The American Culture writes: Should authors like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien be considered “real” artists? Not according to James Bowman. They and numerous others create what Bowman dismissively refers to as “fantasy art.” And fantasy art isn’t Art.
Mr. Bowman is among that group that just can’t seem to abide anything that smacks of fantasy. Bowman distinguishes Homer’s tales of gods and heroes because Homer actually believed these beings existed. The modern world, however, knows that elves, faeries, monsters, magic spinning wizards and sword wielding heroes don’t exist. To James Bowman these are childish fantasies that should be put aside in favor of reality. At the very least, we should not include fantasy in discussions about Art.
You can read the entire article at The American Culture.
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Kara Maloney writes: I just wanted to let you know that I will be teaching an online course on Tolkien and his medieval sources this summer entitled “Going Medieval on Tolkien: Tolkien’s Sources and Inspirations from Medieval English”. The course runs May 25th through June 25th, and will include a reading of “Lord of the Rings” as well as some of Tolkien’s medieval sources and various scholarship regarding the two. It’s an open enrollment online course through Binghamton University, one of the SUNY schools. A four credit class, it counts for both General Ed and Writing credit. Here is the course catalog blurb, as well as a pretty flyer for your website. Continue reading “Going Medieval on Tolkien at Binghamton University”
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Tolkien devotees will be making their way to Oxford’s Bodleian Library on World Book Day for a fleeting glimpse of some of the revered author’s original artworks.
The Bodleian is mounting a one-day only exhibition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original iconic artwork for The Hobbit, together with a manuscript of Hobbit doodles and a rare first edition of the book.
The free-of-charge display will take place in the Bodleian’s Divinity School on Thursday March 4 and will focus on Tolkien’s own manuscript of The Hobbit, which was illustrated throughout with monochrome drawings and maps. The drawings also appeared in the British first edition of the middle earth classic. Continue reading “Tolkien Paintings On Exhibit at Oxford’s Bodleian Library”
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Garfeimao writes: Here ye, here ye, Tolkien Reading Day is quickly approaching and Tolkien Forever, the official Los Angeles area smial of the Tolkien Society, is hosting a Reading Day event. Because March 25 falls on a Thursday, we’ve decided to move it to Saturday, March 27 so that more people may attend. Both adults and children of all ages are welcome for this event where reading is the order of the day. Continue reading “Tolkien Reading Day in LA”
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MaedrosOneHand writes: I had the privilege of attending both Tom Shippey lectures at Swarthmore College in Philadelphia today and I thought I could offer something of a report.
In his first lecture, Shippey focused primarily on the differences and similarites between the Lord of the Rings books and films. He had three primary observations about Jackson, Boyens and Walsh’s treatment of the story. First, he noted that the films place far more importance on character “journeys” than the books. For example, the fairly straightforward character of Faramir in Tolkien becomes the tortured, indecisive, father-scorned character in the movie who has to go on a “journey” of character development before he’s willing to part with the ring. Along with this, Shippey also talked about how the minor characters played a much bigger role in the films of changing major characters’ minds. Faramir was essentially convinced by Sam to let the quest to Mount Doom proceed and Treebeard was convinced by Pippen to attack Isengard. Shippey didn’t express much condemnation of these choices, he just took them for what they were. Continue reading “Tom Shippey at Swarthmore College Report”
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Austin writes: Swarthmore College will host two Tolkien talks, both open to the public.
Both talks take place on Feb. 16th. The first talk occurs at 04:15 PM, entitled Tolkien Book to Jackson Script: the Medium and the Message. More..
The second happens at 08:00 PM, entitled: Rediscovering Middle Earth, the Roots of Tolkien’s Myths. More..
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