can find all the CFPs and information on how to propose a talk on the International Congress on Medieval Studies website. The conference will take place May 10 – 13, 2018 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, US. Here are the four approved sessions on Tolkien for 2018:
The Tolkien at Kalamazoo group has two sessions.
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso University
Tolkien’s re-envisioning of the medieval lay: the Lay of Beren and Luthien and the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun.
This will be a session of papers exploring two recent posthumous Tolkien publications by his son Christopher, and how they fit into the production of Tolkien’s legendarium.
Medievalism and environmentalism in Tolkien’s works
This will be a session of papers exploring the influences of environmentalism in Tolkien’s works, both his own beliefs as well as influences from the medieval world.
The deadline for submission of proposals is September 1, 2017 to Dr. Brad Eden at brad.eden@valpo.edu.
Contact: Brad Eden
353 Harrison Blvd.
Valparaiso, IN 46383
Phone: 702-732-7885
Email: brad.eden@valpo.edu
“Eald Enta Geweorc”: Tolkien and the Classical Tradition Sponsored by The Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School. Organizer John Wm. Houghton
“Finnish,” J. R. R. Tolkien famously commented, “nearly ruined my Honor Mods,” but even a bottom-of-the-barrel Second on the first examination in Litterae Humaniores in 1913 reflects a considerable depth of classical learning by our standards a century later. Despite his academically dangerous attraction to the northern fringes of Europe, Tolkien’s scholarly and literary projects could no more escape the intellectual relics of Greco-Roman civilization than could the Anglo Saxons whose landscape still showed its physical ruins, the ‘old work of giants.’ This session seeks papers which will consider Tolkien the medievalist as receiver and transmitter of the classical heritage.
Contact: John Wm. Houghton
The Hill School
860 Beech St.
Pottstown, PA 19464
Phone: 610-906-9690
Fax: 610-705-1328
Email: jhoughton@thehill.org
or
numenor001@gmail.com
Please submit proposals (consisting of a one-page abstract and the Congress Participant Information Form) by September 1st.
Tolkien and the Celtic Tradition Sponsored by the History Department, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford
Papers may focus on the impact of the Celtic tradition on any aspect of Tolkien’s work, either fictional or scholarly.
Contact: Judy Ann Ford
Email: Judy.Ford@tamuc.edu (preferred); or
Physical Address:
History Department
Texas A&M University–Commerce
PO Box 3011
Commerce, TX 75429; or
The Tolkien meetings in Vermont, San Diego (the PCA/ACA), and Kalamazoo are now over and conference season is in full swing. Next stop, Leeds!
The Tolkien Society Seminar is held one day before the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, which also sponsors some Tolkien sessions. So, details about the Seminar first. I’m pleased to say that I’ll be attending for the first time and giving a paper.
The program is now on the Tolkien Society website. Registration starts at 9:00, with papers running from around 9:30 to 5:00, with the opportunity for a convivial gathering at a nearby pub afterwards.
The special theme of this year’s Seminar is “poetry and song.”
Brad Eden, The scholar as minstrel: Music as a conscious/subconscious theme in Tolkien’s poetry
Michaela Hausmann, Lyrics on Lost Lands – Constructing Lost Places through Poetry in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
Andrew Higgins, Poetry and Language Invention: The Interconnected Nature of Tolkien’s The Qenya Lexicon and His Early Poetry
Penelope Holdaway, Fair and Perilous: The Women of Tolkien’s non-Middle-earth Lays and Legends
Bertrand Bellet, Aurelie Bremont, Dimitra Fimi, Tolkien and Breton poetry: What layers lie behind Tolkien’s lays?
Stuart Lee, Tolkien and The Battle of Maldon
Kristine Larsen, “Diadem the Fallen Day”: Astronomical and Arboreal Motifs in the Poem “Kortirion Among the Trees”
Szymon Pindur, The magical and reality-transforming function of Tolkien’s songs and verse creations
Irina Metzler, Singing the World into Being: The Creative Power of Song in Tolkien’s Legendarium and Real-World Mythology
Massimiliano Izzo, In search of the Wandering Fire: otherworldly imagery in The Song of Ælfwine
Anna Smol, Seers and Singers: Sub-creative Collaborators in Tolkien’s Fiction.
International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
The IMC is a huge conference that begins the day after the Tolkien Seminar. I won’t be able to attend this year, though for a happy reason: my family will be in the middle of a European vacation, and Leeds can only be a one-day stop for us. However, if you’re looking for presentations on Tolkien, there are four sessions this year organized by Dr. Dimitra Fimi. The following is an abridged version of the conference program; follow the links for more information on the speakers and for abstracts of the papers.
Session 242: J.R.R. Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches. Monday 3 July 14:15-15:45
Organiser: Dimitra Fimi
Moderator: Andrew Higgins
Session 442: The Road Goes Ever On: The Future of Tolkien Scholarship – A Round Table Discussion
Monday 3 July 19:00-20:00
Organiser: Dimitra Fimi
Moderator: Carl L. Phelpstead
I’ve filed away my course notes and given out the final grades. ENGL 4475: Tolkien & Myth-making is officially over for the 2016-17 academic year. The project proposals, annotated bibliographies, abstracts, research papers, and exams are all done now. What’s left is my delight at the many ways my students found to explore Tolkien’s fiction in relation to adaptation, medievalism, and fandom.
Gift of lembas by a student from ENGL 4475
Our last class of the year is a celebration of the work students have done. We set up in a party room with snacks and drinks and read excerpts from each other’s essays. After all, it’s more interesting if you’re writing for your peers and not just for your teacher. My students then present their research projects to the rest of the seminar. I give them a range of general options for these projects, from studying Tolkien’s adaptations of texts such as Beowulf to producing their own adaptations based on Tolkien’s fiction. Because this is a senior-level English course, all of the projects require a written researched analysis of the texts and, if relevant, of the students’ process of adaptation or their participation in fandom.
On presentation day, the class had assembled around the seminar table but for one student, who at the last moment made quite an entrance in full costume, much to our delight. Gavin Rollins’ project was about cosplay, but he didn’t just write about it; he arrived as a living example of his research. (He also brought us some delicious lembas).
Part of Gavin Rollins’ cosplay project
Gavin’s paper dealt with the immersive, communal experience of cosplay and the intertextuality of Tolkien’s fiction and Jackson’s films.
A couple of other students were thinking along the same lines when they conducted their study of Dungeons and Dragons gaming. Andrew Potter used his and his friends’ experiences to investigate the question, can a D&D adventure feel like a “faerian drama“? Andrew’s answer is maybe, and certainly more likely than the experience of playing a video game or watching a film.
Luke Hammond (centre) and his D&D research team
Luke Hammond created his own D&D-style adventure based on Tolkien’s Mines of Moria episode and experimented with his friends in a campaign lasting several hours to see how Tolkien’s place descriptions worked (they worked well) and what kind of choices would be made by players who didn’t know the books or the movies. (Turns out the Frodo-character put on the Ring every chance he could get!). Luke’s analysis also considered how the role-playing genre could fulfill Tolkien’s ideas expressed in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” about fantasy, recovery, escape, and consolation.
Image from diceaholic.wordpress.com
It would take too long to summarize every student’s project, but at least I can give you a taste of the variety we enjoyed. Courtney Francis wrote about Legolas/Gimli fanfiction; Megan Bruce about surveillance in The Lord of the Rings, including her poem about Galadriel’s mirror as a surveillance tool. Nicole Martina tackled Tolkien’s descriptive landscapes and his artistic style. And Allyson Roussy adapted the Old English poem “Widsith,” in which a widely-travelled poet recounts all the great rulers and places he has been, thus recording legends and histories in his verse. Allyson transposed the style of “Widsith” to the history of Middle-earth, beginning with Silmarillion tales and ending with The Lord of the Rings. Her speaker is Gandalf, someone who has travelled widely and seen a great deal in Middle-earth. Although she does not attempt to write consistently in alliterative verse, she typically captures the four-beat style of her Old English model. Here is a passage spoken by Gandalf:
…I acted as guide in the war against Sauron. I counselled men and elves and exiles, sought those who desired to aid our cause, who strengthened the armies of Middle-earth. I was with Aragorn, of the House of Isildur, Beren’s mirror, with Barahir’s ring, last heir to the throne of Gondor and Arnor, A true leader with patience and humility, The hands of a healer and the hands of a king….
Film adaptations of Tolkien’s work also provided fertile ground for analysis. Kimia Nejat studied Jackson’s film representations of Frodo and Sam. Samantha VanNorden, starting with the premise that Middle-earth is a character in The Lord of the Rings, analyzed Jackson’s representations of certain landscapes. And Alexandra Rudderham examined Tolkien’s representation of Galadriel along with the film adaptations by Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson. Tolkien’s handling of gender and women has long been a topic of debate, and Alex further asked, have filmmakers captured all of Galadriel’s qualities as a beautiful, perilous, powerful queen? Compare for yourself; first, Bakshi’s animated 1978 version:
and then Peter Jackson’s 2001 Fellowship of the Ring:
Fan Studies in the Classroom
I’ve had an opportunity to write about the kind of work I ask my students to do in this course. My essay “Adaptation as Analysis: Creative Work in an English Classroom” is forthcoming in the book Fan Studies in the Classroom, edited by Katherine Howell, to be published by the University of Iowa Press. In this essay I discuss the theory behind my ENGL 4475 assignments, the practical details of how they’re done, and why I think the assignments encourage intertextual engagement, creativity, and textual analyses. I’ll post more when the book is published. In the meantime, some of my former students’ assignments can be seen on the ENGL 4475: Studies in Medievalism – Tolkien & Myth-making course page.
Selected Bibliography
This is not meant to be a complete bibliography by any means, but I thought that a few readers might like to sample some of the sources, especially those dealing with fandom and adaptation, that my students have read as part of their research. I’ve culled one or two sources from each essay in case anyone wants to look further into some of the topics my students have written about.
Abrahamson, M.B. “J.R.R. Tolkien, Fanfiction, and the Freedom of the Reader.” Mythlore, vol. 32, no. 1, 2013, pp. 53- 72.
Allington, Daniel. “‘How Come Most People Don’t See It?’: Slashing The Lord of the Rings.” Social Semiotics, vol. 17, no. 1, Mar. 2007, pp. 43–62.
Amendt-Raduege, Amy. “Dream Visions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” Tolkien Studies, vol. 3, 2006, pp. 45-55.
Barker, Martin. “Envisaging ‘Visualisation’: Some challenges from the international Lord of the Rings audience project.” Film-Philosophy, vol. 10, no. 3, 2006, pp. 1-25.
Battis, Jes. “Gazing upon Sauron: Hobbits, Elves, and the Queering of the Postcolonial optic.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 50, 2004, pp. 908-26.
Clark, George. “J.R.R. Tolkien and the True Hero.” J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-Earth, Greenwood Press, 2000, pp. 39–52.
Cohen, Cynthia M. “The Unique Representation of Trees in The Lord of the Rings.” Tolkien Studies, vol. 6, 2009, pp. 91-125.
Croft, Janet Brennan and Leslie Donovan, editors. Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien. Mythopoeic Press, 2015.
Enright, Nancy. “Tolkien’s Females and the Defining of Power.” Renascence, vol. 59, Issue 2, 2007, 93-108.
Ewalt, David M. Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons and Dragons and the People Who Play It. Scribner, 2013.
Gygax, Gary. “The Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D Games.” Dragon, vol. 95. March 1985. pp. 12-13.
Hammond, Wayne G. and Christina Scull. J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator. HarperCollins, 2004.
Haydock, Nickolas. The Imaginary Middle Ages: Movie Medievalism. McFarland, 2008.
Hellekson, Karen and Kristina Busse, editors. Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. McFarland, 2006.
Hutcheon, L. with S. O’Flynn. A Theory of Adaptation, 2nd ed, Routledge, London and New York.
Pugh, Sheenagh. The Democratic Genre: Fan Fiction in a Literary Context. Bridgend, Seren, 2005.
Rahman, Osmud, Liu Wing-Sun, and Brittany Hei-Man Cheung. “’Cosplay’: Imaginative Self and Performing Identity.” Fashion Theory-The Journal Of Dress Body & Culture, vol. 16, no. 3, Sep 2012, pp. 317-342.
Rateliff, John. “Tolkien Moot 2008 MerpCon IV John D. Rateliff solo speech History of the Hobbit author.” YouTube, 28 Jun 2012.
Reid, Robin Anne. “Thrusts in the Dark: Slashers’ Queer Practices.” Extrapolation, vol. 50, no. 3, 2009, pp. 463–483.
_________. “Tree and flower, leaf and grass: The Grammar of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings.” Fantasy Fiction into Film. Edited by Stratyner, Leslie and James R. Keller. McFarland, 2007.
Russell, Gary. The Lord of the Rings: Art of the Fellowship of the Ring. HarperCollins, 2002.
Shank, Nathan. “Productive Violence and Poststructural Play in the Dungeons and Dragons Narrative.” Journal of Popular Culture, vol 48, no.1, 2015.
As is my annual custom, I’m posting a list of sessions on Tolkien and on medievalism to be held at 
