NYTC Presentation: "Loremasters of Fëanor: Historical Bias in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien ..."

[dawn_felagund]

Okay, at long last, I am sharing the video of my presentation at the New York Tolkien Conference here. The full title (which will not fit in the space allotted for titles) is "The Loremasters of Fëanor: Historical Bias in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Transformative Works." It discusses both the evidence for historical bias in Tolkien's works (

Comments

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! :D

Here's the sentence with you in it:

In another approach, writers consider how the in-universe narrators may have intentionally distorted details of a story for literary or mythic purposes: Thingol stared into Melian's eyes for years on end, Maedhros dangled from Thangorodrim for a half-century, or as my SWG colleague Janet McCullough John has often noted, it seems every other character is identified as the tallest.

Our conversation the week prior about comments on character heights and reading what you had to say in reply to those inquiries inspired this! And it's so true. My remark would have included a shameless plug for your talk except that it was going on as I spoke!

I was pleased with the audio quality, given the conditions: a classroom with nowhere to set up the camera (we ended up putting it on top of a piano mysteriously shoved against the wall!) and all hard walls, floors, and edges, plus me (unbeknownst to me!) hiding behind the computer the whole time. These videos are never ideal, but I figure they are better than having nothing at all.

[heartofoshun]

It was great. I have bad hearing and that was the only thing I missed.

Janet McCullough John has often noted, it seems every other character is identified as the tallest.

Brilliant comment (not)! I was hoping I had said something more profound. Although I can see how it was quotable in the context. Ha! Did I mention Laura told me mine was pretentious during our fight a few days ago. She has since retracted that statement! Now says I was not as relaxed as she had hoped and only said that because she had heard me give better talks. She said it because she knew where to stick the knife! We're all jolly again now, so never mind!

OMG! I haven't answered your post of yesterday, not because I didn't care but because it made a big impact on me. The letdown which follows major projects...I always do that. Even when I only post a new chapter of a WIP. (More later on that reaction in the right place!)

[dawn_felagund]

OUCH. I won't say much more here because this isn't flocked. But if Bobby were to want to hurt me? Something like that would bring me pretty low. There is still a lot of insecurity over the bravery I have trained myself into in recent years.

(Of course, I am by far the meaner of the two of us. I can't see him saying anything of the sort. But just imagining ...)

I never wonder or worry that you don't care, of all people! So no worries and take your time. It's an introvert thing for me: not just socializing but stimulation. And I was waaay overstimulated that week. I have trained myself to have a good bit of endurance where overstimulation is concerned, but it's a bit like the part in the movie Gataca where Ethan Hawke's character's brother asks how he can swim so far despite his bad heart and he says, "Because I don't leave anything for the swim back." I don't leave anything for the swim back, and I know the crash is coming. It is not, thankfully, as devastating as it used to be. I think I am becoming more normal as I get older. :^P

I am trying to find a home for the research that went into this paper, and I will mention you in a better context when I do. ;) I just didn't have much time for examples, but if I find the home I'm hoping to find for it, I will have that space available. (Being elusive again because of lack of flock!)

[brookeoflorien]

Jumping in briefly, though there will be a longer comment later, once I'm no longer sick and hiding from contact (totally understand that introvert stimulation thing. Summer session at school, where I had to constantly be around people, eat every meal with a couple dozen people, etc, has sapped me - I hope your crash isn't bad this time), but I really hope you find the home you want for the research!

You really deserve to, for this and all your other research. I don't think I told you this, though I meant to, but my sociology professor last semester was very interested when I was telling him about your survey, in spite of not being in the fandom at all.

Sorry if this is hard to understand. I'm also on dayquil, and I can be more coherent after a half bottle of wine than one dose of that.

[dawn_felagund]

You're perfectly coherent! :)

Well, the proposal is written. I will look at it again tomorrow and maybe prod some other people to look at it too. I've been getting up my nerve to write it for three days now, kind of like jumping into a cold pool!

Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your professor's response. I had a bit of a lightbulb moment at the last Mythmoot, where one of the themes was Tolkien in the 21st Century. That theme combined with the SWG's impending 10th birthday made me realize that, while striking out into all kinds of strange new terrain as far as my research went was fun and certainly valuable, there was also a lot of value in talking about where my expertise truly lies: the fanfic community! :) I won't deny that I was a little nervous about it. I'm just a lowly grad student, still far from being a scholar, and my reputation is still there for the making, and I worried what it would mean to become "the fanfic woman." But it seemed a good way to honor not only the SWG but the many people who have had such a positive, life-changing influence on me to treat what we do as significant. And the response has been so encouraging and heartening. People are not only interested in this stuff but all the mean-minded, stereotypical protests and questions I anticipated have so far not come to pass.

I hope you too overcome your crash and feel better as well. A major reason why living on campus never appealed to me and I spent my four years as an undergrad in my childhood bedroom rather than sampling life as an independent adult is because I could not imagine living with other people constantly.