Tolkien Gleanings #408
* Words Do Things podcast has a new ‘Elvish English’ series, and a new interview with Verlyn Flieger on Tolkien…
“In the second episode in the ‘Elvish English’ series, Sorina Higgins has the distinct honor of talking with Verlyn Flieger, one of the greats of Tolkien studies.”
The .MP3 download link is hidden under the “… More” button.
* Malcolm Guite has the chapter “Allegory Among the Inklings”, in the new £150 book The Oxford Handbook of Allegory (May 2026). Readers of this may find David Bratman’s free online A Handlist of Books by the Inklings a useful accompaniment.
* Elfenomeno has an Interview with Michael Martinez, author of Parma Endorion: Essays on Middle-earth (2001).
* From the University of East Anglia, an abstract for “Teaching, Learning, and Biblical Symbolism: The environmentalisms of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis” (2026). This is a Masters dissertation, currently under university repository embargo until 2028.
* A new Reading Soundscape for The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ($ Substack, with a paywall for the audio)…
“Soundscapes are original music and sound design that are meant to accompany your reading and they really are such a lovely way to experience Tolkien’s works. Jordan’s soundscape for Smith of Wootton Major by J.R.R. Tolkien was such a delightful addition to our slow reading for our Faerie segment and I’m really excited that we now have a soundscape to accompany our reading of Tolkien’s poems!”
* The International Association of Music Libraries has the new long article “The Piano Makers: An exploration of the musical history of the Tolkien family”, well illustrated with period images. It also serves as an update on project progress…
“We have found a functional Tolkien piano located at Winterbourne House in Birmingham that we will visit and photograph. […] we will be recording some of the smaller scale works [discovered as a sheet music], possibly even all of them if we can bridge the gap of financing small projects without affecting our other projects and aims. The operas and cantatas by Frederick Tolkien (of which there are some incredible reviews of performances in the late 1890s to early 1900s) may be beyond our means currently, but we have been retrieving the scores and supporting documents for them. A book may be a possibility with new editions of the printed music and family history connecting it.”
* “St. John Ambulance and British Army officers wait for the arrival of wounded soldiers from the Western Front at Snow Hill, 1916” (restored, and for once Nano Banana 2 got the details right — even the slowing train, which looks vaguely modern, is the same in the original).
It appears from the photograph that Tolkien’s First World War “ambulance train”, then the common name of the train which carried battle-front soldiers home from the hospital-ships, arrived at Birmingham Snow Hill and not (as might be expected) at New Street station. A little research discovers that the women of the Birmingham Nursing Corp., assisted by men of St. John Ambulance brigade, led… “the rest station at Snow Hill [which] has been organised and developed until it is now acknowledged to be not only the largest, but in all respects the best rest station in the country” (Birmingham Post newspaper, 6th November 1917). Tolkien’s hospital ship docked at Southampton, and the pre-closure/pre-1950s Snow Hill station appears to have had the required direct ‘Southampton docks to Birmingham Snow Hill’ connection, via Worcester. I see Snow Hill (later re-opened and now a working station again) still sells tickets for the three-hour journey from Birmingham to Southampton.
* And finally, in Greece, “The ‘Guardians of the White Tower’ stage epic Tolkien battle in Thessaloniki city-centre”. Sadly not in costume and on the streets. Rather, it’s an innovative approach to tabletop war-gaming that combines gaming with storytelling…
“more than 1,000 hand-painted miniatures will be deployed across nine themed boards, all custom-built to capture Gondolin’s aesthetic […] The programme will run for approximately five and a half hours and […] follow Tolkien’s narrative arc. This approach aims to offer a complete visual and strategic experience, combining storytelling with tactical gameplay [to re-enact The Fall of Goldonin]”.