Anna Smol: A Single Leaf

Category: Tolkien

  • April 2022 conference sessions on Tolkien

    A couple of conferences are coming up in the next few weeks with lots of discussion about a wide range of topics in Tolkien studies. Check out what people will be talking about in the Tolkien@UVM conference and the PCA Tolkien Studies area — or register and listen to the full sessions! The 18th Annual…

  • Tolkien Reading Day 2022: Love & Friendship

    Every year to mark the downfall of Sauron on March 25, the Tolkien Society announces a theme for reading, discussion, and celebration. Let’s hope that this year’s theme, Love and Friendship, will lead to positive appreciations of the variety of loving relationships that Tolkien represents in his fiction. I’ve written some articles on male relationships,…

  • What did he really mean? Carpenter on Tolkien on Drama

    I’ve borrowed my title from Verlyn Flieger’s essay, “But What Did He Really Mean?” published in Tolkien Studies in 2014. Professor Flieger points out ambivalent statements made by Tolkien at different times about religion, Elves or Faeries, and Faërian Drama. I’ll be looking closely at what she says about Faërian Drama at a later date,…

  • Save the dates!

    I sometimes like to listen to the Sounds of the Bodleian Library while working. The soundscapes transport me back to happy days researching in the library, where I hope to spend time again one day. In the meantime, a howling snowstorm is keeping us indoors here in Nova Scotia, but that doesn’t mean we can’t…

  • Fall term and summer reviews

    I am halfway into the fall term — always a busy time with meetings, grading, and class preparations. It’s hard to find time for research — or blogging. But one thing that I like to do whenever I have a half hour or so is to review videos of past conference presentations or listen to…

  • Mallorn now an open-access resource for Tolkien fans and researchers

    A new resource has opened up for anyone interested in Tolkien fandom and research. The journal Mallorn is now open access and free (except for the last two years as part of a rolling paywall). As I was browsing the issues I couldn’t help noticing the range of articles and fan creations, including discussions about…

  • Upcoming Tolkien conference sessions (Tolkien Society Seminar and IMC Leeds)

    These sessions are not for those who rush to join bandwagons based on meaningless politicized terms such as “woke” or who advance the anti-intellectualism prevalent in groups where any academic is suspect, and expertise (whether of academics or fans) is ridiculed.  These sessions, as always, are for open discussions and debates by faculty, students, independent…

  • New article in JTR on “The Homecoming”

    I’m pleased to announce that my co-author, Rebecca Foster, and I have recently published our study of Tolkien’s alliterative verse in his play, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son” in the free and open access Journal of Tolkien Research. In case you’re curious about its contents, here is the abstract: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Homecoming’ and Modern…

  • Tolkien Symposium 2021: Tolkien the Playwright

    The Tolkien Symposium usually takes place in Kalamazoo, Michigan a day or two before the International Congress on Medieval Studies begins at the University of Western Michigan. This year, both events were held online, with the Symposium taking place on May 8. This year’s Symposium began with a memorial session dedicated to Tolkien scholar Richard…

  • Tolkien Conference Season, May-July 2021

    Conference season is upon us again, and just like last year’s sessions, the meetings I’m interested in are being held online.  While nothing can replace sitting on a university patio in the summer sun drinking mead with new and old conference friends, we’ll have to make do with virtual reality.  As I’ve said before, the…