This week, we begin our unit on J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumous work of mythology and history, and discuss reading strategies, layers of narrative and the creative impulse. Is the Professor the best letter writer in history? Did Christopher Tolkien really intend this book to be definitive? How is Middle-Earth different from Star Trek?
To see the video broadcast of this episode, click here; to see the slides, click here!
Next week, we dive into the text with the first part of The Silmarillion, the Ainulindalë, live on YouTube on Thursday, January 16th at 8PM Central.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:43 — 39.2MB)
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Footnotes:
- The Silmarillion
- Stars And Swords on YouTube
- The Silmarillion Unit Production Schedule
- The Voyage Of Earendel The Evening Star
- The Shores Of Faery
- The Tolkien Professor
- Tolkien’s World from A to Z: The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth (Robert Foster)
- The Lord Of The Rings: A Reader’s Companion (Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull)
- There And Back Again: Exploring Tolkien’s Middle-Earth
To join me for the live YouTube broadcast, to support the podcast, to join the conversation on Discord and to get access to monthly bonus episodes, please visit Patreon.com/NextWord and pledge your support!
Stars and Swords: Footnoting Genre Fiction is a Next Word production, written and produced by Alastair Stephens.
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