IMC 2006: Sessions

Session 1515: The Mirror Crack'd: Fear and Horror in J. R. R. Tolkien's Major Works

Thursday 13 July 2006, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:	The Tolkien Society
Organiser:	Lynn Forest-Hill, Centre for Antiquity & the Middle Ages, University of Southampton
Moderator/Chair:	Patricia Reynolds, Department of Archaeology, University of York
Paper 1515-a	Barrows, Wights, and Ordinary People: The Unquiet Dead in The Lord of the Rings (Language: English) Amy Amendt-Raduege, Department of English, Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, WA Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1515-b	From Beowulf to the Balrogs: The Roots of Fantastic Horror in The Lord of the Rings (Language: English) Maria Raffaella Benvenuto, Tolkien Society, Roma Index terms: Language and Literature - Comparative, Language and Literature - Old English, Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1515-c	Evil Reputations?: Images of Wolves in Tolkien's Fiction (Language: English) Julie Pridmore, Department of English Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria Index terms: Folk Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract	Tolkien's medievalism includes his evocation of fear and horror by drawing on images of fear and horror that were traditional in early medieval northern European myth and folklore. The papers in this session variously address Tolkien's development of imagery associated with wolves, the undead, and the fear of entombment, from sources such as Norse Sagas, the Eddas, and Anglo-Saxon poetry (including Beowulf). The papers discuss humanity's continuing fascination with these ancient symbols of fear and horror as Tolkien presents them to new generations of readers in his major works, and their function in those works.