Tolkien and Inspiration: A Multidisciplinary Symposium

Saturday, March 16, 2019, 2:00 pm

Explore multiple facets of Tolkien’s inspirations in his writing as well as how his work impacts readers in personal and unexpected ways today. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth and in partnership with the NY Tolkien Conference & Fellowship. 

Keynote Presentation:
The Great Wave: How Tolkien reinvented Atlantis

John Garth, Tolkien scholar and author of Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth

“But the beauty of mithril did not tarnish”:
Tolkien, Material Culture, and the Made Object

Nicholas Birns
, Adjunct Instructor at New York University 

Homo-amory, Tolkien’s Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings
Chris Vaccaro, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature at The University of Vermont

“And Menelmacar with his shining belt”: J.R.R. Tolkien the Amateur Astronomer
Kristine Larsen, Professor of Astronomy at the Central Connecticut State University

Teaching Tolkien in the 21st Century
Leslie Donovan, Leslie A. Donovan, Professor, Honors College, University of New Mexico

Questions and Discussion

The exhibition Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth will be open at 1 PM for program attendees.

SOLD OUT

J.R.R. Tolkien in his study, ca. 1937, black and white photograph. Tolkien Trust, MS. Tolkien photogr. 5, fol. 94. © The Tolkien Trust 2015.

Please call (212) 685-0008 ext. 560 or e-mail tickets@themorgan.org for information.