Tolkien Gleanings #175.
* Signum University and the Mythgard Institute return to the UK, for the UK Moot on ‘Death and Immortality: The Great Escapes’ in relation to Tolkien. To be held in the city of York, 27th April 2024. Booking now, and it appears that speaker proposals are still being accepted.
* “Frank N. Magill in 1969, on The Lord of the Rings”. Being his lengthy critical evaluation, newly discovered by myself. Judging by Google Books, the 1969 appearance was probably actually a reprint from one or more earlier publications from the prolific Magill. Sadly the probable 1954-56 Masterplots Annual sources are not online at Archive.org or Hathi. Also, I’ve since tested some more lines from it online, to see if someone had recognised it in some form before I did. But no, I’ve only found it partly plagiarised in a 2008 dissertation from the Middle East.
* There are now details of the speakers and topics for the Tolkien sessions at the International Medieval Congress at The University of Leeds (July 2024). Various topics, including Anna Smol on “Eärendil’s Mythopoeic Journeys”.
* More details on the forthcoming 2024 German event to discuss ‘Tolkien and His Editors’…
“In addition to the central figure of Christopher Tolkien […] the roles of the editors Stanley and Rayner Unwin, the biographer Humphrey Carpenter (Biography; Letters), the student and later colleague Alan Bliss (Hengest and Finn), the daughter-in-law Baillie Tolkien (The Father Christmas Letters) or the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship should also be examined.”
* New on Archive.org, scans of Parma Eldalamberon #21 (Quenya noun structure) and Parma Eldalamberon #22 (Quenya verb structure, Feanorian alphabet). Both issues are said to be otherwise out-of-print and unavailable.
* This week the Cultural Debris podcast interviews Holly Ordway on Tolkien’s Faith. A book which I’m currently about two-thirds of the way through reading. I was slightly disappointed not to get more than a mention of the strong early influence of Francis Thompson, in her new book. But I guess that’s really a task for the very rare scholar who combines deep expertise in Francis Thompson, early Tolkien and Catholicism.
Incidentally I see the Cultural Debris podcaster also publishes a print journal, Local Culture which issues substantial themed volumes on localist topics from a conservative viewpoint. Including one issue on The Arts of Region and Place, and another on the localist thought of Roger Scruton. There are also annual conferences.
* In Italy, PhTea Talks: “The Conception of time in Tolkien’s legendarium”.
* “Tolkien Illustration in the Soviet Bloc”, post-censorship. A University of Plymouth (UK) talk set for 17th April 2024. Booking now, and the event appears to be in-person only.
* And finally, a new Tolkien Map Project video on YouTube. Said and shown to be a “procedural and fully customisable map system” for making Tolkien-like maps, and now in its final finished form.
The Spyders of Burslem 