Dimitra Fimi
Books
Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies
to Hobbits (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, November
2008)
Tolkien, Race and Cultural History explores the evolution of Tolkien's
mythology by examining how it changed as a result of Tolkien's life story and
contemporary cultural and intellectual history. The book considers Tolkien's
creative writing as an ever-developing 'legendarium': an interconnected web
of stories, poems and essays, from his early poems in the 1910s to his latest
writings in the early 1970s. Consequently, the book is not restricted to a discussion
of Tolkien's best-known works only (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and
The Silmarillion) but examines the whole corpus of his legendarium, including
the 12-volume History of Middle-earth series, which has received little attention
from critics. This new approach and scope brings to light neglected aspects
of Tolkien's imaginative vision and addresses key features of Tolkien's creativity:
the centrality of the Elves and the role of linguistic invention in his legendarium,
as well as race and material culture in Middle-earth.
- More details on the book (including a table of contents and a free sample chapter)
- Buy
this book from Amazon
- The first review of the book at tolkienlibrary.com
- Article discussing aspects of the book in The Western Mail
- Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning Press Release
Research Articles
(2006) "'Come Sing ye Light Fairy Things Tripping so Gay': Victorian Fairies
and the Early Work of J.R.R. Tolkien", Working with English: Medieval and
Modern Language, Literature and Drama, 2, pp. 10-26
(2006) "'Mad Elves' and 'Elusive Beauty': Some Celtic Strands of Tolkien's Mythology",
Folklore, 117:2, pp. 156-170
(2007)"Tolkien's '"Celtic" type of legends': Merging Traditions", Tolkien Studies, 4, pp. 51-71
(2007) "Tolkien and Old Norse Antiquity: Real and Romantic Links in Material
Culture", in Clark, David and Phelpstead, Carl (eds), Old Norse Made New:
Essays on the Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse Literature and Culture
(London: Viking Society for Northern Research)
Encyclopaedia Entries
(2006) "Victorian Fairyology" (pp.186-7) and "Greece: Reception of Tolkien"
(pp. 257-8), in Drout, Michael (ed.), The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia:
Scholarship and Critical Assessment (New York: Routledge)
(2008) "Unfinished Tales", under Works by J.R.R. Tolkien, in Clark, Robert (ed.),
The Literary Encyclopedia at (www.litencyc.com)
(2008) "Peter and Wendy","The Little White Bird" and"Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", under Works by J. M. Barrie, in Clark, Robert (ed.), The Literary Encyclopedia (www.litencyc.com)
- Read entry on The Little White Bird (login required)
- Read entry on Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (login required)
- Read entry on Peter and Wendy (login required)
(2008) "Ursula Le Guin", biographical profile, in Clark, Robert (ed.), The Literary Encyclopedia (www.litencyc.com)
Book Reviews
(2006) Marjorie Burns, Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth
(Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 2005), for Tolkien
Studies, 3, pp. 187-190
(2007) Camilla Asplund Ingemark, The Genre of Trolls: The Case of a Finland-Swedish Folk Belief Tradition (Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press, 2004), for Folklore, 118:3, pp. 366-7
(2007) Jacqueline Simpson, Icelandic Folktales and Legends (Stroud,
Gloucestershire: Tempus, 2004), for Folklore, 118:3, pp. 366-7
(2008) Ross Smith, Inside Language: Linguistic and Aesthetic Theory in Tolkien (Zürich, Bern: Walking Tree Publishers, 2007), for Tolkien Studies, 5, pp. 229-33
(2008) Douglas 'Dag' Rossman, The Northern Path: Norse Myths and Legends
Retold...And What They Reveal (Chapel Hill, NC: Seven Paws Press, 2005),
for Folklore, 119:2, pp. 238-9
(2008) Alaric Hall, Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health,
Gender and Identity (Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, NY: Boydell Press,
2007), for Folklore, 119:3, pp. 349-51
(2008) Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans, Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2006), for Folklore, 119:3, pp. 351-2
(2008) Dirk Meier, Seafarers, Merchants and Pirates in the Middle Ages
(Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2006), for Folklore
(forthcoming)
-
Read this review (link will be added as soon as it is published)
(2009) Thomas Green, Concepts of Arthur (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus,
2007), for Speculum (forthcoming)
- Read this review (link will be added as soon as it is published)
Popular Academic Articles
(2007) "A Note on Túrin and Oedipus", Silver Leaves, 1, pp. 9-10
(2008) "Teaching and Studying Tolkien", Mallorn, 46 (Autumn 2008), pp. 27-9
(2009) "Hobbit Songs and Rhymes: The Folklore of Middle-earth", lotrplaza.com, Scholars Forum