The aim with this essay is, through the lens of narratology, to study J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and find as many examples of different narratological aspects as possible. These narratological aspects will then be presented in a thorough analysis. Furthermore, the difference in narratological theory between realistic and unrealistic literature is highlighted. The aim is also to try and find out whether the narrative structure might have influenced the novel’s popularity among its numerous readers. The analysis shows that the primary narrator is omniscient, the novel is well structured with good descriptions of the settings and well depicted portrayals of the characters. The analysis also shows that time and space are equally as important as in a classical work of fiction. Moreover, it is evident that the narrative structure is an essential aspect of the success and longevity of the novel, in which the narration and the characterizations are vital. The analysis also highlights the unrealistic features of the novel.

Speculative realism/historical fantasy are labels coined by Stanford University’s Ramon Saldivar. Saldivar describes this genre as “a way of documenting things that have happened, or could happen” (the realist component), but warping realism into science fiction and fantasy, blending and bending the genres (Dickason). In his 2013 article “The Second Elevation of the Novel: Race, Form and the Postrace Aesthetic in Contemporary Narrative,” Ramon Saldivar brings an interesting perspective to how a new generation of authors have taken this genre and exposed utopia as fraud. He argues that as many writers (often members of minorities) seek to challenge the status quo and explore new territories with their prose, a new genre has been born from the utopian and dystopian schools- the genre he coins “speculative realism.” Implicit in his labelling of a new genre is the assumption that existing genres (created and nurtured by the dominant groups in society) are inadequate vehicles for the sort of work these authors seek to do, and in order to make their unique contributions, they have had to become pioneers in the field. Specifically, these authors have focused on utopian and dystopian worlds and have exposed the ruling class ideology hidden in the resolution. This new genre provides perfect material from which to draw texts that encourage students to grapple with the difficult concepts of how society should be organized, and what means might be required to achieve it. This project was developed with high school pedagogical practice in the forefront, therefore texts are chosen based on genre, grade level/interest, and thematic/ideological content. Within each group, the texts are chosen to highlight the deliberate indoctrination present within the current curriculum, and through comparison demonstrate how substituting speculative realist and historical fantasy for dystopian and historical fiction novels both educates and empowers students. In the dystopian genre, the commonly taught Lord of the Flies by William Golding is compared and contrasted with Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series. To explore novels based on history, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is contrasted with the historical fantasy The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur resemotivet i Odysséen respektive The Lord of the Rings bidrar till att konstruera de manliga huvudkaraktärernas roll som maskulina hjältar. Genom en jämförelse mellan Odysseus och Frodo är syftet även att säga någonting om synen på maskulinitet i deras samtid. Det som blir tydligt är att maskulinitet och hjälteskap inte är lika synonyma i The Lord of the Rings som i Odysséen. Odysseus är en reflektion av den hegemoniska maskuliniteten i sin samtid; såväl hans maskulinitet och heroiska drag bygger på ära, hämnd, aggressivitet, rationalitet och kontroll. Odysséen har bidragit till att upprätthålla det antika Greklands syn på maskulinitet. I The Lord of the Rings är Frodo ett exempel på hur en hjälte inte behöver vara maskulin i samma bemärkelse. Hans vänskap med Sam visar att även feminina drag stämmer in på en modernare hjälte. Han behöver inte vara aggressiv eller ärelysten, utan hans mentala mod att kunna offra sig för någonting större än honom själv är en del av hans hjälteskap. I The Lord of the Rings är den traditionella hjälterollen, som Odysséen delvis har lagt grunden för, istället uppdelad mellan olika karaktärer.

No description available.

In an interview with Hy Bender, Neil Gaiman states, "We have the right, and the obligation, to tell old stories in our own ways, because they are our stories." While fantasy stands apart from other types of fiction, it still provides a particular kind of commentary on the culture/time it is being created in, often by toying with older themes and conventions. Stories of the quest for kingship tend to fall by the wayside in favor of the "unlikely hero" tale. While the king's story is not always vastly different from that of the hero, there are some key points that need to be taken into consideration. Unlike many heroes, especially in the modern sense, kings (whether recognized at first or not) are born for the duty they must eventually fulfill. A hero may be unaware of the problem at first or later reluctant to engage it; more often than not in tales of kingship there is a deep awareness of the problem and the knowledge of their potential in solving it. There is always a sense of inherent purpose and destiny: they must undertake quests in order to legitimize themselves and their power — their right to rule. These stories bear a similar structure and shared themes that can be found in medieval sources as well as earlier myths. Tales of kingship in modern fiction, specifically in the work of Neil Gaiman (The Sandman) and George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), are similar to the medieval models, as kingship and the requirements of kingship were popular themes in medieval texts, including Beowulf and King Horn. The role of the king in epic tales varies from hero to villain, at times even occupying both roles depending on the story. In the tales explored herein and in much of the medieval source material that inspired the fantasy tradition, the king also takes on the role of healer. The interwoven plots of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series revolve around the struggle for the rightful rule over seven kingdoms, and while the protagonist in The Sandman is in many ways vastly different from Tolkien's Aragorn, the character still exists with a sense of purpose, responsibility, and duty; a regal bearing that does not necessarily occur in the majority of typical heroes. The influence of Tolkien's work both as a scholar and an author is apparent in Gaiman's use of mythology and Martin's style of world creation; both authors have admitted their creative debt to and continuing admiration of Tolkien's style of fantasy. It is impossible to discuss modern fantasy without acknowledging Tolkien as an influence to these two more recent authors. This paper will discuss The Lord of the Rings as a bridge between modern fantasy and medieval/mythological sources. In each of these modern fantasy tales of kingship, healing and reunion become major themes, tied into the right/duty of a ruler. The patterns established by medieval tales are used by modern authors to create fantasy kings, giving their narratives legitimacy that may have been difficult to establish without these patterns and links back to the medieval tradition. / Master of Arts

In this essay, J.R.R. Tolkien´s novel The Hobbit is analysed from an Ecocritical perspective. How environments/places are described, and what meaning can be attributed to these places is analysed using second wave ecocritical theory. This means that the relationship between what is seen as human and what is seen as non-human isdiscussed in relation to meaning and agency. The main theme of the novel is a journey, and there is a reoccurring motif of longing which forms a framework of safety against which the dangerous journey through the Wild is contrasted. This framework has been used to decide which scenes to analyse. Further, Buell´s theory of place-connectednessis used to describe the relationship between the characters and the places. The placeconnectedness affects how meaning is created in the interaction between the human and the non-human. Lastly, a previous essay using an ecocritical framework is LoboJansson´s Master´s thesis “Lord of the Rings, Lord of Nature: A PostcolonialEcocritical Study of J.R.R Tolkien´s The Lord of the Rings and Its Implications in the EFL Classroom.”. One suggestion for further research in the thesis is to apply an ecocritical framework to other books by Tolkien, such as Silmarillion or The Hobbit(47-48). One aim of this essay is therefore to answer the question whether the environmental descriptions in The Hobbit can indicate the environmental concerns described in Lobo Jansson´s study.

No abstract available / English / M.A. (English)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:27:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Renata Kabke Pinheiro.pdf: 1070062 bytes, checksum: 39cf8c3a889d01f34560f738bb29591e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-23 / This work comprises a linguistic-discursive analysis of the character Eowyn in the novel The Lord of The Rings (1954-1955) by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973). The main objective addresses the investigation of the presence of myths about the power, the role and the depiction of women in the discourse about and attributed to that character within the book. The theoretical support which was used is based on the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model of Norman Fairclough (2001), the postulates of Mikhail Bakhtin (1992, 1993 and 1997) and the concept of myth of Roland Barthes (1980). Divided into three chapters, after the theorethical part where we also make some considerations about gender we present the author, the book and the character. Next, we describe the methodology used for the analysis and discuss the data with reference to: a) the depiction of women especially the one represented by the epithet The White Lady of Rohan and connected to the myth of feminility; b) the power of women, as belonging/granted to or taken from them; c) the role of women, with emphasis on the gender dichotomy and on the roles traditionally and hegemonically considered male or female . The study concludes that our research hypothesis that, although the discourse attributed to and about Éowyn apparently seems to be a breakthrough so as to questions of hegemonic power in gender relations, it in fact perpetuates myths related to the power, the role and the depiction of women finds its corroboration in the linguistic materiality of J.R.R. Tolkien s text. / Este trabalho constitui uma análise lingüístico-discursiva da personagem Éowyn presente no romance The Lord of The Rings (1954-55), traduzido como O Senhor dos Anéis, do escritor sul-africano John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973). O objetivo principal remete à investigação dos mitos relativos ao poder, ao papel e às representações da mulher que se fazem presentes no discurso referente à e atribuído à personagem dentro da obra. A fundamentação teórica busca sustentação na Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD) de Norman Fairclough (2001), nos postulados de Mikhail Bakhtin (1992, 1993 e 1997) e no conceito de mito de Roland Barthes (1980). Dividido em três capítulos, após a parte teórica onde também fazemos algumas considerações a respeito de gênero apresentamos o autor, a obra e a personagem. A seguir, descrevemos a metodologia utilizada na análise e discutimos os dados encontrados relativos a: a) a representação feminina em especial a caracterizada pelo epíteto Senhora Branca de Rohan e ligada ao mito da feminilidade; b) o poder da mulher, como pertencente/concedido a ela ou usurpado dela; c) o papel da mulher, com ênfase na dicotomia de gêneros e nos papéis tradicional e hegemonicamente ligados a eles. O estudo conclui que nossa hipótese de trabalho de que o discurso atribuído à e referente à personagem Éowyn, apesar de aparentemente configurar-se como uma ruptura quanto às questões de poder hegemônico nas relações de gênero, na verdade perpetua mitos em relação ao poder, ao papel e às representações da mulher encontra confirmação na materialidade lingüística do texto de J.R.R. Tolkien

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar o diálogo intermidiático que se estabelece na passagem de A Sociedade do Anel, de John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 – 1973) para o jogo The Lord of The Rings Online (Lotro) e pretende dar conta de aspectos importantes na construção desse diálogo, de como se instala e como se movimenta, dando enfoque, segundo o viés comparatista, ao processo de remidiação e aos aspectos de estrutura, meia-realidade e ficção interativa, próprios da interação entre as mídias pertencentes ao corpus. A obra de John R. R. Tolkien já passou por inúmeros e complexos processos (re)midiação, The Lord of The Rings Online é um deles. O jogo contempla toda a parte do mapa da Terra Média e a história narrada nos dois primeiros volumes de O Senhor dos Anéis e guia seus jogadores por missões denominadas epic books, que seguem, assim como os nove membros da sociedade do anel, os caminhos até as grandes batalhas em Mordor. A análise aqui realizada parte da problemática de classificação do que uma mídia é (MCLUHAN, 2013) e do modo como as mídias se relacionam entre si e o contexto em que são inseridas (BOLTER; GRUSIN, 2000), agregando os postulados teóricos do videointerativo. A partir do corpus de pesquisa, propõe-se um estudo comparado que compreende, exemplificando as devidas diferenças de articulações estruturais e de outros aspectos, a passagem (VAN TIEGHEM, 1931) da literatura para o videogame como um empreendimento bem-sucedido, que valoriza as duas mídias e promove novas experiências ao leitor. / This M.A. thesis analyses the intermediatic dialogue established between The Fellowship of the Ring, a book written by Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 - 1973), and The Lord of the Rings Online (Lotro), a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game. Here, I intend to explain important aspects for the construction of this dialogue such as how it is created and how it has been articulating itself, focusing, according to Comparative Literature Studies’, on the remediation process and on aspects such as structure, half-reality and interactive fiction, characteristic of the interaction between both media. John R. R. Tolkien’s book has gone through several complex processes of (re)mediation, being The Lord of the Rings Online one of them. The game features the part of Middle-Earth that is told in the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings. Lotro guides its players through missions called epic quests, which follow the nine members of the fellowship of the ring to the great battles at Mordor. The analysis proposed starts from the problematic issue of classifying what a medium is (MCLUHAN, 2013), the way through which media relate to one another and the context in which they are created (BOLTER; GRUSIN, 2000), adding the theoretical postulates of videogames. It is a comparative analysis that includes, as an example of the appropriate differences in structural articulations and other aspects, the passage (VAN TIEGHEM, 1931) from literature into videogame as a successful exchange that values both media, while promoting new experiences to the reader.

<p>The digital evolution in the film industry has opened possibilities that was only to blockbusters before the digital age. I am talking about mass-scenes. Huge scenes with hordes of people often in huge battlefields. This was earlier in film history an extremly costly undertaking for the filmindustry and was a major reason why the large studio systems in Hollywood collapsed in the 60s. Now we can enjoy large scale battles created with CGI without costly extras, costumes and props. It’s all made with the computer and with ’blue screen’ technology. Is it possible to track the mass-scene back to some sort of origin or at least to who that defined the mass-scene ? If we look closer at mass-scenes used in contemporary movies then a clear pattern often emerges. These scenes can often be traced back to especially two propaganda films from the late 30s. Triumph des Willens by Leni Riefenstahl and Alexander Nevsky by Sergei M. Eisenstein. Of course there are others, but these two stands out from the others regarding mass-scenes. My opinion is that these two classic propaganda films have defined the mass-scenes as we have come to see and understand them in many comtemporary films from Star Wars to Lord Of The Rings.</p><p>In this thesis I will try to explore the usage of mass-scenes in comtemporary films and hopefully uncover the strong intertextual ties to Triumph des Willens and Alexander Nevsky.</p><p>I will also attempt to define the mass-scene and it’s usage in contemporary film.</p>