"They always wished to talk to everything" : recovering the border-walking mystics of Middle-Earth
The stories of J.R.R. Tolkien overflow with references to the spiritual and the ecological. Often, however, scholars interpret these themes as inherently traditional: spirituality is boiled down to staunch Catholicism and an intellectual interest in paganism; radical environmentalism is translated into the conservative ideal of stewardship, an anthropocentrism that negates the vibrant co-dependency that enlivens Arda. This new exploration of Middle-earth's spirituality and materiality seeks to overcome these reductive tendencies by practicing a hospitable mode of critique: one which is open to a variety of voices, interpretations, and ways of being-in-the-world. In it, I deconstruct the term "intercessor" and rebuild it to refer to those persons who stand in the in-between, the gaps. I look at those persons who walk the borders and constantly call us to refocus our attention, to be accountable for our ethics of living. This reversal of our usual mode of attention is facilitated by a unique cast of characters, some of whom are quite popular among critics, and others of whom have often found themselves neglected or excluded. My purpose here is to provide an honest yet hopeful diagnosis of the communion of the spiritual and material, primarily through the lens of The Lord of the Rings, but also other texts as the need arises. Eventually we'll see that both the spiritualities and the environmentalisms represented in Middle-earth are not only often radical or confrontational, but also diverse, complex, and contradictory. In all, they call characters and readers alike into account: they demand a reassessment of the ethics of our being-in-the-world and aspire to a communion of all things, envisioning a riotous celebration of our entanglement in the great becoming-with of our world.
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- In Collections
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Copyright Status
- Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
- Material Type
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Theses
- Authors
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Fontenot, Megan N.
- Thesis Advisors
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Hoppenstand, Gary
- Date
- 2019
- Subjects
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Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973
Spirituality in literature
Nature in literature
Middle Earth (Imaginary place)
Environmentalism in literature
Ecology in literature
Ecocriticism
- Program of Study
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Literature in English - Master of Arts
- Degree Level
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Masters
- Language
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English
- Pages
- v, 119 pages
- ISBN
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9781392076859
1392076854
- Permalink
- https://doi.org/doi:10.25335/kevf-3z62