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Дм. Винoxoдов
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The flame imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the metaphysics of Faerie
by McIntosh, Jonathan S., Ph.D., University of Dallas, 2009, 417 pages

Abstract (Summary)

The argument of this dissertation is that J. R. R. Token was a metaphysical thinker, that questions concerning the nature of both created and uncreated being significantly inspired and shaped his fiction, and that one of the formative influences on Tolkien's metaphysical imagination was his great Catholic forbear, the thirteenth-century theologian St. Thomas Aquinas. In this dissertation, accordingly, I undertake a philosophical investigation of Tolkien's creation-story recounting the origins of the world of Middle-earth, the Ainulindalë , in which he lays the metaphysical and theological foundation for many of the more recognizable themes from his mythology, including sub-creation, free will, evil, and eucatastrophe. Each of the following five chapters focuses on a different element or elements from Tolkien's creation-myth, analyzing these in light of some of the central philosophical questions considered by St. Thomas Aquinas, especially in his Summa Theologiae . My conclusion is that, in its appropriation of many of the philosophical insights of St. Thomas, what Tolkien's literary opus accomplishes in part is an important and unique landmark in the history of Thomism, offering a creative and powerful contemporary retrieval, interpretation, and application of Thomistic metaphysics for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

War, heroism, and narrative: Hemingway, Tolkien, and le Carre, storytellers to the modern world
by Vince, Raymond Michael, Ph.D., University of South Florida, 2005, 242 pages

Abstract (Summary)

"To find a hero one tells a story." Heroic narratives bring meaning to the uncertainties of life, of which war is the most terrible. Yet concepts of heroism have changed since the Great War. The aim is to study war, heroism, and narrative in the life and work of Ernest Hemingway, J. R. R. Tolkien, and John le Carré. Chapter One spells out the changing nature of the hero, the development of a heroism of the ordinary, and the relationship of the hero to heroic narratives. Chapter Two outlines the scope and methodology through the metaphor of mapping, the impact of the Great War, the past "from which we have all emigrated," the Cold War and beyond, the memories of war, and the ironies and ambiguities of modernity and modernism.

Chapter Three explores the work of Hemingway, using the roles of writers and soldiers, and his continuing experience of war. The focus is on In Our Time , The Sun Also Rises , A Farewell to Arms , For Whom the Bell Tolls , Across the River and into the Trees , and The Old Man and the Sea . His short stories and war correspondence are briefly examined.

Chapter Four looks at Tolkien, using the roles of hobbits and wizards, and his experience at the Battle of the Somme. The following works are examined: "Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics," The Hobbit , "On Fairy-Stories," The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers , The Return of the King , and The Silmarillion and other works.

Chapter Five examines le Carré, using the roles of spies and moles, and placing him among the betrayals of the Cold War. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold , Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy , The Honorable Schoolboy , Smiley's People , The Little Drummer Girl , A Perfect Spy , and Absolute Friends are examined.

Chapter Six shows how Hemingway, Tolkien, and le Carré, in their varied responses to war and heroism, developed different and complex narratives, becoming storytellers to the modern world.

"The sweet and the bitter": Death and dying in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings"
by Amendt-Raduege, Amy M., Ph.D., Marquette University, 2007, 251 pages

Abstract (Summary)

Death and immortality are, by Tolkien's own admission, central themes in The Lord of the Rings. This dissertation examines the interpretation of death in Tolkien's work from three principle perspectives: the philosophical necessity of death, the ways in which individual characters meet their deaths, and the cultural conundrum represented by the necessity of dealing with the dead. No work, however, exists in a vacuum; thus the opening and closing chapters show how The Lord of the Rings was influenced by and exerts its influence upon the real world. The opening chapter therefore sets Tolkien's work in biographical and historical context. The next three chapters discuss the interpretation of death as it is depicted in the story of Middle-earth: chapter two examines Tolkien's depictions of the forms of immortality and their potential consequences for human life, while chapter three focuses on the impact of that philosophy for eight of the character deaths depicted in The Lord of the Rings, four representing the medieval ideals of the "good death" and four representing the various incarnations of "bad" deaths. Chapter four is concerned with the commemoration of the dead, both in their physical locations within the graves and cemeteries of Middle-earth or in the verbal cenotaphs of song and story. The fifth chapter returns to our world and demonstrates the ways in which real people are or might be using his magnum opus as a means of consolation for the inevitability of death. While death exists within a complex web of interconnecting and often opposing viewpoints, the final analysis reveals that Tolkien's conception of death as the Gift of God to humankind remains consistent throughout the story.

An uncharted land: Female characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and related writings
by Hanslip, Andrea Robin, M.A., University of Calgary (Canada), 1993, 140 pages

Abstract (Summary)

Earlier versions of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings exist in a multitude of drafts, outlines and scribbled notes. This is a textual archaeology of these many drafts, analyzing how the textual change over time manifests itself in/through the female characters. The focus is on the process of writing rather than the product. Feminist theory of the construction of the self and narratological theory concerning characters and focalization form a backdrop for this analysis. I begin with a discussion of female absence in Tolkien's Middle-earth, then examine the major female characters--Arwen, Eowyn and Galadriel--represented in The Lord of the Rings. The final chapter investigates textual change connected with minor female characters. There is not only a great diversity in character development, but Tolkien also subverts traditional hierarchy in his depictions of women: Lord cannot be pinned down to any concrete position regarding female characters.

ROMANTIC RELIGION IN THE WORK OF OWEN BARFIELD, C. S. LEWIS, CHARLES WILLIAMS, AND J. R. R. TOLKIEN
by REILLY, ROBERT J., Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1960, 309 pages

'THE HOBBIT' AND OTHER FICTION BY J. R. R. TOLKIEN: THEIR ROOTS IN MEDIEVAL HEROIC LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
by GREEN, WILLIAM HOWARD, Ph.D., Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 1969, 195 pages

THE POLITICS OF FANTASY: C. S. LEWIS AND J. R. R. TOLKIEN
by ROSSI, LEE DONALD, Ph.D., Cornell University, 1972, 264 pages

Ash Nazg: A biography
by Bernabei, Jason Phillip, M.A., Florida Atlantic University, 2003, 46 pages

Abstract (Summary)

At the center of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings lies an epic power struggle between good and evil, the latter embodied by the "One Ring," "Ash Nazg" in the speech of Mordor. Although Tolkien scholarship has heretofore treated the Ring as a non-sentient object, "Ash Nazg" has a surprisingly dramatic life story as well as a dynamic relationship with other characters in the epic. His character development is here chronicled from conception to death, and his relationships thoroughly examined. As a machiavel of royal birth, abducted after the defeat of his father by the Numenoreans, Ash Nazg has made it his quest to return to the land of his birth at the bidding of his father, ascend the throne of darkness, and claim domination over Middle-earth. By thus characterizing Ash Nazg, this essay not only provides a unique perspective upon the theme of the epic, it again demonstrates the indispensability of character as a literary concept, and thus issues a challenge to the fashionable dogmas of postmodernist thought.
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