An Oxford Professor is to start a Tolkien Spring School for members of the public with an interest in the author.
Dr Stuart Lee, who lectures in Old English, has organised a series of introductory lectures by world-leading Tolkien scholars to take place in the English Faculty this March.
Talks will range over a variety of topics including Tolkien’s life, his work as an academic, his mythology, the influences of medieval literature on his fiction, his languages, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and his other lesser known works.
There will also be panel discussions looking at Tolkien’s place in the literary canon.
Tolkien spent most of his life in Oxford, first as an undergraduate at Exeter, and later in a teaching capacity at Pembroke and Merton.
There will be opportunities to see the sights of Oxford that were so important to Tolkien and his colleagues, as well as an introduction to some of the Tolkien collections at the University.
Dr Lee said that the recent film of The Hobbit has been useful for stimulating interest in the talks: “it allowed us to advertise it at the height of the publicity for the new Hobbit film.”
He argues that interest in Tolkien has never been greater: “remember The Hobbit was published in 1937 with only a print-run of about 17,000 all told. It did well enough for a ‘sequel’ (which became LotR) but this did not appear until the 50s. Since then interest in Tolkien and the books have grown.”
According to Dr Lee,“Spikes of popularity are in the 60s with the illegal ACE publication in the US, then the rise of other fantasy writers and fantasy role playing in the 70s (when there was also a film of the first part of LotR), then of course renewed again with the new set of films.He is bigger now than he was in the 90s, 80s, 70s, and so on. It is also helped by the steady stream of new Tolkien books edited by his son Christopher.”
Dr Lee said he thought the new film was “OK”. He added that Tolkien would have “probably enjoyed some aspects of it (the opening battle outside of Moria for example, the dragon) but less so others.
“He would have recognised that there had to be plot changes but I think what would have irked him the most were the unnecessary and clumsy changes to the plot. Jackson does seem to put as many fights in as possible, and make silly changes for no reason, or reduce characters to caricatures. The bit that I think would have annoyed Tolkien the most was Radagast. I see no reason for him being pulled along on a sledge by a load of rabbits apart from the fact that it might make a nice new toy to flog to kids …”
Finally he said, “One point I’d like to stress is that all profits from the school are going to a graduate fund held by the English Faculty so it is for a good cause!”
Oxford undergraduates were positive about the course. One student, studying English, commented: “I think this is a fantastic idea.Tolkien is important for many people who aren’t necessarily interested in literature otherwise. There’s also a lot of depths to the books, so I think people would get a lot out of them and it would make a cool introduction to literary criticism. It’s just annoying we’re not allowed to study Tolkien!”
