Cardiff University is offering an on-line course on Tolkien taught in 10 weekly units by Dr Dimitra Fimi. The course has already run twice this academic year and will run once more in the summer semester 2009, starting on 27 April 2009.
The students will be able to explore Tolkien’s Middle-earth from their home, in their own time. They will examine the vast mythology behind The Lord of the Rings and gain a thorough knowledge of Tolkien’s fiction and its creation by focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin.
The course will focus on the northern European mythologies that inspired Tolkien’s Middle-earth, especially the creative uses of his sources in Old Norse mythology, Celtic myths and legends, Classical mythology, Shakespeare, and the literary tradition.
The students of this online course will also learn about Tolkien’s ‘invented languages’, their origins and sources, and they will examine Tolkien’s work in its historical context through intellectual history, focusing on the ‘races’ and cultures of Middle-earth.
The students will also have the opportunity to participate in a lively Discussion Board moderated by Dr Fimi and they will have full access to Cardiff University’s electronic resources (including such electronic journals as Tolkien Studies and Mythlore and a great number of e-book and reference collections). For those students who are already enrolled in academic programmes, there is the option of doing this course for credits to be used towards their Higher Education Qualifications.
We are also very happy to announce that we can now accept online enrolments for this course.
-To find out more visit the main web page of the course here.
-For Frequently Asked Questions about the course here.
-For an outline of the topics covered in the 10 Units of the course visit here.
See also the tutor’s academic website at: http://www.dimitrafimi.com/
