Tolkien and the Classical World

Tolkien and the Classical World
Editor	Hamish Williams
Illustrator	Jay Johnstone (art cover)
Publisher	Walking Tree Publishers
Released	23 January 2021
Format	Paperback
Pages	414
ISBN	978-3-905703-45-0
Series	Cormarë Series
Preceded by	Middle-earth, or There and Back Again
Followed by	The Gallant Edith Bratt

Tolkien and the Classical World is a collection of essays edited by Hamish Williams which looks at the classical sources of inspiration behind J.R.R. Tolkien's works. It was published as No. 45 in the Cormarë Series.

Contents

Introduction

• "Classical Tradition, Modern Fantasy, and the Generic Contracts of Readers" by Hamish Williams

Section 1 - Classical Lives and Histories

• "Tolkien the Classicist: Scholar and Thinker" by Hamish Williams
• "Greek and Roman Historiographies in Tolkien's Númenor" by Ross Clare

Section 2 - Ancient Epic and Myth

• "The Gods in (Tolkien's) Epic: Classical Patterns of Divine Interaction" by Giuseppe Pezzini
• "Middle-earth as Underworld: From Katabasis to Eucatastrophe" by Benjamin Eldon Stevens
• "Pietas and the Fall of the City: A Neglected Virgilian Influence on Middle-earth's Chief Virtue" by Austin M. Freeman
• "The Love Story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Tolkien's Orphic Middle-earth" by Peter Astrup Sundt

Section 3 - In Dialogue with the Greek Philosophers

• "Plato's Atlantis and the Post-Platonic Tradition in Tolkien's Downfall of Númenor" by Michael Kleu
• Less Consciously at First but More Consciously in the Revision: Plato's Ring of Gyges as a Putative Source of Inspiration for Tolkien's Ring of Power" by Łukasz Neubauer
• "Horror and Fury: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin and the Aristotelian Theory of Tragedy" by Julian Eilmann

Section 4 - Around the Borders of the Classical World

• "'Eastwards and Southwards': Philological and Historical Perspectives on Tolkien and Classicism" by Philip Burton
• "The Noldorization of the Edain: The Roman-Germani Paradigm for the Noldor and Edain in Tolkien's Migration Era" by Richard Z. Gallant
• "'Escape and Consolation': Gondor as the Ancient Mediterranean and Rohan as the Germanic World in The Lord of the Rings" by Juliette Harrisson

Section 5 - Shorter Remarks and Observations

• "Shepherds and the Shire: Classical Pastoralism in Middle-earth" by Alley Marie Jordan
• "Classical Influences on the Role of Music in Tolkien's Legendarium" by Oleksandra Filonenko and Vitalii Shchepanskyi

Afterword

• "Afterword: Tolkien's Response to Classics in Its Wider Context" by D. Graham J. Shipley

From the publisher

While scholars have often cited the influence of medieval texts and society on J.R.R. Tolkien's seminal fantasy creations, the role of the classical world – the literature and thought of ancient Greece and Rome – has received far less attention.

This volume of essays explores various ways in which Tolkien's literary creations were shaped by classical epic, myth, poetry, history, philosophy, drama, and language. In making such connections, the contributors to this volume are interested not simply in source-hunting but in how a reception of the classical world can shape the meaning we derive from Tolkien's masterworks.

The contributions to this volume by Philip Burton, Łukasz Neubauer, Giuseppe Pezzini, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Graham Shipley, and several other scholars should pave the way for further discussions between classical studies and fantasy studies.

External links

• Official product page
• Podcast on the book hosted by the editor