INSTRUCTORS:
Who were the fantasy authors of the 19th & early 20th century? How did they influence Tolkien?
When J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) were published, they were hailed as something entirely new. In one sense they were new, in their combination of methodologies and ingredients, but Tolkien had built his modern-styled novels upon a long tradition of the fantastic in literature than ranged from the Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey of classical times, on through Beowulf, the Eddas, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo and other romances of the Middle Ages which, not coincidently, were Tolkien’s own specialties as a professor at Oxford University. This course studies Tolkien’s works in relation to the fantasy literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, positioning Tolkien among the writers who influenced him as well as within the whole field of fantasy literature as it developed before and just after Tolkien. The authors studied in depth include H. Rider Haggard, William Morris, George Macdonald, H.G. Wells, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, David Lindsay and others.
Course Schedule
Week 1 – Fantasy across the Ages
- Homer to Sir Gawain, on to German Romantics, Gothics, Victorians and Science Fiction
- Readings: “The Elves” by Ludwig Tieck; “The Mysterious Stranger”
Week 2 – Tolkien on Fairy-stories
- Theories and Evaluation of Fantasy as a Literary Mode
- Readings: “The Fantastic Imagination” by George Macdonald; “On Fairy-Stories” and The Notion Club Papers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Week 3 – George Macdonald
- Reading: The Princess and Goblin and “The Golden Key” by George Macdonald
Week 4 – Rudyard Kipling, J.M. Barrie and Fairies
Readings:
- Peter Pan, or Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie
- Lud-in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees
- “Weland’s Sword” from Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rudyard Kipling
Week 5 – H. Rider Haggard and Victorian Adventure Fiction
Readings:
- She by H. Rider Haggard
- The Black Douglas (chapters 48 and 49) by S.R. Crockett
Week 6 – William Morris: Medievalism and Style
Readings:
- A Tale of the House of the Wolfings by William Morris
- The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison
Week 7 – The Marvellous Land of Snergs and Other Writings for Children
Readings:
- “Puss-Cat Mew” by E.H. Knatchbull-Hugessen
- The Dragon Tamers by E. Nesbit
- The Marvellous Land of Snergs by E.A. Wyke-Smith
Week 8 – Mythic Resonances: Dunsany, John Buchan, The Word of Teregor
Readings:
- “The Far Islands” by John Buchan
- The Gods of Pegana and The Book of Wonder by Lord Dunsany
- “The Regent of the North” by Kenneth Morris
Week 9 – Scientific Romance in Britain: H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, David Lindsay, and C.S. Lewis
Readings:
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
Week 10 – The Victorian and Edwardian Gothic
Readings:
- The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
- “Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook” from Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James
Week 11 – Alternatives to Tolkienian Fantasy in the UK : the Comic to the New Weird
- Reading: Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
Week 12 – Across the Ocean: the Pulp and Literary Traditions in America
Readings:
- “The Woman of the Wood” by A. Merritt
- “Shadows in the Moonlight” by Robert E. Howard
- “The Double Shadow” by Clark Ashton Smith
- Jurgen by James Branch Cabell
Required Texts
Note from Professor Anderson: A basic familiarity with both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings will be presumed throughout this course. Of the texts below, almost any edition will suffice, though for Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-stories” the critical edition, titled Tolkien On Fairy-stories, is preferred. A large number of the readings are available online: URLs will be given though there are also paperback editions. When possible I give URLs for editions in pdf, and other formats, at archive.org.
- Tales Before Tolkien edited by Douglas A. Anderson
- Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
- Tolkien On Fairy-stories edited by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson
- Sauron Defeated by J.R.R. Tolkien (paperback available in the UK)
- The Marvellous Land of Snergs by E.A. Wyke-Smith
Course History
This course has been offered in the following semesters.
| Semester | Preceptor(s) |
|---|---|
| Fall 2014 | Dr. Sara Brown, Dr. Erin Aust |
Course Artwork
Course artwork adapted from an original illustration by Breana Melvin. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
