Tolkien studies
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==History== | ==History== | ||
+ | ===Age of Innocence=== | ||
+ | Generally, the history of Tolkien scholarship is divided into four time periods: | ||
+ | * the book reviews | ||
+ | * the cult period and the fierce reactions to it | ||
+ | * the acceptance as Tolkien as a literary agent | ||
+ | * and lastly, the post-[[The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy|movie]] phase, featuring expanded volumes, reprints, and a wide variety of subjects.<ref name="ScholOverview">[[Brian Rosebury]], "Tolkien Scholarship: An Overview", published in ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' (edited by [[Michael Drout]]), pages 653-654</ref> | ||
+ | The first two periods have been summarized by [[Tom Shippey]] as the "Age of Innocence": the time before the publishing of ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', ''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'' and ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''. After the publishing of at least some of those, many musings, theories and guesses were flattened by additional information.<ref name="CompFore">[[Tom Shippey]], "Foreword" published in ''[[A Tolkien Compass]]'' (third edition) (edited by [[Jared Lobdell]]), pages vii-xi</ref> The field of literary critics taking interest was still thin, and serious academic research was rare. The first conference on Tolkien's literature was held in [[1966]]; before that, only collected works on children's literature had picked up serious attention for ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref name="ScholFirst">[[Richard C. West]], "Tolkien Scholarship: First Decades: 1954-1980", published in ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' (edited by [[Michael Drout]]), pages 654-656</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===1,800 New Entries=== | ||
+ | A major turn in scholarship was the publishing of ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', edited by [[Christopher Tolkien]]. The book included the history of things that were previously no more than a "background-word", such as [[Beren]]<ref>{{HM|FR}}, "[[A Knife in the Dark]]"</ref> or [[Gondolin]].<ref>{{HM|H}}, "[[A Short Rest]]"</ref> Apart from many expanded entries, the second edition of [[J.E.A. Tyler]]'s ''[[Tolkien Companion]]'' included some 1,800 new entries.<ref>[[Colin Duriez]], ''[[Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings]]'', page 47</ref> A landmark publication of this time was Shippey's ''[[The Road to Middle-earth]]''.<ref name="ScholOverview"/> | ||
==Fields== | ==Fields== | ||
Revision as of 20:40, 6 April 2009
This article or section is a stub. Please help Tolkien Gateway by expanding it. |
- For the journal see Tolkien Studies
Tolkien studies is the scholarly research of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien this includes his fictional literature and languages and his philologist research.
Contents |
History
Age of Innocence
Generally, the history of Tolkien scholarship is divided into four time periods:
- the book reviews
- the cult period and the fierce reactions to it
- the acceptance as Tolkien as a literary agent
- and lastly, the post-movie phase, featuring expanded volumes, reprints, and a wide variety of subjects.[1]
The first two periods have been summarized by Tom Shippey as the "Age of Innocence": the time before the publishing of The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and The History of Middle-earth. After the publishing of at least some of those, many musings, theories and guesses were flattened by additional information.[2] The field of literary critics taking interest was still thin, and serious academic research was rare. The first conference on Tolkien's literature was held in 1966; before that, only collected works on children's literature had picked up serious attention for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.[3]
1,800 New Entries
A major turn in scholarship was the publishing of The Silmarillion, edited by Christopher Tolkien. The book included the history of things that were previously no more than a "background-word", such as Beren[4] or Gondolin.[5] Apart from many expanded entries, the second edition of J.E.A. Tyler's Tolkien Companion included some 1,800 new entries.[6] A landmark publication of this time was Shippey's The Road to Middle-earth.[1]
Fields
Linguistics
Fictional languages
- Main article: Languages
Philology
Literature
Christianity
Philosophy
Courses
This article or section needs expansion and/or modification. Please help the wiki by expanding it. |
There are a number of universities and colleges that offer course work in Tolkien stuides. This is a listing of some of the courses devoted sololy to Tolkien studies. There are some institutions that offer Tolkien studies as part of another course.
- Bethel University offers a course on the theology of Middle-earth.
- Bradley Unviersity offers a course taught by J.R.R. Tolkien scholar Mike Foster on The Lord of the Rings.
- Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning offers a course on the literature of Tolkien and how it relates to his understanding of earlier fantasy literature.[7]
- Rice University offers a course on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as a mythology for England.[8]
- Rutgers University offers a course on Christian elements found in The Lord of the Rings.[9]
- Victoria University of Wellington offers a course on The Lord of the Rings and how it relates to medieval literature.[10]
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brian Rosebury, "Tolkien Scholarship: An Overview", published in J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (edited by Michael Drout), pages 653-654
- ↑ Tom Shippey, "Foreword" published in A Tolkien Compass (third edition) (edited by Jared Lobdell), pages vii-xi
- ↑ Richard C. West, "Tolkien Scholarship: First Decades: 1954-1980", published in J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (edited by Michael Drout), pages 654-656
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Knife in the Dark"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "A Short Rest"
- ↑ Colin Duriez, Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings, page 47
- ↑ Exploring Tolkien: There and Back Again
- ↑ English 318: J. R. R. Tolkien
- ↑ English 321: Tolkien & Oxford Christianity
- ↑ ENGL 227 – Tolkien and Medieval Literature