J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

This course offers an introduction to the life, thought, and writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. With topics ranging from dragons, hobbits, and elves to actual medieval manuscripts, we will consider some of Tolkien’s most familiar novels, as well as his less well-known fiction and his scholarship. Particular attention will be paid to the intersections of Tolkien’s fantasy writing and his work as a philologist and scholar of medieval English literature – that is, the work of imagination involved both in the creation of fantasy worlds and in the recovery of cultures from the distant past. Cross-list: MDEM 109 .