Recently added articles from Mythlore:
Editorial.
Mar 22, 2009; ... IN THIS ISSUE WE FEATURE TWO MAJOR, LENGTHY ARTICLES about individual works by C.S. Lewis: his first published volume of poetry, Spirits in Bondage, and his last novel, Till We Have Faces. Joe R. Christopher starts us off with a detailed examination of each poem in Spirits in ...
The thematic organization of Spirits in Bondage.(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... I. The Background ON 20 MARCH 1919, C.S. LEWIS'S FIRST BOOK WAS PUBLISHED: Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics, under the pseudonym of Clive Hamilton (Hooper xxxviii). The previous year, on 18 September 1918, Lewis had written his father about the subtitle: ...
Heroic Orual and the tasks of Psyche.(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... C.S. LEWIS'S LAST NOVEL, TILL WE HAVE FACES: A MYTH RETOLD, concerns transformations. After all, it deals with the myth of Psyche. In Greek, Psyche means not only soul but also butterfly. (1) This brings to mind the metamorphosis of a crawling caterpillar into a winged butterfly, analogous ...
"A far green country": Tolkien, paradise, and the end of all things in medieval literature.(J.R.R. Tolkien)(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... IN A 1953 LETTER TO HIS JESUIT FRIEND, ROBERT MURRAY, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work" (Letters 172), a well-known statement that has for many years inspired discussion, debate, and speculation by Tolkien's readers ....
"Two sides of the same magic": the dialectic of mortality and immortality in Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn.(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... FORTY YEARS AFTER ITS INITIAL PUBLICATION IN 1968, Peter S. Beagle's masterful novel The Last Unicorn remains one of the most endearing and enduring mythopoeic works of the twentieth century. The novel follows the journey of a unicorn searching for her people, who have apparently been ...
Eowyn's grief.(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... EOWYN, DAUGHTER OF EOMUND AND THEODWYN and niece to King Theoden, is one of the most enigmatic characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien in his epic story The Lord of the Rings. Is she a role model for feminists, or merely a pitiful, flat character (easily described in one sentence), or is she ...
The education of a witch: Tiffany Aching, Hermione Granger, and gendered magic in Discworld and Potterworld.(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... CONTEMPORARY FANTASY OFTEN REFLECTS SOCIAL ANXIETIES about issues such as education and gender and the responsible use of power. The training of a young person in how to use his or her budding talents wisely is a common trope in children's and young adult fantasy, echoing a primary concern ...
Tolkien and dogs, just dogs: in metaphor and simile.(J.R.R. Tolkien)(Critical essay)
Mar 22, 2009; ... ONE CRITIC OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Sandra Miesel, concludes that the "identification of prototypes and analogies is, at best, a limited accomplishment" (43). And so it is with one of Tolkien's simple and favorite subjects--dogs. In a make-believe world, time, and place filled with fantastic ...
Lilith in a New Light: Essays on the George Macdonald Fantasy Novel.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... LILITH IN A NEW LIGHT: ESSAYS ON THE GEORGE MACDONALD FANTASY NOVEL. Ed. Lucas H. Harriman. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008. x + 181 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-7864-3810-5. $35.00. IT'S GETTING ON FOR TWENTY YEARS since we last had two collections of essays on George ...
Black & White Ogre Country: the Lost Tales of Hilary Tolkien.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... Edited by Angela Gardner. Illustrated by Jef Murray. Moreton-in-Marsh, Great Britain: ADC Publications Ltd., 2009. ISBN 978-0-9551900-1-8. 9.99 [pounds sterling]. THE GOLDEN DAYS RECALLED TO MY KNOWLEDGE THIS IS THE FIRST PUBLICATION written by Hilary Tolkien. It was ...
C.S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... C.S. LEWIS AND THE SEARCH FOR RATIONAL RELIGION. Revised and updated. John Beversluis. Amherst, N. Y.: Prometheus Books, 2007. 363 pp. ISBN 978-1-59102-3. $20.00, pbk. SURELY ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL BOOKS in the history of Lewis studies was the first edition of John ...
Faith and Choice in the Works of Joss Whedon.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... FAITH AND CHOICE IN THE WORKS OF JOSS WHEDON. K. Dale Koontz. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008. Softcover: vii +231. ISBN 978-0-7864-3476-3. $35.00. WHAT DO EARTH-BOUND VAMPIRE SLAYERS and cowboys in space have in common? In her new book about the ...
Fritz Leiber, Critical Essays.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... FRITZ LEIBER, CRITICAL ESSAYS. Ed. Benjamin Szumskyj. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Co, 2008. 207 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-7864-2972-1. $35.00. WHATEVER ITS SHORTCOMINGS, this book is an important step in the right direction. It may not be, as the back cover copy tries to imply, the ...
Myth and Magic: Art According to the Inklings.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... MYTH AND MAGIC: ART ACCORDING TO THE INKLINGS. Eduardo Segura and Thomas Honegger, eds. Cormare Series, No. 14. Zollikofen: Walking Tree Publishers, 2007. ISBN 978-3905703085. Softcover. 352pp. $21.25. WITH MYTH AND MAGIC: ART ACCORDING TO THE INKLINGS, Walking Tree continues ...
From Narnia to a Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... FROM NARNIA TO A SPACE ODYSSEY: THE WAR OF IDEAS BETWEEN ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND C. S. LEWIS. Ed., and with introduction, by Ryder W. Miller. New York: ibooks, 2003. Soft-cover reprint [2005?]: ISBN 1-59687-143-1. 176 pp. $12.95. FROM NARNIA TO A SPACE ODYSSEY (a misleading title ...
Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... ARDA RECONSTRUCTED: THE CREATION OF THE PUBLISHED SILMARILLION. Douglas Charles Kane. Bethlehem (PA): Lehigh University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0980149630. Hardcover. 280pp. $65.00. W.H. AUDEN, TOLKIEN'S DEDICATED ADVOCATE and one-time student, once wrote that "The words of a dead ...
Night Operation.(Book review)
Mar 22, 2009; ... NIGHT OPERATION. Owen Barfield. [United Kingdom]: Barfield Press UK, 2008. 64 pp. $12.99. 978-0-9559582-1-2. EAGER SPRING. Owen Barfield. [United Kingdom]: Barfield Press UK, 2008. 143 pp. $14.99. 978-0-9559582-0-5. HE THREE PRINCIPAL INKLINGS were noted for their ...
Editorial.(Editorial)
Sep 22, 2008; ... We regret that we must begin this issue of Mythlore by marking the passing of Pauline Baynes, illustrator par excellance of both Narnia and Middle-earth. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull provide us with a brief appreciation of her life and work, followed by a listing of her appearances ...
In memoriam: Pauline Baynes.(Obituary)
Sep 22, 2008; ... PAULINE BAYNES, WHO DIED ON AUGUST 1, 2008 at the age of eighty-five, was one of the most talented artists of the twentieth century. She was also shy and reserved, allowing the quality of her work to speak for itself, and as a result hers was never a household name. But by her hand, the ...
Reconstructing Arda: of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor.(Critical essay)
Sep 22, 2008; ... ALTHOUGH J.R.R. TOLKIEN IS BEST KNOWN for having written The Lord of the Rings (and to a lesser extent, The Hobbit), The Silmarillion [Silm.] is arguably his most important work. He began working on the stories that provided the basis of what would become The Silmarillion in 1917, while he ...