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]

I can send you a copy of the paper now if you don't mind the messy sourcing (things like SHIBBOLETH PG NEEDED in bright yellow highlights! :D) I need to finish the citations so I can put it up on Academia.edu; I saw another conference paper go up today and that and your comment kind of nudged me ...

I couldn't help thinking on Aredhel. I think she would be an orange one, like Fingon.

I agree. The characters I included were those Lewis discussed in his article (kind of a lazy way of narrowing down the dozens of potential characters for the presentation ... ;), so Aredhel wasn't included ... odd, since he spent quite a bit of time discussing the bias against Eol and Maeglin, and it seems Aredhel was caught up in that.

I sent off a proposal tonight (eek) for a longer form of this paper to maybe find a home somewhere. If it's accepted, Aredhel is definitely a character I will include (because I will not take the lazy route this time of just using Lewis's characters :).

I take your caution about her depictions in fanfic as well. It was interesting that no one brought up the (valid) critique that some of those sky-high bars could have been filled with fic that gave more negative depictions of characters like Maedhros and Feanor, probably because anyone who's read even a little Silmfic knows that negative stories about those characters are very rare! :)

Actually, your point here has my wheels turning because the higher numbers for female characters aren't necessarily a positive overall. Elwing is another character whom fandom treats harshly; her relatively high numbers could only reinforce the gender bias against her. This is definitely something I will need to look into, should I (hopefully) end up needing to expand this paper beyond its present form.

Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment--it really got me thinking in a new, productive direction!

[talullahred]

I don't think it was lazy - it was pragmatic - better to have a paper with a sound basis that can lead to other questions than to have an great idea with many details but too big to make it on time for the conference, right? :)

Anyway, I actually didn't think that there could be negative a lot of Maedhros or Maglor fic either - lol. Fandom really is kind to the blue ones. As for the women other than Aredhel, you might be on a good lead. In Elwing's case, I actually have read more fic that tries to justify her actions than to condemn, but maybe that's of reader bias - I keep trying to understand what she did and consequently, search/stumble upon material in that line of thought.

If you need any help in the next project, I'm game - it's actually a very, very interesting and pressing theme.

[talullahred]

Oh, and yes, a copy would be nice, even with the notes. :)