Tolkien - Art & Religion

Catalog description

Taught by JST. This course will map the relationships between religion, literature, and the visual arts through the lens of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novel, The Lord of the Rings (1954). We will begin with a critical reading of Tolkien's texts, considering questions of intertextuality and influence, religion, mythography, cultural context, and belief. In conjunction with the readings, we will examine his little-known illustrations in the collection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and assess the compelling relationship between text and image. Using reception aesthetics as a critical approach, the second half of the course will investigate a wide variety of visual art that has evolved out of Tolkien's works, including Peter Jackson's blockbuster films. Major themes will include the legacy of 20th-century literature, the relationship between text and image, and the notion of the Catholic Imagination as conceived by Andrew Greeley, Wendy Wright, and others. Seminar format with film screenings and weekly reading assignments. Students will be evaluated through final research papers on an original topic of their choice (70% of final grade), class participation (10% of final grade), and an oral presentation (20% of final grade).