Tolkien Gleanings #207.
* The Times notes a forthcoming sale at the Sotheby’s auction house, of a large bundle of Tolkien’s correspondence with Donald Swann. Swann was a composer (The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle) and also one half of the musical comedy duo Flanders and Swann. At present, Sotheby’s has no Web page or date for the sale. Forum commenters suggest the bundle has material not in the new edition of the Letters.
* Middle Moot 2024. 26th October 2024 at the World War I Museum & Memorial in Kansas City, and themed “Consolation, Recovery, & Hope in Faerie”. The call for proposals is now open, and closes 26th September 2024.
* The Moss Dreams blog homes in on a specific Tolkien health claim, in “Tolkien: Faery is Necessary for Your Health”.
* The VoegelinView blog reviews Myth, Magic, and Power in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (2023).
* New at The Great Courses website, “Pilot Lecture: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Their Circle”. Apparently there’s a new course of lectures from this leading online-learning company, coming soon.
* At Signum University, a new page for the proposed August 2024 online modules. These include: “Adaptations of Middle-earth: From Deitch and Bakshi to Jackson”; “The body in Tolkien’s legendarium”; and “Utopias and dystopias in The Fellowship of the Ring“.
* St. Bernard’s School of Theology on “Image of the Maker: The Theological Poetics of George Macdonald and J.R.R. Tolkien”. This article introduces a seven-week summer school course, set to run online from early July 2024. This appears to be eligible for anyone to ‘sit in on’ (U.S.: ‘audit’) as part of their One Free Summer Audit Opportunity.
* There is reported to be “a new Chinese translation of Tolkien’s biography” available inside China. This is Carpenter’s biography, nicely produced as a hardback but with “more than 100 pages” of updating annotations. These reference later information found in the first three volumes of HoME and the J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide volumes. Though what edition of the latter was used is uncertain. The amount of censorship is also uncertain.
* The venerable Prometheus Awards welcome fantasy books. The organisers remind potential entrants that… “Many falsely assume that the Prometheus Awards are exclusively focused on ‘libertarian science fiction’ [but] fantasy has always been eligible for nomination”. Also worth noting is that, to give readers an idea of what’s eligible, the article offers a rich list of suggested freedom-loving titles in fantasy, sword & sorcery and more.
* And finally, what’s claimed to be the “U.S. premiere” of the stage adaptation The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale. Chicago, USA, running from July until at least October 2024. Booking now.