News archive
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10th July 2019: Three book reviews in Journal of Tolkien Research
Three reviews of our recent books have been published in Journal of Tolkien Research (Vol. 7, Iss. 1, 2019).
The reviews can be read on the site of Valparaiso University. Clicking on the covers above takes readers directly to the reviews of the respective books on that site. The links are also collected on our site here (with links to our pages on these books).
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=154 )
9th July 2019: Call for papers — Lewis & Tolkien
It is rather common knowledge amongst the scholars of both Lewis and Tolkien that, although the former played quite a significant role in encouraging the latter to first publish The Hobbit and then to complete The Lord of the Rings, the creator of Middle-earth was never able (or, it seems, even willing) to appreciate the stories set in the land of Narnia. The actual reason(s) may now appear to be somewhat obscure (Tolkien is not known to have been particularly vocal about the matter), but, as he once remarked in a letter to Eileen Edgar (1972), his dislike of Lewis's septology resulted simply from "a difference of taste", doubtlessly caused by Tolkien's well-known aversion to allegory (and religious didactic allegory in particular).
Continue reading here (pdf) ...
The Songs of the Spheres
Lewis, Tolkien and the Overlapping Realms of their Imaginations
Edited by Łukasz Neubauer and Guglielmo Spirito
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=153 )
25th February 2019: Sub-creating Arda published
We are pleased to announce our latest publication Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies , edited by Dimitra Fimi and Thomas Honegger.
J.R.R. Tolkien's literary cosmos may not be the most elaborate of the imaginary worlds in existence, it is certainly the most influential. The posthumous editorial work of Tolkien's son Christopher has also shown that Arda remains unrivalled in its consistency and complexity. Additionally, the re-publication of Tolkien's Andrew Lang lecture 'On Fairy-stories' (originally delivered 1939) and its interpretation within the discourse of literary fantasy has further strengthened his position as one of the foremost proponents of literary world-building or, as he himself preferred to call it, (literary) subcreation.
The contributions to this volume by Tom Shippey, John Garth, Mark J.P. Wolf, Kristine Larsen, Andrew Higgins, Allan Turner, Gergely Nagy, Renée Vink, and a dozen other scholars, discuss not only Tolkien's theoretical concepts as well as his literary work but also explore the relationship between Tolkien's approach with that of other 'literary world-builders' whose imaginary worlds have attracted readers and scholars alike.
table of contents | abstracts | cover | announcements
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=152 )
4th February 2019: Call for papers Tolkien Conference 2019
The 16th Tolkien Conference will be held at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena from 11 to 13 October 2019. The topic is Power and Authority in the Works of JRR Tolkien. A call for papers has been published on this page of the DTG website.
DTG is also offering a conference scholarship for junior researchers in the field of Tolkien studies. Details of this and a contact address for aplicants are published on the same page.
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/conference/19_jena.php )
21st January 2019: Call for papers Tolkien and the Classical World
Scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien has become more and more interested in the topic of worldbuilding in the literature of the English fantasy novelist and academic. Critical explorations into how Tolkien constructed his worlds have covered various domains: the early Germanic, the medieval (more broadly), the modern, the natural, and the Christian world. What has not received more comprehensive exploration, however, is how the Classical world of Ancient Greece and Rome influenced the literature, scholarship, and thoughts of Tolkien. Given Tolkien's early schooling in and love of Latin and Ancient Greek language and literature, is it possible to reconstruct a Classical worldbuilding in Tolkien's works? (read more here).
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=150 )
21st January 2019: Announcing forthcoming publication: Sub-creating Arda
Walking Tree Publishers are pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies.
J.R.R. Tolkien's literary cosmos may not be the most elaborate of the imaginary worlds in existence, it is certainly the most influential. The posthumous editorial work of Tolkien's son Christopher has also shown that Arda remains unrivalled in its consistency and complexity. Additionally, the re-publication of Tolkien's Andrew Lang lecture 'On Fairy-stories' (originally delivered 1939) and its interpretation within the discourse of literary fantasy has further strengthened his position as one of the foremost proponents of literary world-building or, as he himself preferred to call it, (literary) subcreation.
The contributions to this volume by Tom Shippey, John Garth, Mark J.P. Wolf, Kristine Larsen, Andrew Higgins, Allan Turner, Gergely Nagy, Renée Vink, and a dozen other scholars, discuss not only Tolkien's theoretical concepts as well as his literary work but also explore the relationship between Tolkien's approach with that of other 'literary world-builders' whose imaginary worlds have attracted readers and scholars alike.
Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies, Dimitra Fimi and Thomas Honegger (editors), Zurich and Berne 2019, Cormarë Series 40, ISBN 978-3-905703-40-5.
Cover illustration by Jay Johnstone.
Further information:
table of contents | abstracts | cover | announcements
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=149 )
20th January 2019: Three book reviews in Beyond Bree
Three reviews of our books have been published in Beyond Bree.
Pagan Saints in Middle-earth has been reviewed twice. Once by John Houghton in the August 2018 edition, and once by Ryder W. Miller in the January 2019 edition.
JRR Tolkien, Romanticist and Poet has been reviewed by Ryder W. Miller in the November 2018 edition.
The reviews are reproduced on this website with kind permission of the reviewers and of the editor of Beyond Bree.
Beyond Bree is the newsletter of the Tolkien Special Interest Group of American Mensa. Subscriptions are open to all lovers of Tolkien's Middle-earth, Mensan and non- Mensan alike. For more information on Beyond Bree, please visit http://www.cep.unt.edu/bree.html
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=148 )
7th January 2019: Book review of Pagan Saints in Middle-earth
A review of Pagan Saints in Middle-earth has been published in Lembas Katern by Unquendor. It is reproduced here with kind permission.
Link to review here (in pdf format).
Unquendor (www.unquendor.nl) is the Dutch Tolkien Society.
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=147 )
7th September 2018: Tolkien Conference 2018
The 2018 Tolkien Conference will be held at Aachen University (Germany) from 5th to 7th October 2018.
The conference topic is 80 years of Tolkien Criticism and Reception
The event programme can be downloaded here. The poster can be downloaded here (both as pdfs).
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/conference/?year=2018 )
22nd March 2018: Pagan Saints in Middle-earth is published
We are pleased to announce our latest publication Pagan Saints in Middle-earth by Claudio Testi.
Is Tolkien's work Christian or pagan? This question has intrigued readers and scholars ever since The Lord of the Rings has been published. Even today this important problem has not been given the full critical attention it deserves, and the present volume is an attempt to provide an answer.
The volume contains a comprehensive bibliography on the subject, detailed indices, a foreword by Verlyn Flieger, and an afterword by Tom Shippey.
(to link to this announcement: http://www.walking-tree.org/news_archive.php?item=145 )
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