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Tag: J. R. R. Tolkien

Christopher Tolkien FEATURED

CR Episode 156: The Lay of the Children of Hurin, Part III

2 January 2023 Critical Readings

The panel concludes a three-week reading of The Lay of the Children of Hurin, examining the connexion between the history, geography, and cosmology of Tolkien’s imagined Middle-Earth and that of our own, very real, terrestrial middle-earth.

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J. R. R. Tolkien FEATURED

CR Episode 155: The Lay of the Children of Hurin, Part II

26 December 2022 Critical Readings

The panel reads the second part of The Lay of the Children of Hurin, which relates the tale of Beleg Strongbow, and the doom of Turin Turambar, giving special attention to how the text connects to other mythological and Anglo-Saxon poems and narratives.

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J. R. R. Tolkien FEATURED

CR Episode 154: The Lay of the Children of Hurin, Part I

19 December 2022 Critical Readings

The panel begins a three-week reading and analysis of the first version of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lay of the Children of Hurin”, a poetic account of Turin Turambar, written between 1918 and 1925, and first published in The Lays of Beleriand (1985).

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Gawain and the Green Knight, by John Howe

CR Episode 115: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part IV

7 February 2022 Critical Readings

The panel concludes “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” with an examination of the poem’s liminal spaces, an evaluation of Gawain’s moral virtue, a discussion on the nature of courage, and questions about the role of community in the act of contrition.

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Lady Bertilak de Hautdesert Tempts Sir Gawain

CR Episode 114: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part III

31 January 2022 Critical Readings

The panel reads the third part of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, with particular attention to the juxtaposition of the forest hunting, killing, and skinning/gutting scenes with those of courtly love in the luxurious bedchamber of Sir Gawain.

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Lady Bertilak de Hautdesert

CR Episode 113: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part II

24 January 2022 Critical Readings

The panel reads the second part of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, and examines the theological significance of the seasons, the detailed military fortifications of Castle Hautdesert, and the appearance of the beautiful Lady Hautdesert.

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The Green Knight at the Feast

CR Episode 112: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part I

17 January 2022 Critical Readings

The panel reads the first part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, providing an overview of the formal aspects of the poem, the history of the manuscript (Cotton Nero A.x), theories about authorship, and analysis of the poem’s titular, veridian symbolism.

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