“Beowulf” and “Lord of the Rings” have blind spots but they are transcendent works for all that.
Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings
Fantasy Adventure, an Aid to Hiking
Monday Literary Hub has alerted me to an article on the importance of Lord of the Rings to long-distance hikers. According to a Rebecca Booroojian Outsider essay, many people have Lord of the Rings trail names (especially Gandalf), and inscriptions from the trilogy can be found in abundance. For instance, one will find everywhere Bilbo’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Appalachian Trail, hiking, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien Comments closed
Fantasy and the Problem of Violence
Thursday Today I will be delivering the following talk as part of Sewanee’s Lifelong Learning series, delivered in a venue that used to be my high school and where I spoke 50 years ago. It may sound strange to some of you that a literary scholar such as myself would talk about fantasy. Aren’t we […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Beowulf poet, Carl Jung, fantasy, J. R. R. Tolkien, Joseph Campbell, Sigmund Freud, violence Comments closed
Fantasy Keeps Dreams Alive
Thursday In Monday’s and Tuesday’s posts (see here and here), I laid out the outlines of my first “Wizards and Enchantresses” class, which I’m currently teaching as part of Sewanee’s Lifelong Learning Program. The first class I devoted to Merlin, the second will focus on Morgan Le Fay, the third will take up Shakespeare’s Prospero, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Arthurian tales, Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, fantasy, Idylls of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Merlin, Once and Future King, Sword in the Stone, T. H. White Comments closed
The Uses of Fantasy
Monday This coming week I will be teaching a four-session lifelong learning course at Sewanee entitled “Literary Wizards and Enchantresses, from Merlin and Morgan Le Fay to Gandalf and Galadriel.” I’m using today’s blog post to sort out my ideas for the first class, which will focus on Merlin and his successors. Before turning to […]
Donald Trump as Saruman
Like Saruman, Trump isn’t interested in traditional alliances but wants to link up directly with Sauron (a.k.a. Vladimir Putin).
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged America-Russia relations, Donald Trump, J. R. R. Tolkien, Senate Intelligence Committee, Trump resistance, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Frodo as Newly Minted PhD
How is writing a PhD like Frodo’s journey to Mordor? Check it out.
Robert Mueller as a Savior Ent?
The Russian trolls that interfered with the 2016 election resemble the Orcs attacking Helm’s Deep in “Lord of the Rings.” Do we have a version of the Ents in Robert Mueller to save us?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 election, Donald Trump, J. R. R. Tolkien, Russian hacking, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Robert Mueller, the Eye of Sauron
Comedian Seth Meyers recently compared Robert Mueller’s gaze to the eye of Sauron. No wonder there is panic in the White House.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, J. R. R. Tolkien, Sauron, temptation Comments closed
