Thread by @The_Tolkienist

On my way to this year's #Tolkien Seminar of @GermanTolkSoc at the @UniJena!

Makes me proud to see what we've achieved in 20+ years of volunteer work.

First TS to offer a bursary for ECRs in Tolkien studies, e.g. Hither Shore, our yearbook, has been published since 2005...

Some impressions from early Friday morning Jena.

The city centre is an eclectic mix of old and modern industry, the university campus, shopping malls, medieval roots and GDR remnants.

Pretty cool mix, by the way.

Quick coffee read.

#Tolkien
#TomShippey

And I always forget to mention that speakers at the conference receive (at least partial) reimbursement for their travel expenses.

The DTG (GTS) has been trying to support research as much as it is possible for a registered charity.

Thanks for that! 👍😁

After a warm welcome by @GermanTolkSoc chairman Tobias Eckrick, Commissioner for International Relations, Annika Röttinger, and Chair of the English Dept. at @UniJena Prof. Thomas Honegger, Allan Turner is first with 'Power, Position and Legitimation in LotR'.

He puts Tolkien's 'infamous' quote from "Letters" of his 'tendency' for 'anarchy or unconstitutional monarchy' in a 1943 letter to CJRT into historical context, with a quick twist at the end mentioning UK 'politics' of today... 😊😀

Next up is Sandra Hartl with a Classics approach in her 'Aeneas and Aragorn: Three Types of Political Authority.'

As Tolkien started out in Classics at @ExeterCollegeOx the influence on his writing is clear - even though he changed his studies halfway through (thank God 😅)

Her comparisons are with Virgil's Aeneid and the different concepts of authority in this text, using the terms of
* rational legal (victory in battle)
* traditional (pedigree)
* charismatic (simply hot, my summary 😅)

P.S. Reducing talks to tweets does not do them justice! 😈

Next up is Richard Z. Gallant with his talk "The Dance of Authority in Arda: Wyrd, Fate and Providence."

This is taken from his dissertation project in progress, looking forward to reading the final work - the talk offers insights in modes of will in #Tolkien's writing.

Last talk for today is Jelena Filipovic with "Tolkien's 'Dark Lord' as a Political Figure."

Working from Machiavelli's "Prince" and Hobbes' "Leviathan" Filipovic offers her view on the concept of the two political bodies and Sauron's function in Tolkien's tales.

As I'm staying with good friends the only option for a decent chat was today's breakfast!

Unfortunately, I had to miss out on three interesting talks by Isabel Busch, Flora Sophie Lemburg, and Oleksandra Filonenko...

Gendered Power and Authority, Female and Male Power, and Great Mother Figures and Sovereignty Goddesses.

Looking forward to reading the papers @GermanTolkSoc's academic yearbook Hither Shore, which is considered a must have in Tolkien Studies worldwide.

On an even more positive note:

Jena really is a lovely university city 😁

#Tolkien
#AcademicConference
#TolkienSeminar

The next talk is Hamish Williams with "Three Nesothalassocratic Peoples and their Reception", exploring Tolkien's version of the Atlantis tradition with his stories set in Númenor.

P. S. My apologies for the quality of the screenshot, I'm trying out Office Lens 😁

Fantastic follow up is Christine Vogt-William's 'Power, Authority and Gender amongst Literary Dragons', using #Tolkien's 'Hobbit' , Owen's 'Here there be dragons', and Goodman's 'Eon.'

She notes her talk and the conference poster by Anke Eissmann @khorazir seem to be linked 😁

Prof. Thomas Honegger of @UniJena thanks Tobias Eckrick as chairman of the @GermanTolkSoc for awarding the Young Scholar Bursary to Szymon Pindur and his talk 'The Linguistic Power of Truth and Deception.'

Fellow recipients of this bursary: Jelena Filipovic & Marco Prost.

Marco Prost is now up with 'From Aragorn to Sam: construction of the trifunctional Indo-European sovereignty in LotR.'

Well, there are a number of examples here 😁

Inspired by George Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis Prost suggests comparisons on main characters such as Galadriel, Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry & Pippin and their 'functions.'

On a personal note: Glad to listen to a francophone Swiss for a change 😊👍🇨🇭

Final talk of today is Lukasz Neubauer with '"You have conquered". Ego te absolvo: Aragorn's Spur-of-the-moment Role as Confessor in the Death Scene of Boromir', putting #Tolkien in a line of tradition with confessional literature, marking differences to its prevalent elements.

Comparing Tolkien's Boromir death scene to Byrthnoth, Roland, and the repentant thief on Jesus' day of crucifixion.

The final words at confession 'Go in peace' seem to mirror Aragorn's words 'Be at peace.'

We had amazing dinners at the 'Haus im Sack' and @zur_noll in Jena, two traditional public houses, where good food & drinks and interesting chats where had.

Unfortunately, because I, ahem, went to bed pretty late I missed out on the last two talks! 😭

@zur_noll Martin Sternberg talked about 'Adel im Auenland?’, i.e Aristocracy in the Shire, and Andreas Zeilinger about ‘Legitimation der Herrscher Gondors’, i.e. Legitimisation of the Rulers of Gondor.'

Talks to be published:

tolkiengesellschaft.de/publikationen/…

Now I have time changing trains in Halle and working on a couple of talks, blog posts, articles, and surprises for you.

Nota bene:

#TolkienSeminar2020

is at @uni__augsburg again!

Part of a lecture series by the English Ling. Dept. we'll have a great topic!

More news asap!

@uni__augsburg Thanks for following my report on @GermanTolkSoc #TolkienSeminar2019 in cooperation with Walking Tree Publishers and @UniJena.

Next Tolkien Seminar 2020: @uni__augsburg.

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