So today I received a pamphlet inviting me to become a Charter Member
Subscriber of *Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review*, which is
dedicated to "the growing body of critical commentary and scholarship about
Tolkien's marvellous writing and his academic work." It's the last
adjective that worries me. Do the editors and PR people mean "fabulous" or
"fabular"? Studying Tolkien's writing for its own sake--for the kinds of
reasons that many of us study Spenser, historicist, theoretical, and
cultural studies apparatus notwithstanding--seems little different to me
from studying *Star Wars* for its verbal genius. On the other hand,
studying Tolkien's writing the way that critics of 20th-c. literature used
to study Madonna might yield something.
The CFP that Peter posted leaves open what I do think are interesting
questions about the uses and attractions of faux medievalism (is
"medievalism" always already "faux"?) in our own culture. How our students
perceive the "medieval," not to mention the epic, affects the teaching of
Spenser (a writer, we should remember, whose anachronisms some
contemporaries thought as funny as I think the dialogue of Tolkien's more
conspicuously noble characters). As a case in point: I once assigned a
close reading of FQ I.vii.31, Arthur's headgear, to an undergraduate class.
One student, at his wit's end to make sense of the "good" dragon there,
adduced the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, where, his paper informed me, gold
dragons are good and lesser-colored dragons are evil.
Given the connotations of "brazen" describing the Old Dragon of Book I,
there's the germ of an analogy there. But the underlying principle seemed
to be that both the game and the poem described elves, enchanters, dragons,
and people wandering around carrying weapons of various special potencies,
and that therefore the rules must be similar. And although Tolkien was, in
light of his academic work, more informed about the real Middle Ages, I
think that in the next few years we will still see interesting effects on
our classes from the movies and the revived interest in the books--effects
that may change the students' perceptions or at least preconceptions of the
FQ (are the inhabitants of Faerie Land immortal? Is Archimago a version of
Saruman? etc.).
On the other hand, Peter Jackson's movies may replace *Monty Python and the
Holy Grail* as the film most likely to be cited in my medieval survey.
Wouldn't that be a relief!
Beth Quitslund
At 11:44 PM 2/15/2004 +0000, you wrote:
>Peter et al. ---
>
>I'm not about to respond to this CFP. Not that there's anything wrong
>with its appearance on this List, but it puts me in mind of the line from
>C. S. Lewis, that he never met a man who _used_ to like Spenser. Back in
>the day, I was enthralled with the 'Rings' books, even to the point of
>using 'The Fellowship' in some of my teaching. And I watched each of the
>3 movies with pleasure -- feeling at the end, however, that the last one
>went on much too long. Now I find that I've come around to something like
>the attitude that Edmund Wilson brought to the books when they were first
>published: 'bored of the Rings' and 'Ooh, those awful orcs!'
>
>Would it be possible to theorize distaste, disgust, impatience, either
>with Tolkien's reactionary imagination or with the enormous industry on
>display in those blockbuster movies? Is there anyone else out there who
>_used_ to like Tolkien -- and still likes Spenser (and also Ursula Le
>Guin, 'Riddley Walker,' and various other alternatives to realistic fiction)?
>
>Cheers, Jon Quitslund
> > My friend, Laurie Johnson, asked me to submit this call for papers to this
> > list.
> >
> > Peter C. Herman
> >
> >
> > >CALL FOR PAPERS: Theorizing J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
> > >
> > >I seek proposals for a special session at the 2004 MLA in Philadelphia
> > >that would attempt to interpret Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in the light
> > >of contemporary critical concerns (New Historicism, feminism,
> > >deconstruction, cultural studies, etc.). Despite the fact that
> > >Tolkien's trilogy constitutes one of the most popular books of the
> > >latter twentieth-century, for many, the Lord of the Rings remains
> > >marginal to academic concerns. No article on this text, for example, has
> > >appeared in such journals as ELH, Review of English Studies, or PMLA.
> > >However, the popularity of Peter Jackson's films has created a
> > >resurgence of interest in Tolkien's work invites us to reread Tolkien's
> > >works in accordance with contemporary concerns.
> > >
> > >250-word abstracts and a 1 page vitae by March 1.
> > >
> > >Send to Laurie Johnson
> > >
> > >Georgia State University
> > >
> > >Department of English
> > >MSC 8R0322
> > >33 Gilmer Street SE, Unit 8
> > >Atlanta, GA 30303-3088
> > >
> > >Or as a MS word attachment to [log in to unmask]
> > >
> > >NOTE: All program participants must be members of MLA by April 7, 2004.
> > >The MLA membership requirement may be waived for participants who reside
> > >outside the United States and Canada
==============================================
Beth Quitslund
Assistant Professor of English
Department of English
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
phone: (740) 593-2829
FAX: (740) 593-2818
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