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Tolkien sessions at IMC 2020

This year’s International Medieval Congress, held at the University of Leeds from the 6th through the 9th of July, promises to be an extra relevant one for me: its special thematic strand is Borders.

I think I may post a list of all the relevant paper sessions here, but for now I’ll confine myself to only the Tolkien-related sessions.

104: J.R.R. Tolkien: Medieval roots and Modern branches

Monday, July 6. 11:15 – 12:45
Organizer: Andrew Higgins
Moderator: Deidre Dawson 

  1. “A preliminary history of deadly splinters.” Victoria Holtz Wodzak, Viterbo University
  2. “Tolkien’s alliterative styles in The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth.” Anna Smol, Mount Saint Vincent University
  3. “Dewdrop, apple, and pomegranate: Three symbols of ring bearing in Czerniawski’s Wyprawa.” Joel Merriner, University of Plymouth
  4. “Foraging for sources: Sir Orfeo as the origin of Medieval romance topoi present in Mirkwood.” Andoni Cossio, Universidad del Pais Vasco

905: New sources and approaches to Tolkien’s Medievalism: A round table discussion

Tuesday, July 7. 19:00 – 20:00
Organizer & Moderator: Andrew Higgins 

This round table discussion will focus on works by J.R.R. Tolkien published during the last few years, with a particular emphasis on the latest posthumous publication of Tolkien’s Lost Chaucer, edited by John M Bowers (Oxford University Press). Participants will include both medievalists and Tolkien scholars.

Participants include Leo Carruthers (Sorbonne Université, Paris), Dimitra Fimi (University of Glasgow), Kristine Larsen (Central Connecticut State University), and Thijs Porck (Universiteit Leiden).

1536: Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism I

Thursday, July 9. 9:00 – 10:30
Organizer: Andrew Higgins
Moderator: Kristine Larsen 

  1. “The Liminality of Tolkien’s non-Human species.” Andrzej Wicher, Uniwersytet Łódzki
  2. “Undead or undying: Limits of immortality in Tolkien’s work.” Gaëlle Abaléa, Sorbonne Université
  3. “Implementing the liminal space.” Sara Brown, Independent Scholar
  4. “Mapping Ireland in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.” Kris Swank, Pima Community College

1636: Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism II

Thursday, July 9. 11:15 – 12:45
Organizer: Andrew Higgins
Moderator: Sara Brown 

  1. “Tolkien’s Taliska: Language invention on linguistic borders.” Andrew Higgins, Independent Scholar
  2. “Linguistic borders: Boundaries and bridges in Tolkien’s writing.” Deidre Dawson, Independent Scholar
  3. “Borders of mind and nation in Tolkien’s works.” Ellen Duncan, Independent Scholar

1736: Borders in Tolkien’s Medievalism III

Thursday, July 9. 14:15 – 15:45
Organizer & Moderator: Andrew Higgins 

  1. “Boundaries & marches; peripheries & margins; ranges, edges, & thresholds: Marked and un-marked borders in Tolkien’s maps for The Lord of the Rings.” Erik Mueller-Harder, Independent Scholar
  2. “The walls of the world and the voyage of the evening star: The complex borders of Tolkien’s Medieval geocentric cosmology.” Kristine Larsen, Centeral Connecticut State University
  3. “The limits of subcreation.” Lars Konzack, Københavns Universitet
  4. “Time-travel, astronomy, and magic mirrors: The borders between ​”reality” and ​“otherworlds” within Middle-earth.” Aurelie Bremont, Sorbonne Université