Tolkien Gleanings #316
* The latest rolling Journal of Tolkien Research is nicely “filling up the corners”, and the latest toothsome item is a peer-reviewed article on “The Matter of Time in the Faerie Realms of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings”, with specific focus on the Celtic otherworld and… “the complex interplay of time found in Celtic mythology”. Freely available online.
* A Signum University thesis defence is set for 6th August 2025, online on Zoom, titled “A Myth for Mankind: The Lord of the Rings, Modernism, and The Counterculture”. In the thesis … “special attention is given to the novel’s adoption by the American counterculture of the 1960s and 70s”.
* Kalimac’s Corner offers a short Mythcon report…
I got to the Tolkien trivia contest [… and there I was the only contestant who] knew that before Tolkien read chunks of The Lord of the Rings into a friend’s tape recorder, what he first recited was the Lord’s Prayer. To exorcise the machine, he said. And, being Tolkien, he recited it in Gothic.
* Mythopoeic Awards winners announced, for books published in 2024. In the ‘Inklings Studies’ category, the winner is The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (2024).
* From the Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century (2022), “Fantastic Letters: Writing in a Fictional World”. Discusses Tolkien’s fictional lettering, alongside other key examples. Freely available online.
* The Mythmakers is being translated into Dutch, as The Mythmakers: De wonderlijke vriendschap tussen C.S. Lewis en J.R.R. Tolkien. Set for release on 30th October 2025.
* The Poles are set to enjoy what sounds like a new Polish translation of Tolkien. The title translates as Unfinished stories of Middle-earth and Numenor. The 600-page hardcover is due to thump heavily onto doormats on 12th August 2025, according to Amazon UK.
* A nice new discovery on DeviantArt, Gnome-the-artist, from the Czech Republic. Lots of quality Tolkien artworks, including imaginative portraits of Tolkien himself. Available without watermarks and (for those signed-up to DA) with downloads available at large sizes.
* And finally, The Tolkien Society calls for Tolkien to feature on a new Bank of England bank note. I’m guessing that the shortlist is drawn up a couple of years in advance, and thus the Society is anticipating that a Reform government will be quite amenable to the idea circa 2026/27? Personally I’d change the rather depressive choice of words, though. Perhaps more suitable would be “The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began…”