This study undertakes an examination of the representation of nature in works of literature that it regards as early British ‘mythopoeic fantasy’. By this term the thesis understands that fantasy fiction which is fundamentally concerned with myth or myth-making. It is the contention of the study that the connection of these works with myth or the idea of myth is integral to their presentation of nature. Specifically, this study identifies a connection between the idea of nature presented in these novels and the thought of the late-Victorian era regarding nature, primitivism, myth and the impulse behind mythopoesis. It is argued that this conceptual background is responsible for the notion of nature as a virtuous force of spiritual redemption in opposition to modernity and in particular to the dominant modern ideological model of scientific materialism. The thesis begins by examining late-Victorian sensibilities regarding myth and nature, before exposing correlative ideas in selected case studies of authors whose work it posits to be primarily mythopoeic in intent. The first of these studies considers the work of Henry Rider Haggard, the second examines Scottish writer David Lindsay, and the third looks at the mythopoeic endeavours of J. R. R. Tolkien, the latter standing alone among the authors considered in these central case studies in producing fiction under a fully developed theory of mythopoesis. The perspective is then widened in the final chapter, allowing consideration of authors such as William Morris and H. G. Wells. The study attempts to demonstrate the prevalence of an identifiable conceptual model of nature in the period it considers to constitute the age of early mythopoeic fantasy fiction, which it conceives to date from the late-Victorian era to the apotheosis of Tolkien’s work.

The thesis is organized as two sections of two chapters each: the first section establishes a theoretical framework of a broad and reinvigorated Christian sacramentality within which to situate the second—an investigation of the theories and practice of the mythopoeic art of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in this sacramental light. The first chapter acknowledges the thoroughgoing disenchantment of modernity, an effect traced to the vanishing of a sacramental understanding of the world, and then explores the history of the sacramental concept that would seek to be reclaimed and reconceived as a possible means of the re-enchantment of Western culture such as in the recent work of David Brown. An appreciative critique of Brown's work is offered in chapter two before proposing an alternative understanding of a distinctly Christian and reinvigorated sacramentality anchored in the Incarnation and operating by Transposition. A notion of sacramental vision is developed from the perceptual basis in its classic definitions, and a sacramental understanding of story is considered from a theological perspective on the infinite generativity of meaning in texts, along with recent theories of affect and affordance. The second half of the thesis expounds the views of mythopoeia held by Lewis and Tolkien in order to show how they are not only compatible with but lead to a sacramental understanding of story as developed in part one, with mythopoeia affording the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of reality, awakening it into focus in distinctly Christian ways (chapter three). The final chapter demonstrates how their mythopoeic theories are exemplified in their art, examining specific ways Till We Have Faces and The Lord of the Rings afford the recovery of a potentially transformative vision of various themes central to them. In closing it is suggested that such a sacramental understanding of story may contribute to the re-enchantment of Western culture, not to mention the re-mythologization and re-envisaging of Christianity, whose significance in these regards has been hitherto mostly unrecognized.

Based on Noam Chomsky’s argument that the faculty of language is primarily a tool of thought whose purpose is to interpret the world, this dissertation argues that reading literature provides a cognitive experience like John Gardner’s “Fictive Dream” that mimics our interpretive experience of the world. Literary experience exploits language as an epistemological faculty that makes aspects of the external world intelligible. Yet the faculty of language is also capable of evoking entirely mental worlds that do not reflect the mindexternal world. Because the literary experience is entirely mindinternal, even the cultural knowledge we bring into play for its understanding still relies on innate features of language. Thus, during the act of reading, we hold this cultural knowledge in abeyance, allowing the text to structure how we bring it to bear on the experience as a whole. A scientific approach to literature can help uncover principles to further elucidate the literaryepistemological experience. Whereas much literary criticism assumes that a critic’s purpose is to mine a text for its deeper meaning, this dissertation argues for a Cognitive Formalist approach in which criticism serves not simply to explain the experience evoked by any particular text according to linguisticepistemological principles, but also to evaluate the moral implications of that specific textual experience. As a means of demonstrating potential implications of a scientific cognitive approach to literary criticism based on linguisticepistemological understanding, the current study offers sample passages from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. These passages allow us to offer first approximations of some explanatory principles of the literaryepistemological experience, such as the importance of fictive time and fictional event sequences, which in turn gives us greater insight into how, for example, verb tense and aspect contribute to the evocation of the action of fiction in the reader’s mind. Ultimately, the fictive vantage point constructed by the text allows the reader access to a complex moral framework in which fictive characters are understood to make choices that will in turn set the stage for the reader’s own ethical reception of the text and the experience it offers. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study seeks to gain an insight into the experiences Lord of the Rings tourists have on guided tours in New Zealand and the role of the tour guide(s) in that experience. The study examines motivations, expectations, actual experience and its evaluation and the role of the tour leader and guides. By drawing primarily on the results of qualitative research that examined the experience of film tourists and other people involved in the film tourism industry over a span of three years, I identified underlying motivations involved in the production and consumption of film tourism. The study found that pre-tour images of Lord of the Rings and its publicity surrounding the making of the films play a significant role in the formation of film tourists' expectations. The emotional relationship towards the films and the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien had motivated film tourists to seek a meaningful and sincere experience. Furthermore, the film and its making as discussed on the DVDs, further publicised myths like the authenticity of the film production itself and the experience of great meaning for one's personal life. Consequently, the study found that most film tourists put a high significance on the sincerity of the relationships within the tour community and with the tour leader and guide(s). The film location visit itself was experienced as highly rewarding but was significantly enhanced by the presence of the tour community ('fellowship'), reenactments and the physical presence on site. This embodiment was crucial for the overall experience as it further authenticated the location visit but also the journey itself as a worthy and spiritual endeavour. It was shown that the New Zealand image of 'green', 'clean' and 'exotic otherness' has been reinforced by multiple media portraits and matches many aspects of the Middle-earth image. All film tourists judged the use of New Zealand for the portrayal of Middle-earth as 'authentic' even if they knew about J.R.R. Tolkien's British background. Furthermore, they judged their film tourism experience as authentic even though the locations were used in a fictional setting. Thus the notions of object authenticity was explored and replaced with the concepts of existential authenticity and sincerity to shift the focus towards the active process of negotiation of authenticity in the tourism experience. To understand tourists' behaviour and motivation, notions of 'spirituality' and 'pilgrimage' were also employed. The study tourists undertook a meaningful and spiritually significant journey that was enhanced through the experience of embodiment and community which suggested parallels between the religious pilgrim and the secular film tourist. Both are on a meaningful journey to distant places and follow scripted guidelines while also creating their own experience. Embodiment played an important role. Furthermore, film tourists sought the community of other believers and were willing to 'follow in the footsteps' of film stars and crew when choosing which film locations and eateries to visit as they sought places that had attained an 'aura'.

"December 2003" / Bibliography: leaves 249-263. / vii, 263 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, Discipline of English, 2004

This study investigates the representation of narrative space in the novel and the film of The Return of the King. As the two representations belong to two different mediums, the theories on narrative space in the novel and in the film are examined in order to distinguish between their modes of representation of space. In essence, the theory utilised for the spatial analysis focuses on the content, function and symbolic meaning within spaces, as created by the description of objects, the repetition and accumulation of spatial information, as well as the movement of characters within spaces and the interaction between characters and different spaces. This spatial interaction relates to the events, representations of time and the role of the narrator within the different dimensions of narrated space, that is, concrete and abstract space. The three most significant spaces within the novel and the film, namely Minas Tirith, Mount Doom and Hobbiton form the basis of the analysis, which focuses on the narrative spaces as they are represented. From this study, it becomes clear that there are different levels of meaning embodied within a space: the physical and geographical space, the social space of interaction and the abstract, symbolic space. The significant spaces and their meanings in the novel have been subjected to filmic transformation. Essentially, the spaces in both the novel and the film display the fact that space ultimately influences those events and people who interact with it and vice versa. These spaces thus embody specific meanings, which contribute towards the undertaken journey represented in Tolkien's fantastical, imaginative world. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:59:47Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 marques_mc_me_sjrp.pdf: 878935 bytes, checksum: 764ef3d1dbc56457288c4d8d81bd3b78 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho propõe-se a rediscutir o conceito corrente de conto de fadas, tal como proposto por autores como Jolles (1976) e Propp (1983), a partir de um contraponto dessas teorias com as formulações de J. R. R. Tolkien em seu ensaio “Sobre histórias de fadas” (2006). Partindo dessa revisão, pretende-se demonstrar como As crônicas de Nárnia, de C. S. Lewis, pode ser lida como o que Tolkien denomina “história de fadas”, pois a presença da oposição entre o “mundo real”, com tempo e espaço histórico bem definidos, e o mundo maravilhoso ou “outro mundo” parece ser um fator decisivo para diferenciar um conto de fadas de uma história de fadas / This research proposes to revisit the current concept of fairy tale as proposed by authors such as Jolles (1976) and Propp (1983), counterpointing those theories with the formulations of J.R.R. Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” (2006). The aim is to demonstrate how The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis, can be read as a fairy story according to Tolkien, since the presence of an opposition between the real world, with well defined time and historical space, and the wonderful world or other world seems to be a decisive factor to differentiate a fairy tale from a fairy story

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-09-19Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:47:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 ciencia_acb_me_sjrp.pdf: 1010861 bytes, checksum: 5e1c680af94c8d0186e55a0797e9f7ce (MD5) / O problema da representação da mulher é um tema instigante, passando por esferas sociais, econômicas e políticas. Nosso foco, aqui, se volta para a literatura, mais especificamente para dois autores que acreditamos trabalhar com perfis do ideário medieval. O primeiro, Thomas Malory, viveu durante o século XV, e compôs a obra mais alta do ciclo arturiano na Idade Média inglesa. Já o segundo, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, é um autor do século XX; é trazido à luz devido à harmonia que, acreditamos, existe entre a caracterização de suas personagens femininas e alguns elementos medievais — alguns, inclusive, do próprio ciclo arturiano. Valendo-nos da teoria literária e de algumas teorias críticas feministas, investigamos a representação da mulher nas obras A morte de Artur, de Malory, e O senhor dos anéis, de Tolkien. Após contextualizarmos historicamente o papel da mulher na sociedade, identificamos as características das personagens femininas que condizem (ou não) com determinados perfis, propondo, também, uma análise comparativa entre as duas obras supracitadas. / The issue of woman representation is an instigating theme, related to social, economic and political spheres. Our focus, here, is directed to literature, more specifically to two authors we believe that deal with medieval ideary profiles. The first of them, Thomas Malory, lived during the 15th century, and wrote the masterpiece of the Arthurian Cycle in English Middle Ages. The second, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, is a 20th century author; he is brought in due to the harmony we believe there is between the characterization of his female characters and some medieval elements — some of them from the Arthurian Cycle itself. Based on literary theory and some feminist critical theories, we investigated women representation in the works Le Morte Darthur, by Thomas Malory, and The Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien. After contextualizing woman’s role historically in society, we identified female characters aspects that match (or not) with some profiles, proposing, also, a comparative analysis between the two works.

This work takes up urban historian Lewis Mumford's concern for the phenomena of planned and imposed ordering of human life and societies. Mumford (and others) suggests the problem consists in the use of external plans, technologies (and media) to manipulate, dominate, and even coerce forms of life. It is seen at its worst in war, and even forced systems like Nazism and Stalinism. But these phenomena also take more attractive and seemingly enriching forms. We will focus (along with Daniel Boorstin and Umberto Eco in their own way) on forms which have massively developed in 20th and 21st century society: market and consumer saturation, shaped by dominating mass electronic media. This situation is developed imaginatively, and inventively, yet problematically, in Jean Baudrillard's theory of Hyperreality –a critique of the Western hyper-consumer and media saturated world. But his methods and pictures are not followed here. We take up a very different approach and diagnosis; This approach has become increasingly multidisciplinary: phenomenological, praxeological, anthropological, and philological. We build it up in a reading of human lifeworlds in philosophers Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and anthropologist Tim Ingold. This work does not go in for a picture of language (and cinema) as a system of signification, but as Ludwig Wittgenstein describes it, as tools always already involved in forms of life. We also offer a unique characterization of corporeal imagining and the imaginative creation of lifeworlds, paving the way for what is described as philological resistance: this resistance is seen in the development of a certain praxeological philology and fully realized in the 20th century author J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic concerns. We focus particularly on what we call the double- transfer: the cyclic structure between human artistry and life-world building, each shaped by the other. We endeavor, along with Mumford and others, to counter colonization and find various less manipulated and un-coerced forms of life, and their informal organizing structures. We examine in detail Tolkien's literary and philological project; and the 20th and 21st century's first art form –cinema. Through the philosophical exploration of cinematic craft in Gilles Deleuze, and in the craft of Terrence Malick we see, and are taken up in, the inextricable relationship between how we make, what we make and how we live everyday life.

J.R.R. Tolkien was not only an author of fantasy but also a philologist who theorized about myth. Theorists have employed various methods of analyzing myth, and this thesis integrates several analyses, including Tolkien’s. I address the roles of doctrine, ritual, cross-cultural patterns, mythic expressions in literature, the literary effect of myth, evolution of language and consciousness, and individual invention over inheritance and diffusion. Beyond Tolkien’s English and Catholic background, I argue for eclectic influence on Tolkien, including resonance with Buddhism. Tolkien views mythopoeia, literary mythmaking, in terms of sub-creation, human invention in the image of God as creator. Key mythopoetic tools include eucatastrophe, the happy ending’s sudden turn to poignant joy, and enchantment, the realization of imagined wonder, which is epitomized by the character of Tom Bombadil and contrasted with modernist techno-magic seeking to alter and dominate the world. I conclude by interpreting Tolkien’s mythmaking as a form of mysticism.