Vaninskaya will focus on the recurrent motif in #Tolkien of the desire to voyage to Elvenhome via the concept of Sehnsucht (Longing) #s849 #IMC2018 @IMC_Leeds
Vaninskaya: William Peter’s “imitation” of Schiller interprets the “other” land of desire in a non-Christian context - compare with Tolkien’s Undying Lands. #s848 #IMC2018 @IMC_Leeds 
Vaninskaya: The desire implies homesickness - there’s imagery of fragrance and flowers, and flexibility of space and time. The land is across the sea and there are associations with the desire for death. #IMC2018 #s849 @IMC_Leeds #Tolkien
Vaninskaya: significant question in #Tolkien’s legendarium: where is the home of Men? Ideas of home and homelessness abound in the legendarium. #s849 #IMC2018 @IMC_Leeds
Vaninskaya: Eriol/Ælfwine already express this longing but many more characters from the legendarium suffer from Sehnsucht. #s849 #imc2018 @IMC_Leeds #Tolkien
Vaninskaya: as the figure of the voyager reoccurs, his old age becomes more central, thus highlighting the impossibility of reaching the Undying Lands. #s849 #IMC2018 @IMC_Leeds
Vaninskaya: link with #Tolkien’s biography? Many of these voyagers are father figures with sons. #s849 #imc2018 @IMC_Leeds
