Tolkien Gleanings #224
* The Leo Carruthers book Tolkien et la religion: Comme une lampe invisible (‘Tolkien and Religion: An invisible lamp’) is to be (re?)published by the Sorbonne shortly, and apparently runs to a chunky 340 pages. This suggests an expanded edition, compared to the page count of the earlier 2016 edition, but that’s just my guess. Amazon UK currently lists the book for publication on the 12th September 2024. [Update: Yes, I’m right. The Sorbonne list it as a “2ème édition”, 2nd edition].
* Another conference paper, newly added to the latest Journal of Tolkien Research, “Tolkien’s Orphaned Heroes: Kullervo, Hurin and the Limits of Fostering”. Freely available online.
* “A Lord of More Renown than Arthur: Tolkien’s Corrective and Compensatory Approach to the Arthurian Tradition in his Legendarium”. A lengthy non-fiction item in a new undergraduate collection from The University of Price Edward Island in Canada, titled Into a New Tongue. This being the UPEI Arts Review edition for Spring 2024. Freely available online.
* From the Institute of Art, Design + Technology, Ireland, Authentic Fantasy: The representation of the Shire as a nostalgic arcadia (2013 with a 10-year embargo, freely online April 2024). Being an undergraduate dissertation for a B.A. (Hons.) Design for Stage and Screen degree, “a study of the visual and design references within the Shire in the film adaption of The Lord of the Rings“. The core focusses…
“on the Victorian era from which Tolkien drew inspiration in creating the Shire and its characters. Director Peter Jackson and conceptual designers use this era strongly as a reference within their research and design methodologies, and the study explores how, although we are looking at the Victorian era, there is a strong use of medievalism within the design reflecting the influence of the medieval period on Victorian art and aesthetics.”
* Signum University’s October 2024 modules are now listed. Note the eight-session course “The Music of Middle-earth”, and also the unusual “Ink Spots and Tea Stains: What we Learn from C.S. Lewis’s Writing Habits”. Booking now.
* Oxford is to host another repeat of Tolkien’s ‘Lecture on Dragons’. This time it will be staged at The Story Museum in Oxford, on the 22nd September 2024. Free, and booking now. Tolkien originally gave this lecture on New Year’s Day 1938 at the University Museum, Oxford, as part of the Museum’s Christmas lecture series for children. In 2024 its recreation will be… “Presented by Professor John Holmes, [who will] re-run Tolkien’s lecture featuring his original slides.”
* The Arkhaven Nights podcast is to interview Rachel Fulton Brown. Scheduled for Friday 9th August 2024. Also, it appears that Fulton Brown’s huge Tolkien lecture series, previously paywalled, may be going free. I’ll post more on that later, once a few more free recordings are posted.
* And finally, Sami Makkonen’s gritty 300-page graphic-novel adaptation of The Kalevala is still sticking to its 24th September 2024 release-date for the English translation. Preview pages are now floating around the Internet. His workflow is to ink the page manually, with marker pens on board. Then to scan the page, to be able to digitally colour and tweak it in the computer.
