Tolkien Gleanings #142.
* Tolkienists.org returns to offer a new post, after a very long break. It sounds like editor Erik hopes to “de-mothball Tolkienists” sometime in 2024.
* Tolkien scholar John Garth has a title for his next book, Tolkien’s Mirror, and there’s a short podcast with him this week. The book is currently finished and seeking a publisher able to do justice to it (picture licencing for illustrations etc), and is pencilled in for 2025.
* From Germany, the new scholarly journal issue Hither Shore #19 – ‘Raum und Zeit in Tolkiens Werk’ (‘Space and time in Tolkien’s work’). Partly in English. The publisher’s ‘Look Inside’ link is ‘404 not found’, but Google Books obliges with the table-of-contents…
* It appears that Mythprint, quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society is going online. Albeit with a very long open-access embargo. I assume it’s open-access. Since the new #405 will apparently be publicly available to non-members… “for download on Sunday, 15th June 2025”.
* A forthcoming book listed on Amazon UK, J.R.R. Tolkien: Christian Maker of Middle-Earth (December 2023, in paperback and Kindle ebook). “This biography is intended to show readers that Tolkien’s Christian faith was central to his life and work, personally, professionally, and — most importantly — creatively.” Does it say anything that Holly Ordway hasn’t already, in her accomplished and acclaimed new book? Possibly. The Canadian author is a contributor of essays to Barnabas magazine… and “a teacher of English and Classical Studies at Hillfeld Strathallan College and a professor of Communications at Mohawk College.” The book has a pleasing cover painting, which I assume is AI generated by the looks of it…
* Available now, the new book J.R.R. Tolkien: Tales for Our Times — Vol. 1: Art, Not Power. Weighing in at over 400 pages, this book is volume one of a…
two-volume study of the work and vision of J.R.R. Tolkien. Volume One, Art, Not Power, is an exploration of literary ecology, paying particular attention to Tolkien’s exploration of the imaginal realm. The companion volume Fellowship and Flourishing is a more philosophically detailed exposition of the moral ecology that underpins Tolkien’s writings. Premised on the recovery of ‘a clear view,’ both volumes address a number of key questions: power and its corrupting potentials; human creativity in the acceptance of boundaries; ‘the environment’ conceived in the sense of our inherited moral and social ecosystems as well as our natural ones. […] Tolkien’s ideal emerges as that of living artistically in tune with growing things.
A little digging finds that Vol. 2, Fellowship and Flourishing, is just as long and also available now. Though, due to Amazon’s abysmal search functionality, it didn’t show up on my search for new and forthcoming books.
Fellowship and Flourishing is about creating the habitus for the acquisition and exercise of the virtues, cultivating good character, and fostering ‘habits of the heart’ within communities of practice, all of which is essential to a free and self-governing society.
* And finally, local ‘citizen journalism’ online publication Yorkshire Bylines has a new article freely available online, “From trenches to treasures: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Yorkshire Odyssey”. Also mentioned is the nearby Tolkien exhibition in the former mill-town of Barnsley…
“Having been open to the public for over a month, the ‘Magic of Middle-earth’ has exceeded expectations, drawing 10,000 visitors to the museum.”