Tolkien Gleanings #427
* This year’s J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature was given on 19th May at Oxford Town Hall, by author Brandon Sanderson. The one-hour recording of his talk is now freely available on YouTube. Sanderson talked about some key elements Tolkien introduced into fantasy that were lacking: absence of cynicism and irony; a world built with a many-layered authenticity and crafted with a scholar’s care; magic that can act at many differing levels within the plot; he re-made elves / goblins / dwarves / ‘the little-people’ and wove them into a coherent whole; and he added a gripping ‘save the world from the dark lord’ plot. Sanderson went on to defend fantasy as a genre. Yes, fantasy can be a temporary escape but it can also bring hope to many, and hope can spur good things in the real world.
* Talking of ‘revolting dark lord’ story plots. In the November 2025 issue of Modern Philology, “The Night Departure: Tracing Medieval Epic from Ariosto to Milton” (£ paywall)…
“reading ‘Paradise Lost’ against ‘Orlando furioso’ and its chivalric predecessors allows Satan’s revolt to be situated in a long line of rebel baron epics […] The epic quality of the Fall, usually ascribed to the artful debasement of classical models, is also indebted to the medieval poems of feudal revolt. Recognizing the persistence of the older epic form has important implications for both poetic and political readings of the poem.”
* From South Africa, a Masters dissertation which offers “A psychobiography of J.R.R Tolkien: exploring his psychological development and creativity” (2025), through the lens of a psychological theory from the period (“1950, 1968”). Freely available for download.
* The knowledgeable Exodus 90 podcast… “unpacks the First Book of Kings [Hebrew Bible] and how it relates to J.R.R. Tolkien’s vision of kingship”. Freely available on YouTube.
* Also new on YouTube, Nerdvana visits Oxford, Blackwell’s bookshop, the Bodleian, and Tolkien and C.S. Lewis sites. With a steadycam, thankfully.
* There’s been lots of local newspaper coverage for the UK’s first official Brandywine hobbit festival here in the UK. The above Web link is to coverage in the nearby local newspaper for the town of Shrewsbury.
* And finally, “Crickhowell launch fundraiser to buy Lord of The Rings letter”. Given that the letter also has Tolkien expanding on a bit of the plot of LoTR, I suspect it’ll go for more than the relatively modest guide-price. The town may find they’re having to stump up a lot more than they expect. Especially as they’ll be up against American institutions with deep pockets.