Tolkien’s Creation (16-Week Class)
Price range: $350.00 through $875.00
Although J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the best-selling and most influential writers of the past 100 years, it took the massive popular-culture success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films to get academia to begin to grudgingly recognize his literary achievement. Last century, when I was interviewing for my first academic job, I was advised to “tone down” my enthusiasm for Tolkien’s work. Thirty years later, no one objects to there being courses on Tolkien in elite institutions. And that is a good thing, because I am looking forward to teaching “Tolkien’s Creation,” a 16-week course for the House of Humane Letters in Spring 2027.
In “Tolkien’s Creation” we will work steadily through The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion as well as some of Tolkien’s translations and adaptations of medieval works that inspired him, including Beowulf, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Pearl. We will also study three minor works, Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, and the enigmatic Smith of Wootton Major, and we will examine some Tolkien’s scholarship, including his famous essay “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.”
By the end of the course we have increased our knowledge and enriched our appreciation of the evolution, literary history, aesthetic achievement, moral significance, and emotional power of Tolkien’s great creation.
Click Here for the Full Book List
J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit. ISBN 0-345-33968-1.
The Fellowship of the Ring. ISBN 0-345-33970-3.
The Two Towers. ISBN 0-345-33971-1.
The Return of the King. ISBN 0-345-33973-8.
The Silmarillion. ISBN 0-345-32581-8
Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. ISBN 0345336062
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. ISBN 026110263X
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo. ISBN: 0345277600
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, ed. Christopher Tolkien. ISBN-13: 978-0547394572
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, ed. Christopher Tolkien. ISBN-13: 978-0547394572
Instructor: Dr. Michael Drout
Meet Times: Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 ET from January – May, 2027 (Official dates TBA). (16 sessions approximately 90 minutes long each)
Price: $350 (Non-Refundable)
Suggested Age Range: High School and Adult Students. There is no written work required, and many Middle School students have also greatly enjoyed Dr Drout’s classes at HHL.
How to access the class: This 16-week class will be available in your HHL account dashboard under “My Courses.”
Description
Although J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the best-selling and most influential writers of the past 100 years, it took the massive popular-culture success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films to get academia to begin to grudgingly recognize his literary achievement. Last century, when I was interviewing for my first academic job, I was advised to “tone down” my enthusiasm for Tolkien’s work. Thirty years later, no one objects to there being courses on Tolkien in elite institutions. And that is a good thing, because I am looking forward to teaching “Tolkien’s Creation,” a 16-week course for the House of Humane Letters in Spring 2027.
In “Tolkien’s Creation” we will work steadily through The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion as well as some of Tolkien’s translations and adaptations of medieval works that inspired him, including Beowulf, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Pearl. We will also study three minor works, Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, and the enigmatic Smith of Wootton Major, and we will examine some Tolkien’s scholarship, including his famous essay “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.”
By the end of the course we have increased our knowledge and enriched our appreciation of the evolution, literary history, aesthetic achievement, moral significance, and emotional power of Tolkien’s great creation.
Click Here for the Full Book List
J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit. ISBN 0-345-33968-1.
The Fellowship of the Ring. ISBN 0-345-33970-3.
The Two Towers. ISBN 0-345-33971-1.
The Return of the King. ISBN 0-345-33973-8.
The Silmarillion. ISBN 0-345-32581-8
Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. ISBN 0345336062
The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. ISBN 026110263X
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo. ISBN: 0345277600
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, ed. Christopher Tolkien. ISBN-13: 978-0547394572
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, ed. Christopher Tolkien. ISBN-13: 978-0547394572
Instructor: Dr. Michael Drout
Meet Times: Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 ET from January – May, 2027 (Official dates TBA). (16 sessions approximately 90 minutes long each)
Price: $350 (Non-Refundable)
Suggested Age Range: High School and Adult Students. There is no written work required, and many Middle School students have also greatly enjoyed Dr Drout’s classes at HHL.
How to access the class: This 16-week class will be available in your HHL account dashboard under “My Courses.”
Additional information
| Number of Students | One Student, Two Students, Three Students, Four Students |
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