The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his High fantasy writings. These encompass The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after his death, and his constructed languages, especially the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Scholars from different disciplines have examined the linguistic and literary origins of Middle-earth, and have explored many aspects of his writings from Christianity to feminism and race.
Biographical
Biographies of Tolkien have been written by Humphrey Carpenter, with his 1977
.
Carpenter edited the 1981
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, assisted by Christopher Tolkien.
The brief period after the war when Tolkien worked for the
OED is detailed in the 2006 book
by
Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall and
Edmund Weiner.
On Tolkien's writings
Institutions
A variety of institutions have developed to support Tolkien research. These include The Tolkien Society and The Mythopoeic Society. Tolkien archives are held in the
Bodleian Library in
Oxford and Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Publishers of scholarly books on Tolkien include
Houghton Mifflin,
McFarland Press, Mythopoeic Press, Walking Tree Publishers, Palgrave MacMillan, and Kent State University Press.
Journals
Early publications on Tolkien's writing were essentially fanzines; some, such as
Mythlore, founded in 1969, developed into scholarly
(refereed) technical publications; among the "reputable"
journals is
Mallorn by the Tolkien Society. Other specialised journals include
Tolkien Studies (2004–) and
Journal of Tolkien Research (2014–). There are several journals that focus on the literary society
The Inklings, of which Tolkien was a member, especially
Journal of Inklings Studies (2011–).
Conferences
In 1992, the Tolkien Society and the Mythopoeic Society held a joint conference for the centenary of Tolkien's birth, combining papers that were published in the conference proceedings,
[Proceedings of The J. R. R. Tolkien Centenary Conference 1992 – separate articles (out of print); – single PDF with index] with a mixed programme of events over a period of eight days, 17–24 August 1992, in Oxford. The Mythopoeic Society has been holding conferences in the U.S. (and once in Canada) nearly annually since 1970. In recent years some conferences have been virtual.
Omentielva is a European bi-yearly conference on research into Tolkien's invented languages.[ Omentielva]
Fields
A large literature examines Tolkien's
Middle-earth fantasy fiction from numerous points of view. Some scholars have investigated its
philological roots in languages such as
Old Norse and
Old English. Others have explored its influences from literature of periods from classical and medieval to antiquarian and modern. Many have examined its themes including its poetry, its Christian symbolism, issues of feminism, race, and sexuality, and questions such as Tolkien's theory of sound and language. Others again have studied the literary devices that Tolkien used, such as his use of frame stories, interlacing of narrative, and his intentional creation of an Impression of depth.
These are overviewed in Blackwell's 2014
A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, which effectively marked his acceptance into the English literary canon.
Constructed languages
Tolkien's constructed languages,
Quenya and
Sindarin, the main languages of Elves, have inspired
linguistics research.
Parma Eldalamberon and
Vinyar Tengwar are published by the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship of the Mythopoeic Society a non-profit organization. The
Vinyar Tengwar and
Parma Eldalamberon material published at an increasing rate during the early 2000s is from the stock of linguistic material in the possession of the appointed team of editors (some 3000 pages according to them), consisting of photocopies sent them by Christopher Tolkien and notes taken in the
Bodleian Library around 1992. An Internet
mailing list dedicated to Tolkien's languages, called tolklang, has existed since November 1, 1990.
Bibliography
Major introductory books
Journals
- Current
- Transitory
-
Fastitocalon: Studies in Fantasticism Ancient to Modern: Immortals and the Undead briefly existed in the 2010s.
External links
