IMC 2007: Sessions
Session 1002: Texts and Images: Aspects of Tolkien's Medievalism
Wednesday 11 July 2007, 09.00-10.30
| Organiser: | Carl L. Phelpstead, School of English, Communication & Philosophy, Cardiff University |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Alaric Hall, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki |
| Paper 1002-a | Verse and Prose: The Lord of the Rings and Saga Poetics (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1002-b | Mappa Terrae-Mediae: Exploring Middle-Earth Cartography and Cosmography (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 1002-c | To Have a Chat with a Dragon: Tolkien as Translator (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Scandinavian, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Abstract | This session examines the transformations undergone by medieval texts and images in the creative writing of J. R. R. Tolkien. Ármann Jakobsson compares conversations with dragons in the Old Norse mythological poem Fáfnismál and Tolkien's The Hobbit, drawing on Freudian and more recent theory to analyse how Tolkien interprets his medieval source. Dimitra Fimi considers how medieval maps and medieval conceptions of the world influenced Tolkien's own maps, especially his first map in The Book of Lost Tales, where the world is depicted symbolically as a Viking ship. Carl Phelpstead analyses The Lord of the Rings as a prosimetrical text, comparing Tolkien's use of verse with the functions of verses in the Old Icelandic sagas. |