Tolkien Gleanings #4

* “Companions in Shipwreck: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Female Friendships” (2019 book chapter, and now newly open-access).

* A new scholarly blog post “Lost in Translation: Ettins in Old English”. It seems the author is pushing back strongly against a lumpy assumption held by a few confabulating pagans, who appear to want to believe that “all giants are ettins” so that they can freely start “equating ettins and ents”. The author notes that… “As far as I am aware, nowhere in the Old English corpus is there an ent who is also referred to as an ettin, or vice versa, so the two appear to be mutually exclusive.”

* Cover for the new second edition of Tolkien at Exeter College, now available direct from John Garth’s website. Apparently, according to a podcast interview, there is no expansion in terms of adding details of Tolkien’s tutors and teachers and their research interests.

* A new book in Greek, The Influence of Ancient Greek Mythology on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (2021).

* “J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript” Catalog. 200 page catalog for the current Marquette University exhibition, which closes 23rd December 2022. The exhibition, and presumably also its catalog, apparently includes unspecified “never-before published works” by Tolkien.

* A thoughtful new blog post from the Deputy Head Girl at Wimbledon High School in London, “How does mapping help to create a fictional world?”, with a strong Tolkien focus.

* Full details of a 30 credit Theology and Religion module Tolkien: Scholar, Critic, Writer at the University of Exeter. With reading list. Tutor Nick Groom… “will also consider how far Tolkien’s experience of place, including his trips to Cornwall, affected his work”. Module devised/approved in 2019, possibly still running annually.

* The Spanish Tolkien Society has a large exhibition on now. Includes a public talk on “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Spanish Connections”.

* And finally, new on UnHerd is “Who cancelled English folklore? Britain is embarrassed by its heritage.”