Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion"
In the Quenta Silmarillion, the narrator of The Silmarillion allows characters to experience grief and express mourning in different ways, reflecting the biases that he brings to the text.
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Finding Footing in a Forest of Fins: Name Etymology as a Characterization Technique of the Finwëan Noldor
Published on 7 April 2018 | Conference Paper
Tolkien often uses etymology to develop narrative by exploring what Tom Shippey terms an "asterisk-world." This paper, presented at the 2018 Tolkien at UVM Conference, explores the concept of "asterisk characterization," or the use of characters' names to develop their personalities and narratives, with a specific emphasis on Fëanor, Finwë, Curufin, and Maedhros.
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Topic: Language and Linguistics, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Curufin, Fëanor, Finwë, Maedhros
"A Greater Still": The Importance of Song in Tolkien's Creation Myth
Published on 3 March 2018 | Essay
Tolkien's creation story the Ainulindalë includes many archetypal elements. This essay explores the deus faber or god-as-maker element and why creation from vocal song is vitally important to legendarium.
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Topic: Comparative Mythology, Tolkien Studies
Characters: No characters listed.
Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Community
Published on 24 February 2018 | Essay
Data from the Tolkienfic community shows that a lack of commenting on fanfiction is less about a lack of desire to comment and more about a lack of skill, confidence, and community, all of which empower readers to comment more on what they read.
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Topic: Fandom Culture, Fandom History
Characters: No characters listed.
The Author of the “Quenta Silmarillion”–and Why I Think He Was Elvish
Published on 7 February 2018 | Essay
In his late writings, Tolkien reversed decades of the Silmarillion tradition, with its explicitly Elvish narrator, in favor of a Númenórean. This essay makes the case that, while this is Tolkien's stated intent, he never carried out these revisions, and the texts should still be read as coming from the Elvish tradition.
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Topic: Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh
101 Comment Starters
Published on 7 February 2018 | Essay
My research has shown that readers often don't comment on fanfiction because they lack the specific skill in writing that this requires. This resource uses an evidence-based pedagogical method used to teach writing--sentence starters--to scaffold commenting as a writing skill.
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Topic: Fandom Culture
Characters: No characters listed.