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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 340: Celtic Literature in Tolkien's Medievalism

Monday 6 July 2015, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Dimitra Fimi, Department of Humanities, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Moderator/Chair:Dimitra Fimi, Department of Humanities, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Paper 340-aTolkien, Brendan, and the Quest for The Lost Road
(Language: English)
Aurélie Brémont, Centre d'Études Médiévales Anglaises (CEMA), Université Paris IV - Sorbonne
Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 340-bImmram Roverandom
(Language: English)
Kris Swank, Northwest Campus Library, Pima Community College, Arizona
Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 340-cWelsh Princesses and Cats: Tolkien's Tale of Tinuviel and The Gnomish Lexicon
(Language: English)
Andrew Higgins, School of Education, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract

This session will explore some neglected Celtic sources for Tolkien's extended legendarium. Aurélie Brémont compares the Navigatio Sancti Brendani with Tolkien's poem Immram and the motif of sailing west looking for Paradise in medieval Irish literature and Tolkien's mythology. Kris Swank analyses Tolkien's children's book Roverandom arguing that its structure, themes and motifs are modelled upon the medieval Irish Otherworld sea-voyage tales (immrama). Andrew Higgins examines Tolkien's earliest use of the Welsh language and medieval Welsh motifs in the Tale of Tinúviel in The Book of Lost Tales.