Friday, February 26, 2016

Kalamazoo 2016 Tolkien Events schedule

So, the program book for this year's Medieval Congress is now out, and as usual there's a good amount of interesting-sounding Tolkien on the schedule. Here are the ones I spotted:



THURSDAY   10 AM   FETZER 1040
Session 11   
Fathering, Fostering, Translating, and Creating in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien
Sponsor: History Dept., Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Organizer: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Presider: Anne Reaves, Marian Univ.

Medieval Fostering in the First and Third Ages of Middle-earth: Elrond as Fóstri and Fóstr-son
Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
A Stylistic Analysis of Fatherhood and Fostering in The Silmarillion
Robin Anne Reid, Texas A&M Univ.–Commerce
Tolkien’s Beowulf: A Translation of Scholar and Poet
Yvette Kisor, Ramapo College
Imagined: Tolkien in the Mind of God
Skyler King, College of the Desert

THURSDAY   1.30 PM   FETZER 1040
Session 58
Tolkien and Beowulf
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar

“A Tight Fitt”: Strategies of Condensation in The Lay of Beowulf
John R. Holmes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
Tolkien’s “Freawaru and Ingeld”: A Love Story?
Christopher T. Vaccaro, Univ. of Vermont
The Christian Singer in Tolkien’s Beowulf
Michael D. Miller, Aquinas College
Tolkien’s Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary as a Teaching Text
James L. Baugher, East Tennessee State Univ.

THURSDAY   3.30 PM   FETZER 1040
Session 107
In Honor of Verlyn Flieger (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar

Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories” as a theory of literature
Curtis Gruenler, Hope College
The Well and the Book: Flieger and Tolkien on “the Past in the Past”
Deborah Salo, Univ. of Arkansas–Fayetteville/Arkansas Archeological Survey
So Many Wonders: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight according to Tolkien and Flieger
Amy Amendt-Raduege, Whatcom Community College
“Linguistic Ghosts”: Anglo-Saxon Poetry as Tolkien’s Tether between Past and Present
Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
An Elf by Any Other Name: Naming, Language, and Loss in Tolkien’s Legendarium
Benjamin S. W. Barootes, McGill Univ.


Friday, May 13   8.30 AM
Plenary Lecture
Bernhard East Ballroom
Sponsored by the Medieval Academy of America

How We Read J. R. R. Tolkien Reading Grendel’s Mother
Jane Chance (Rice Univ.)


FRIDAY   10 AM  BERNHARD 209
Session 219
Tolkien and Invented Languages
Sponsor: Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Organizer: Brad Eden, Valparaiso Univ.
Presider: Brad Eden

From Goldogrin to Sindarin, or, How Ilkorin Supplanted the “Sweet Tongue of the Gnomes”
Eileen Marie Moore, Cleveland State Univ.
Early Explorers and Practicioners of a Shared “Secret Vice”
Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
“Art Words”: Tolkien’s “Secret Vice” Manuscripts and Radical Linguistic Experimentation
Dimitra Fimi, Cardiff Metropolitan Univ.
Tolkien’s Concept of “Native Language” and the English and Welsh Papers at the Bodleian Library
Yoko Hemmi, Keio Univ.

SATURDAY   10 AM   FETZER 1060
Session 345
Asterisk Tolkien: Filling Medieval Lacunae
Sponsor: Dept. of Religious Studies and Philosophy, The Hill School
Organizer: John Wm. Houghton, Hill School
Presider: John Wm. Houghton

The “Lost” Language of the Hobbits
Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar
“To Recall Forgotten Gods from Their Twilight”: Tolkien, Machen, and Lovecraft
John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar
“Backdreaming” Beowulf’s Scyld Scefing Legend
Anna Smol, Mount St. Vincent Univ.
Bred in Mockery
Michael Wodzak, Viterbo Univ.

SATURDAY   NOON   BERNHARD 212
Tolkien at Kalamazoo
Business Meeting



It's not listed in the catalogue, but thanks to Anna Smol's posting last month of Tolkien events from the draft schedule, here's information on the one off-campus event, TOLKIEN UNBOUND, which is being held at Kalamazoo College's music recital hall on Saturday afternoon, starting about 2 pm and running for about three hours. This is actually two events in one: the first a Readers' Theate performance of Tolkien's Kalevala, the second  Eileen Moore's performance of "Maidens of Middle-earth", part six.


In addition to the all-Tolkien events, there's presentation on "Teaching with Lord of the Rings Online" by Carol L. Robinson, as part of the Digitally Teaching the Middle Ages: Case Studies (A Poster Session)  (Thursday 3.30 PM).    Smol also points out a stray Le Guin session: "Medievalism and the End(s) of Empire in 1960s Science Fiction: Frank Herbert's Dune and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness" by Scott Wells, California State Univ. -- Los Angeles; this is part of a session called In Fashions Reminiscent: The Overlapping Objects, Discourses, and Ideas of the Sixties and the Middle Ages, being held Saturday at 3.30.


It's not Tolkien, but of related interest is the TALES AFTER TOLKIEN group's session, being held Saturday at 1.30.  I've enjoyed their sessions in the past, but this year the whole panel's devoted to R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones, so I'll probably take a pass.

And then there are the two sessions on C. S. Lewis organized by the folks from Taylor University. Last year I skipped the Tales After Tolkien panel to attend the CSL one, and regretted it -- though I have to say the C.S.L.'s bestiary topic is as good one. And the second CSL session includes presenters from Wheaton and from Fayetteville, (one of) my old alma mater.  In any case, they're being held Saturday at 10 and Saturday at 1.30 respectively.

There's also a stray Lewis piece, Medieval Fantasy and the Neo-Victorian Child in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia by Heather L. N. Hess, Univ. of Tennessee–Knoxville that's part of the  Childhood/Innocence in Victorian Medievalism session (Saturday, 1.30)

Of course as always I'll have to leave time to prowl the book-room (I'm hoping the Palgrave booth has Williamson's book on fantasy) and talk Tolkien with Tolk folk, of whom there'll be many in attendance.

Finally, I ought to stress what a big deal Chance's plenary lecture is. To put it in context, there are 550 sessions at this year's conference. By contrast, hers is one of only two Plenary Lectures: events against which no other events will be scheduled. From what I hear Chance is the single person most responsible for establishing the TOLKIEN AT KALAMAZOO track, so it's good to see her so honored, and impressive to see Tolkien so prominently featured. 


My own contributions, as shown above, will be the chair the roundtable in honor of Verlyn Flieger (session 107; 3.30 on Thursday) -- a congenial task if ever there was one. I'm also presenting my paper on Nodens as part of session 345 (Saturday at 10), where once again I'll be in good company. I'm looking forward to it, and to all the presentations by other Tolkienists during what once again looks to be a v. crowded weekend.

--JDR

P.S.
here's the link to the whole program book


and here's another to Anna Smol's blog post








1 comment:

Jeffrey Pinyan said...

In honor of Tolkien's "Beowulf" translation, I submit at this late hour the beginning of my restyling of the Ainulindalë in the spirit of Old English verse.

Arda’s architect, / the first father,
Fashioner of worlds, / the one whose wisdom
Birthed before all / the holy host,
Spoke of song to them: / “make music unto me.”
Melodies they made, / solitary strains
And harmonies he heard / giving him gladness .
These lords listened, / each knowing nothing
More than that measure / of the Master’s mind
Which was woven / into his nature.
As each song sounded, / spirit learned of spirit,
Building between them / bonds of brotherhood,
Creating a chorus, / chords in accord.

Tune-smiths together / soon he assembled,
Ilúvatar illuminating / a theme thunderous,
Beautifully begun, / flawlessly finished,
Wonderfully worked, / surpassing all songs.
In silence they sat / worshipping the One,
Until their tongues / would Ilúvatar loose.

From first-father / came a call to create:
“This enthralling theme, / most mighty music,
Shall issue from you, / a hymn harmonious.
Bosoms ablaze, blessed / with flame unfailing,
Pour forth your power / into story-songs!
Mark each measure / with your own ornaments.
Sing out, sweet spirits, / while I sit here to hear
As beauty is born / and a wonder awakes.”