Tolkien Gleanings #418
* Tolkien’s Roots in Myth, two online lectures and discussions with Verlyn Flieger in July 2026. Paid, and booking now.
* Two more Kristine Larsen papers have been added to the latest rolling issue of the Journal of Tolkien Research. “Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey Inklings: Tolkien and Lewis’s Relative Dimensions in Space-Time” (the title alludes to Doctor Who and the TARDIS),
and “Hope and the Handiwork of Varda: Celestial Signposts of the Music’s Mending”. Freely available online.
* This week Elfenomeno interviews Paul Strack on Tolkien language studies.
* The Notion Club Papers considers if the “Barrow Downs” chapter in LoTR is redundant within the wider story. Freely available online.
* New on YouTube, a Mythunderstood interview with Peter Kreeft (professor of Philosophy, Boston College) on Tolkien, Beauty, the Eucharist, and the Crisis of Modern Man. Touches on Tolkien’s view of the Eucharist as heroic, and there is some further discussion of heroism at the end of the interview.
* In March 2027 the Tolkien Conference Switzerland will take as its theme “Maps and Landscapes in Tolkien’s Middle-earth”…
“Tolkien’s maps are never merely geographical. While they guide the traveller through the carefully drawn landscapes of Middle-earth, from mountains and forests to ancient kingdoms, they also chart moral and spiritual dimensions — from the corrupted wastes of Mordor to the timeless grace of Lothlorien. In Tolkien’s world, place is never neutral.”
* Fantastical makes the case that… the illustrator “Angus McBride epitomises Tolkien illustration in the 1980s and should be ranked up there with Alan Lee and the Hildebrandt Brothers for his artistry and influence.” Freely available online.
* The latest Anglotopia Podcast visits the City of Dreaming Spires: The Anglotopia Guide to Oxford, which brings to bear 15 years of hard-won experience of the city.
* And finally, an on-location YouTube tour of Tolkien’s Known 1917 Roos Connections as of May 2026. This being Roos on the bleak Yorkshire coast. The video ends with a look at the new Tolkien statue, as it now stands amidst the end-of-May 2026 verdancy. Warning: wobbly and spinning video may cause sea-sickness.