Tolkien Gleanings #125.

* Princeton University’s James Madison Program podcast this week has an excellent interview with Rachel Fulton Brown, about “Religion and Politics in The Lord of the Rings”. It start a little creakily though, so bear with it to 3:38 minutes. And note that the politics discussion is fairly short, and near the end.

* A University of Birmingham short report on “A Tolkien Weekend in Bewdley”, near Birmingham…

To celebrate his life and work, Professor John Holmes and doctoral student Dion Dobrzynski got together with the Bewdley Museum and the Guild of St. George to put on a programme of events at the museum and at Ruskin Land in the Wyre Forest.

* In Virginia, Christendom College is hosting an evening Tolkien event marking the 50th Anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s death…

Professor Michael Strickland, from the Department of English Language and Literature, will survey Tolkien’s Middle English scholarship, particularly on Chaucer, and then further examine how his work on Chaucer potentially influenced Tolkien’s Legendarium as he was writing. Dr. Daniel McInerny, from the Department of Philosophy, will close the evening with a talk on Tolkien’s philosophy of stories, reflecting on the power of stories, and learning to understand our own lives as part of a greater story.

* In France, a library exhibition on Tolkien and science is on show from 3rd October to 10th November 2023. No details about how large it is. I assume small, and it may only be a few cabinets.

* In the last week or so I’ve heard several people talk about how this year’s autumn / fall seems ideal for a re-read of The Lord of The Rings. Can I suggest that Phil Dragash’s unabridged Lord of the Rings audiobook is well worth considering.

* And finally, a new Medieval Podcast episode on “Trees and Religion in Early Medieval England”, discussing the new book of the same name.