Tolkien Gleanings #229
* A partially-online review of The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (2024). The reviewer notes…
“the skilled craftsmanship of the book’s visuals. The illustrations, drawn by hand and digitally colored, are masterful balances of details and sweeping, epic scenes, with warm shades of yellow cozying up next to a range of cool, blue hues. Any dialogue is rendered in typefaces based on the handwriting of the author, and this instantly creates a welcoming, insider vibe. Full page spreads, orderly panels, and sections that are primarily text-only all share harmonious space without disrupting the narrative flow, effortlessly blending fantasy and reality.”
* New in the undergraduate journal Eloquentia Perfecta (Fordham University), a lengthy essay exploring Tolkien’s work in relation to “Bilbo and the Consequences of War”.
* From blog notes on the projects of the Oxford Libraries Graduate Trainees…
“Leah’s trainee project was a fascinating deep dive into the offprints of Professor Turville-Petre, a prominent Oxford scholar in Old Norse-Icelandic Studies who, as a student at Christ Church, was tutored by none other than J.R.R. Tolkien himself. When Turville-Petre died in 1978, he donated his entire library to the English Faculty Library. [One aim was to look through his huge collection of offprints and to] create a handlist [and there is now] a spreadsheet detailing each offprint. These details included, but were not limited to, author details, publication information, as well as language. Leah also paid close attention to the contents and notes that he made in the margins of the off-prints [which has] proved to be effective in bringing Turville-Petre to life, letting us catch a glimpse of his personality and work style.”
* Previously paywalled, “The Forge of Tolkien” series from Rachel Fulton-Brown. There were 43 episodes in total, for subscribers, issued in 2020-2021. The first six are now freely available on YouTube, or are scheduled to be so very soon…
1. “What Sort of Tale Have We Fallen Into?”
2. A Mythology for England
3. Mythopoeia
4. Who is Tom Bombadil?
5. Stories for Children
6. A Taxonomy of Dragons
* Project Muse now has a Web page for the contents of Tolkien Studies, Volume 20, 2023 ($ paywall, released summer 2024). ($60 + registration required).
* Borromeo at the Birmingham Oratory, in Tolkien’s time there? Hmmm, now that sounds like a familiar name. Found on an old postcard I spotted on eBay…
The possible connection was not addressed in the recent book Tolkien’s Faith.
* And finally, The Gates of Argonath as ‘filmed’ in an advanced game-engine, the latest real-time Unreal Engine 5. No horrid 2000s-style polygonal videogame river-rocks, but the YouTube demo video does have fashionable wobbly camerawork… so beware of sea-sickness.