A new edition of the journal Mythlore brings two items of interest…

* “Notes of an Inklings Scholar: Musings on Myth and History, Promises and Secrecy, Ethical Reviewing, and the Limits of Authorial Intent”. A keynote conference speech that melded together several short essays. One of these is an entertaining evaluation of several key denigrators of The Lord of the Rings. Specifically asking: did they actually read it? On the available evidence… no they didn’t, the author concludes. I’d add, as a Lovecraft scholar, that there is also clear evidence that Lovecraft’s most dismissive critics — including a key contemporary editor and anthologist — have not read his key works such as “The Colour Out of Space”.

* Review of Tolkien as a Literary Artist. Usefully notes and details a poetry section in the book…

The analysis of “Poems and Songs”, of which there are more than 60 within The Lord of the Rings, posits that various recitations and performances serve the plot by advancing narrative development as much as to add entertainment. Kullmann notes four types of verse: Mythic, Functional, Bellicose, and Otherworldly. A handy table (pages 230-233) catalogs a breakdown of the types and their schemas. The poems are then elucidated by their textual traditions and genres, mostly related to English folksongs.

Which makes things sound very jolly. However, be warned that this is apparently also a book which lauds contemporary academic literary theory.

Also new and of note, and open-access elsewhere, are:

Light: the diegetic world-builder in J.R.R. Tolkien’s secondary world. A Masters dissertation at Glasgow.

“Ancient Sea Monsters and a Medieval Hero: The Nicoras of Beowulf”. Sees a classical influence. In a special themed issue of the scholarly open-access journal Shima, on sea and water-monsters. I also find that the earlier Vol. 15 No. 2, and Vol. 12 No. 2, were on mermaids.