The fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of The Lord of the Rings, the enormously popular and influential masterpiece of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, is celebrated in these twenty papers presented at the Marquette University Tolkien conference of 21–23 October 2004. They are published in honor of the late Dr. Richard E. Blackwelder, who gave his important Tolkien collection to the Marquette University Libraries, long a major center for Tolkien research. Half of the papers in this book focus on The Lord of the Rings, while others investigate the larger body of Tolkien’s achievements, as a writer of fiction, a maker of language, and one of the leading philologists of his day.

The contributors to The Lord of the Rings, 1954–2004 include a “who’s who” of scholars in Tolkien studies: Douglas A. Anderson, David Bratman, Marjorie Burns, Jane Chance, Michael D.C. Drout, Matthew A. Fisher, Verlyn Flieger, Mike Foster, John Garth, Wayne G. Hammond, Carl F. Hostetter, Sumner G. Hunnewell, John D. Rateliff, Christina Scull, T.A. Shippey, Arden R. Smith, Paul Edmund Thomas, Richard C. West, and Arne Zettersten. As preface, Charles B. Elston, former director of Special Collections and University Archives, provides a reminiscence of Dr. Blackwelder and his generosity to Marquette. Fans and students of Tolkien alike will find these essays informative and entertaining.

Table of Contents
•Editors' Note - p. 7
•"Richard E. Blackwelder: Scholar, Collector, Benefactor, and Friend" by Charles B. Elston - p. 9
•"The AB Language Lives" by Arne Zettersten - p. 13
•"History in Words: Tolkien's Ruling Passion" by T.A. Shippey - p. 25
•"Frodo and the Great War" by John Garth - p. 41
•"Towards Quite Unforeseen Goals" by Paul Edmund Thomas - p. 57
•"'And All the Days of Her Life Are Forgotten': The Lord of the Rings as Mythic Prehistory" by John D. Rateliff - p. 67
•"What Did He Know and When Did He Know It?: Planning, Inspiration, and The Lord of the Rings" by Christina Scull - p. 101
•"The Artistry of Omissions and Revisions in The Lord of the Rings" by David Bratman - p. 113
•"King and Hobbit: The Exalted and Lowly in Tolkien's Created Worlds" by Marjorie Burns - p. 139
•"Subversive Fantasists: Tolkien on Class Difference" by Jane Chance - p. 153
•"Naysayers in the Works of Tolkien" by S. Gary Hunnewell - p. 169
•"The Rhetorical Evolution of Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" by Michael D.C. Drout - p. 183
•"Working at the Crossroads: Tolkien, St. Augustine, and the Beowulf-poet" by Matt Fisher - p. 217
•"Elvish as She Is Spoke" by Carl F. Hostetter - p. 231
•"Teaching Tolkien" by Mike Foster - p. 257
•"Tolkienian Gothic" by Arden R. Smith - p. 267
•"Tolkien and the Idea of the Book" by Verlyn Flieger - p. 283
•"The Mainstreaming of Fantasy and the Legacy of The Lord of the Rings" by Douglas A. Anderson - p. 301
•"'Her Choice Was Made and Her Doom Appointed': Tragedy and Divine Comedy in the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" by Richard C. West - p. 317
•"Special Collections in the Service of Tolkien Studies" by Wayne G. Hammond - p. 331
•Notes on the Contributors - p. 341
•Bibliography of Works Consulted - p. 347
•Index - p. 365

Edited by Wayne G Hammond, Edited by Christina Scull  

źródło opisu: Marquette University Press, 2006
źródło okładki: zdjęcie autorskie