Tolkien Gleanings #126.
* A new PhD thesis in German for Heidelberg University, Die Konzeption von Konigtum bei J.R.R. Tolkien: zur rezeption und transformation religionshistorischer motive und religioser herrscherlegitimation in der literarischen weltkonstruktion von Middle-earth (‘The Conception of Kingship in J.R.R. Tolkien: on the reception and transformation of motifs of the history of religion and the religious legitimisation of power in the literary world-making of Middle-earth’). Freely available and kindly placed under full Creative Commons Attribution.
* A new B.A. dissertation for the University of Pardubice, “Philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Arda”. Examines… “motifs of good and evil in Tolkien’s works” via frameworks of “Manichaeism, Augustinian and Boethian approach[es] to morality, and Aristotle’s virtue ethics”. In English and freely available.
* The book Translating and Illustrating Tolkien has an official publication date, 10th October 2023. This is…
“a collection of six papers presented at The Tolkien Society Autumn Seminar held online on Saturday 6th November 2021.”
* Italian artist groups, the Italian Association of Tolkien Studies and Eterea Edizioni, presents “Hobbits, Elves & other Folks: a Festival of the Fantastic, from folklore to fiction, by J.R.R. Tolkien”. 6th to 8th October 2023 in the capital city of Rome. With… “live music, presentations, talks, themed markets, a series of ‘fantasy and comics’ laboratories, workshops, open-air sessions of retro gaming + board and tabletop role-playing games.” Also, among other items…
– “Middle-earth Bestiary, an exhibition focused on animals in Tolkien’s works, including in later publishing, games and pop culture.” Also has creative workshops for children.
– ‘Light and Shadow: symbolism in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien’, a round-table in dialogue with the public”.
– ‘Fantastic Religions and Where to Find Them: divinities, myths and rites in science fiction and fantasy’, with the authors speaking about a Quasar Edizioni book of the same name.
– ‘Fantasy Illustration Survival Course, a workshop + illustration laboratory for publishing’ by Claudia Marrone, editorial illustrator.
* In other news from Italy, confirmation of the medium-sized 150-item exhibition ‘J.R.R. Tolkien 1973-2023: Man-Professor-Author’. This opens in November 2023 at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, and is “curated by Alessandro Nicosia and Oronzo Cilli”.
* And finally, the U.S. Sun features a handyman who says “I build hobbit holes for your garden”, for $10,000.