TOLKIEN, MIDGARD, AND MEDIEVALISM

Catalog description

In this course students will examine J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium within the broader cultural and historical context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe. Focusing particularly on the Silmarillion, students will consider the ways in which Tolkien’s myth-making was in conversation with and responded to romantic nationalist medievalisms—from Victorian Britain to the Finnish Civil War, from oil painting to the nationalist rhetoric of the world wars. Further, students will explore the rich tapestry of medieval literary and mythological sources that shaped Tolkien’s imaginative history, including old Norse sagas, Finnish epics, and high medieval poetry, examining how he adapted these traditions to his own historical context to create a ‘mythology for England’. Prerequisites: HIST 101 and HIST 102.