{"id":3631,"date":"2007-10-21T11:33:46","date_gmt":"2007-10-21T15:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/batesviews.net\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2017-01-26T14:47:08","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T19:47:08","slug":"tolkien-scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2007\/10\/21\/tolkien-scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading Tolkien scholar discusses director's 'Lord of the Rings' treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As the culmination of a three-day Tolkien Film Festival at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College from Monday, Oct. 22, through Wednesday, Oct. 24, leading Tolkien scholar Thomas Shippey delivers a lecture titled “Filming the Lord of the Rings: How Peter Jackson Coped with J.R.R. Tolkien,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.\u00a0 The public is invited to attend the talk, followed by reception in the Olin lobby, free of charge. For more information, contact 207-786-6135 or this\u00a0 olinarts@bates.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walter J. Ong chair of humanities at St. Louis University, Shippey received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Shippey’s primary areas of focus are medieval literature, especially the earliest literature of Anglo-Saxon England, and modern fantasy and science fiction. These interests merge in his two much-reprinted and translated books on J.R.R. Tolkien, The Road to Middle Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology<\/em> (Houghton-Mifflin, 1982) and J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century<\/em> (Harper Collins, 2000).<\/p>\n

Both Shippey and Tolkien attended King Edward’s School, Birmingham, as schoolboys, and each played rugby for Old Edwardians. The two men both taught at Oxford University. As an English professor at Leeds University, Shippey inherited Tolkien’s chair and syllabus.<\/p>\n

President of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, Shippey’s most recent publications is The Shadow-walkers: Jacob Grimm’s Mythology of the Monstrous<\/em> (Brepols, 2005) and Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien<\/em> (Walking Tree Press, 2007). His numerous books include The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories<\/em> (Oxford University Press), The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories<\/em> (Oxford University Press) and Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk and the Future of Narrative<\/em> (University of Georgia Press).<\/p>\n

All three film screenings begin at 7 p.m. and are held in the Filene Room of Pettigrew Hall, 75 College St., ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College. The public is invited to attend at no cost. For more information about the screenings, please call 207-786-8294.<\/p>\n