Consolation, Recovery, & Hope in Faerie
Signum University and the Mythgard Institute invite you to join us on Saturday, October 26, 2024, for Middle Moot 2024. This hybrid event will occur at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO. For our return to the Midwest, our theme is “Consolation, Recovery, & Hope in Faerie”.
Register Here for Middle Moot
Price: $50.00 USD for in-person attendance, $25.00 USD for remote attendance
In Tolkien’s seminal essay “On Fairy-stories,” he writes of eucatastrophe—the joy of the happy ending—that it “denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”
Join us at Middle Moot 2024, as we follow the beams of splintered light that illuminate our path to find this glimpse of joy in an ever-darkening world. Held at the World War I Museum & Memorial in Kansas City, MiddleMoot will explore how fantasy and fairy-stories help us recover a clear view with which to catch that glimpse. We will also interactively read and share our favorite works that bring us light and kindle hope in the darkness.
At MiddleMoot 2024, we will also have the chance to see the museum exhibit “Charmed Soldiers,” showcasing objects and stories that soldiers held on to amid the unimaginable violence and horror of the Great War: objects that helped them discover magic, renew their faith, witness miracles, and hold on to hope. We encourage you to take time while in Kansas City to experience this unique exhibit as a backdrop for our own pursuit of stories to help us discover magic and restore our hope for “Joy beyond the walls of the world”.
Schedule of Events – All Times Local to Kansas City (Central Time)
10:15 – 10:30am: Welcome to Middle Moot w/Corey Olsen
10:30 – 11:10am: Caught in Youth: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit w/Tom Hillman
11:10 – 11:50am: Musical Portraits of Faerie w/Jack Schabert
12:00 – 12:40pm: Sub-Creation and the Implications for Reading & Discussing Stories w/Brandon Harvey
12:40 – 1:55pm: Middle Moot Lunch Break
1:55 – 2:35pm: Use of Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literature in the Academic Classroom w/Randee Baty
2:35 – 3:15pm: Illustrating Recovery, Escape, and Consolation in Tolkien w/Miriam Ellis
3:25 – 4:20pm: Smith’s Treasures: Readings in Courage and Wanderings in Faerie w/YOU!
4:20 – 4:55pm: Hope and Tradition: Aragorn and the Edain w/Samuel Lewis
